Why You Should Try One of Frasca’s Showstopping Desserts This Fall

Since it opened in 2004, Boulder’s Frasca Food and Wine has become synonymous with a deep collection of wines, generous hospitality, and divine cuisine from the Friuli region of Italy. But less talked about is the restaurant’s dolci program, led by executive pastry chef Alberto Hernandez since 2016. Hernandez, who grew up in Atotonilco de Tula, Mexico, studied the art of dessert in Italy, France, and Spain before landing in Boulder. At the foot of the Flatirons, Hernandez spends his days deciding how exactly to put an exclamation point at the end of polished prix-fixe meals composed of handcrafted pastas and seasonal secondi beauties. Hernandez’s visually stunning masterpieces include delights such as the Fragola Verde, a ring of creamy, fermented strawberry mousse scented with lemon verbena and topped with a delicate scoop of green strawberry sorbet, as well as the showstopping Miele. The honeycomb-shaped ricotta mousse is dotted with edible flowers, lemon balm, bee pollen, and dollops of plum reduction and crowned with a delicate disc of honey-kissed tuile. Snap a picture before you dive in so you can have your dessert and eat it, too.