Home, Sweet Binney, Home

When you only visit home once a year things (and people) change at an alarming rate. Restaurants go out, grey hairs come in, buildings spring up in fields like wild mushrooms. Alarming it may be, but change can be a good thing as well. Like when Iowa got it's first Cheesecake Factory, it's first tea house, and new youth driven newspaper with new restaurant reviews. Otherwise I might never have found Sweet Binney's.



It is housed in the same two level mini stripmall that I had my senior photos taken in. And the owner, Ryan Binney, grew up in Cape Code, before moving out to Boston and later attended Johnson and Wales in Providence, just down the hill from my much missed RISD. So I got the chance to stroll down many different Lanes of Memory while searching for tasty desserts. Ryan has been running Sweet Binney's as a store front cafe for only 3 months now but the wholesale/catering business part has been under his control for over a year and a half. Iowa is a long ways from the east coast but his fancy flavorful desserts are well sought after here as well.



The display case held decadent glittering gems each whispering to be taken home in a pretty package. So, what could we do but concede? But first an on the spot taste testing was called for. We split the 3 chocolate mascapone mousse to tide us over until we got home to nibble on the rest. And maybe even share with the rest of the family.





Each layer had it's own unique flavor. Being a chocoholic I couldn't help but luxuriate in it's richness...and yet....perhaps it was just because it was straight from the refrigerated case instead of being left at room temperature for awhile, the texture seemed a bit strange to me. I had to admit it but my favorite triple chocolate mousse used to be had at Mondo's until an unfortunate incident of rudeness on their part while getting takeaway dessert one day. The takehome desserts from Binney's had yet to redeem themselves from my initial impression.



I admit, I've never had red velvet cake before so it's hard for me to take an authoratative stance on it but the cake seemed rather dry. The creamcheese frosting with blueberries was a fantastic idea though. One I plan to try out for myself at a later point in time. The other lemon cake was forgettable. Sweet Binney's may do well for catering large groups and country clubs...but it's no Pastiche. Providence, what a funny thing and much missed place.