That's a lot of plate for so little sorbet. It is sorbet, isn't it?

Lemon, I think. And I think it's pretty elegant.

Also, don't assume American portion sizes should be the standard. For me, this is the perfect size of dessert.

Looks yummy and that is the perfect size.

remind me to never go to france.

http://www.slashfood.com/media/2006/07/chocolatelayers.jpg

On the contrary, go to France, directly to Paris, no luggage, just get off the plane and get on the RER B (train from Charles de Gaulle) and get off at the Luxembourg stop (by le Jardin du Luxembourg).

Ask somebody to point you toward rue St. Sulpice (you'll pass the church, L'eglise St. Sulpice, seen in that dumbass movie...you know, with Audrey Tautou and Tom Hanks...really famous novel about the Knights Templar...forget the name)...then ask the way to rue de Rennes.

It's about an eighth of mile. At the corner of rue St. Sulpice and rue de Rennes is the cafe Au Vieux Colombier:

http://www.fra.cityvox.fr/bars-et-boites_paris/au-vieux-colombier_7865/PhotosLieu

Go there. Order dessert: Moelleux cake. It's a simple cafe, but the best moelleux I've had in Paris or anywhere: a mini hockey puck-sized chocolate cake with runny Valrhona chocolate in it.

THAT is chocolate.

I agree, it is elegant. But I would still prefer a larger, still-elegant, scoop of ice.

I'd feel hard done by with that as dessert. The plate is so big that about half of the food will end up spread so thinly you can't scoop it up. I think nouveau cuisine is a scam: tiny portions, huge plates, artwork, hefty bills.

To my Philistine eyes, it looked like an egg yolk.

I'd be ANGRY to find out that that is my dessert. Reminds me of dining at the Neiman-Marcus rotunda (a friend of mine likes to drag me there around Christmas).

The Friendly's restaurant chain used to have what they called a Reese's Pieces sundae. Four scoops of ice cream (your choice of flavor), hot fudge, marshmallow sauce, peanut butter goo, whipped cream, and topped with Reese's Pieces candy. THAT was a dessert -- about a million calories, and enough sugar to keep your pancreas occupied for a week. When I was much, much younger, I could handle it with ease. I don't know if the restaurant still carries it.

I suppose the logical end of nouveau cuisine is food whose beauty you just admire without actually eating. Poor people could make do with pictures of food. Saves washing up, too.

I don't object to small portions as such. It's the pretentiousness of nouveau cuisine that I can't stomach. The dessert in the picture should be served on a spoon.

On a different note, that cameraphone takes better pics than my point-and-shoot. Or maybe I should say that that photographer takes better pics than I do.

Monica's right... Even the BAD effects from the camera look good. I was so impressed by the blue vignette that I downloaded the pic into Photoshop to try to 'correct' it, but it's too subtle, and makes the "yolk" of the sorbet seem that much more alluring.

Actually, I was being sarcastic when I suggested people just look at pictures of food.

I thought it was an egg yolk. Looks tiny. I generally eat a *lot* though.