Sweet Serendipity: Delightful Desserts and Devilish Dish [Hardcover]

Stephen Bruce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 2004

Marilyn Monroe's favorite was Miss Milton's Lovely Fudge Pie, and she'd eat it wearing nothing but Chanel No. 5 and a raincoat. Andy Warhol always savored the Lemon Icebox Pie, stealing bites while he watched and sketched other diners through cutout holes in a newspaper he held upsidedown in front of his face. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis came for the frozen hot chocolate and brought JohnJohn and Caroline, who now brings her children.

Where did all these luminaries and many more devour these sinful treats? At Serendipity 3, New York's legendary dessert restaurant and boutique. The restaurant's history is as rich as its desserts, and this book, commemorating its fiftieth anniversary, lets you indulge in both.

Founded in 1953, before the concept of theme restaurants even existed, Serendipity was one of the first restaurants in the country to turn dining into a theatrical experience, to create an ambiance as fun as the food that was served. Located near Bloomingdale's in one of New York's toniest East Side neighborhoods, Serendipity fills two floors of a historic townhouse. Decked out with original Tiffany lamps, black-and-white floors, fabulous Victorian oversized posters, and idiosyncratic adornments such as a huge clock and metal horse, the restaurant takes you down the rabbit hole into a fairytale world.

The desserts, represented by seventy-five recipes in this book, make everyone feel like a kid again. Many evoke the comfort of grandmother's kitchen, but many also have a creative, irreverent kick to them. Since many are based on heirloom recipes from one of the founders' families, all the recipes are easily achieved at home and can make fun projects for the whole family.
Among the recipes included:

Cheesecake Vesuvius
Strawberry Fields Sundae
Chocolate Chip Pizza
Chocolate Blackout Cake
Lemon Rain Drops
Frozen Tutti Frutti

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Serendipity 3, Manhattan’s beloved ice cream parlor, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and to mark the event, one of its co-founders has collected mouth-watering recipes for the restaurant’s best desserts, as well as tidbits of gossip from his years serving stars. The book’s color photographs and lighthearted design capture the eclectic splendor of the Upper East Side destination, which serves up such favorites as Mississippi Mud Cake, Aunt Buba’s Sand Tarts and Ftatateeta’s Toast. A whole chapter is devoted to the most lavishly praised dessert, Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, along with its many variations. For those not counting calories, an explosion of sundaes in the last chapter, such as the Cheesecake Vesuvius Sundae, will hit the spot. The only thing missing is an explanation for the origin of each dessert. As for the gossip, Bruce provides glimpses of Marilyn Monroe, wearing only a trench coat and eating Fudge Pie, and reveals that Sylvester Stallone was turned down for a waiter position because his astrological sign didn’t meet the owners’ approval. Best of all is the introduction that remembers three "roommates in a humble cold-water flat" who took $500, some family recipes and their own unique style to create the restaurant. Readers will want to take a break from creating the sugary delights to ponder Bruce’s advice to "let life take you where it may." Sugar-lovers everywhere will be glad it took Bruce and his cohorts to Serendipity 3.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Stephen Bruce, the last surviving member of Serendipity's three founding partners, is in the restaurant every day gregariously hosting patrons.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Universe (July 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789310759
• ISBN-13: 978-0789310750
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.6 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Famous NY Dessert Hangout Goes Cookbookish, March 10, 2005

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sweet Serendipity: Delightful Desserts and Devilish Dish (Hardcover)

I love to read intros to good cookbooks, they reveal what one will find therein. This one is no exception. It was begun as an exception: new concept of fun, indulgent dessert hangout within gift shop botique, with high class.

This was quickly grasped by customer base of the famous who liked the scene and made it theirs and everyone else who wanted their frozen/hot dessert drinks and rich, whipcreamed topped dessert plates.

Now, the rest of us who haven't made the scene firsthand can have the treats in our own confines. Neat treats they are, i.e. The Manor Born Banana Cake with Coffee Buttercream; Mississippi Mud Cake; Summerhouse Cake; Nutty Ned's Walnut Bars; Lemon Ice Box Pie (great story here of first cooks' obtaining free fur coat saving labels from key ingredient condensed milk labels); Schrafft's Tutti Frutti Chiffon Pie; and their infamous "Frrrrozzzen Hot Chocolate". This is fun to eat/drink/slurp stuff!!!

This is fun collection. The stories and favorite seats of famous and rest of stories are as good as recipes. Not that difficult of technique or ingredients, one can find much "serendipity" with these! For chochoholics, check out Marcel Desaulniers wonderful books!

One of three co-founders says it well: "It's a cozy place where dream-sized desserts and ice cream parlor whimsy lull you into a fantasy of another day and age."

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One for your collection... One for the collector..., November 7, 2006

By 

F. Krubl "Scarlet Evenstar" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sweet Serendipity: Delightful Desserts and Devilish Dish (Hardcover)

I'm an avid cook book collector. I tend to look for the ones that stand out from the rest... the ones that have a bit more in them then just recipies. This is definitley one of those books. If I could, I'd give it 10 stars.

The book is filled with wonderful little recipes that everyone should have. They aren't spectacular. They aren't professional grade. They aren't the kind of recipe that it will take 2 weeks to locate the ingredients and another 6 hours to create the dessert. But that is exactly what seredipity is all about. If you know anything about the actual store/shop/restaurant...they never were into the harder-then-heck kind of recipes. They took simple things, and gave them a style all their own. And all of New York...and eventually the rest of the world...loved it!

The recipes are definitley "yummy." Every single one. The pictures are to die for. Every single one. :) I brought this book to work and had a 1/2 a dozen people ask me when i was making "this" or when I was making "that"...then they'd point to a picture and drool. :)

....but as I began with, this book has more than just recipies in it. It has seredipity's history....written by one of the owners himself. A very interesting read. And it's not just a 1/2 of a page long. It's lengthy. The book is worth it's price just for this read. On almost every page there is a 'snippit' or 'story' from Serendipities history. Feel good stories. Hollywood-siting stories. Stories that will make you want to go to the actual location if you have never been there.

Did you know that Robin Williams brough a little girl who was dying of a life-threatening disease to Serendipity...treated her to lunch....and kept her laughing for hours on end? This book tells you things like that. Did you know that the owners wouldn't even give the recipe of Frozzzen Hot Chocolate to the First Lady? The book tells you that story too.

And,yes .....the book does include the infamous 'Frozzzen Hot Chocolate' recipe that they have become famous for. No, it doesn't tell you exactly what kind of chocolate they use (they'd go out of business if they gave it up!)....but it gives you a start. Use your own chocoalte kind-of recipe. It also includes variations of the hot-chocoalte recipe. Very fun.

If you are a cook cook collector this book is a must for your shelf. Put it right next to your entertaining books from Williams-Sonoma. :) If you have a friend that is a collector and you are trying to find a book that will stand out from all of the other ones that they own......Stop looking...THIS IS IT! I promise! :)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun book, good collection of recipes, but nothing astonishing, October 10, 2006

By 

Esther Schindler (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sweet Serendipity: Delightful Desserts and Devilish Dish (Hardcover)

When I grew up in New York, Serendipity was a special occasion destination. I only went there a couple of times, but -- like everyone else -- I fell in love with the "frozen hot chocolate," the funky ambiance, and the eclectic gift shop. (They had pet rocks for sale before it became a fad. For all I know, the fad _started_ at the restaurant.) So I was primed to enjoy Serendipity's cookbook.

You don't have to know anything about the place, though, because the book will bring you up to speed. Serendipity, billed as restaurant and general store, opened in 1954 and, while it serves entrees too, it's most famous for its desserts. That's all you find here -- along with charming text about the restaurant's history, plus anecdoates about and testimonials from all sorts of famous patrons (such as James Lipton, Alec Baldwin, Ron Howard, Yoko Ono). In a lot of cookbooks, the name-dropping can be annoying or precious, but here the stories are really fun. (For example, a fan asked the man standing next to her, "Oooh, is that Meg Ryan?" The unrecognized Dennis Quaid said yes, it was.)

Ultimately, though, this is a cookbook with over 100 cakes and desserts, all beautifully photographed. To my mild surprise, these are all very good recipes... but they aren't amazing. Sure, there's the famous frozen hot chocolate (which is depressingly simple; the secret ingredient is instant hot chocolate mix!). But for the most part, this is a set of perfectly adequate recipes for carrot cake, chocolate blackout cake, bourbon-pecan balls, pecan pie. The pecan pie, for example, has predictable ingredients -- just eggs, sugar, corn syrup, pecans, pie crust -- not even molasses or a drop of booze as a variation. I found a few unusual items, such as a rose wedding cake (made with real edible roses), and humble pie (which I don't think I've seen elsewhere).

Somehow, with all that funkiness and history, I expected more... though I'm not sure what, because a pecan pie is a pecan pie. Perhaps I should take this as a lesson in what good presentation can accomplish.

Even if it has little that's magical, though, Sweet Serendipity is a fine collection of dessert recipes. They have clear instructions, they're all in the "things people will love" category, and the pictures are great. This would be a *perfect* gift for a young cook for whom an "every dessert in the world" would be overkill, or for yourself, if you want a dose of holiday-dessert inspiration that you can read in the living room as well as in the kitchen.