It’s January, the time of year when I usually feel like losing a few pounds (and that phase of the year lasts until the summer). It’s only the first day of my diet, and already I feel nostalgic for dessert. So I thought I’d put up some pictures to comfort myself and all of you in the throes of early January diets. All dishes are still on the menu unless otherwise noted.

The best bread pudding I ever had came from La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona (the town mentioned in the Eagles song “Take It Easy”). The chef called it breakfast, but it was really a dessert: rich and filling and having that one touch that makes it special, in this case prickly pear fruit syrup (which the restaurant offers for pancakes and waffles as well). Next in the category of breakfasts that are really desserts: Root Down’s banana bread French toast with walnuts and organic chicory and crème fraîche (I asked for extra, which arrived when I was almost done), notable especially for its amazingly dense texture. It required a couple of hours of down time just to recover. In the category of bona fide desserts, I present this lemon ice from Panzano. The plating was so simple and beautiful I couldn’t resist. (By the way, when we were there, Panzano also offered a cherry bread pudding, for dessert. It’s not listed on the menu now; I believe it was part of the tasting menu. You could always call and ask.)And finally, something from D Bar. I wanted to show the palmond3 again, but it’s not on the menu now, so I settled for the “molten cake thingy that everyone has” with Malbec fruit compote and ice cream. The current menu mentions pistachio ice cream, but the topper here is some other flavor that I can’t remember. Currently D Bar offers 4 desserts I haven’t tried, including the bel canto mocha and the apple Sammy. So get over there and try them for me!