When I wrote my last dessert menu at Rialto, before heading to New York to work for the famed François Payard, I pulled out all the stops. It was spring, and it was a bittersweet time for me. I was thrilled that I would be working under one of the best pastry chefs in America, but I was sad to be leaving a wonderful job where I had enjoyed carte blanche to create fanciful desserts. I decided to put everything on the menu that I had not yet had a chance to feature. I’d never had a popover be