Harvest’s Brian Mercury Leads Annual Sugar Rush

Harvest pastry chef, Brian Mercury. Photo provided

Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Pastry Chef Brian Mercury has taken over for Deuxave’s Jaime Davis this year and is heading up Sugar Rush, a five-course dessert tasting menu showcasing some of the city’s most talented pastry chefs. Inspired by Michael Laiskonis’ Killed by Dessert event in San Francisco, Sugar Rush pairs chefs from varying backgrounds to demonstrate dishes both savory and sweet.

“We wanted get everybody together to have a little bit of fun and showcase the fact that Boston has so many great pastry chefs,” Mercury says. “I know who all these people are because I’m a pastry chef, but for the guests, it’s a brand new experience. For someone like Kelly Rusch at Bergamot or Molly Rabideau—who’s doing a lot of the work over at Oleana now—it’s a good way for them to get some much-deserved recognition.”

The two-night event kicked off on August 27 at Harvest with Mercury joined by Rusch and Rabideau, as well as Jared Bachellor from L’Espalier and Jessica Scott from Brown Butter Bakery. The final installment takes place this Wednesday, September 3, with a whole new group of chefs that represent both “classical and new wave techniques.”

“I approach it like a traditional dinner, where you serve something lighter first and end with chocolate,” Mercury says. “The dish I did last week had some fennel, ricotta, and orange peel pickling liquid. It was the most savory dessert, so I put that one first to give the guests an opportunity to get acclimated to all that sugar. This week I’ll be doing a type of pate with a little bit of espelette pepper, so it’s a little bit spicy. I’ll pair that with a peppermint ice cream, olive oil caramel, and apricot purée.”

SUGAR RUSH

Brian Mercury, Harvest Restaurant
Giselle Miller, Liquid Art House
Molly Hanson, Grill 23 & Post 390
Jaime Davis, Deuxave
Monica Glass, Clio & Uni

$65 per person/$90 with wine pairing, Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m., 44 Brattle St., Cambridge; 617.868.2255 or harvestcambridge.com.