So Campy

When Nickel Diner's pastry chef, Sharlena Fong, created the maple-bacon glazed donut, a sweet-and-savory star was born. Now, the former Bouchon baker is at it again with her latest over-the-top dessert: the s'mores cake. It's the quintessential summer treat--on steroids.

The cake ($5.50 a slice) has all the basic elements of the classic dessert, but this multilayered masterpiece is a far cry from what you had at summer camp. Fong starts with a homemade graham cracker crust, then alternately layers moist devil's food cake and rich, bittersweet, dark ganache made with local chocolate purveyor ChocoVivo's cocoa. And instead of marshmallows, beautiful peaks of fluffy whipped meringue top the cake.

The kicker: The whole thing is ceremoniously toasted and roasted tableside with...a blowtorch. The scent of burnt sugar and chocolate wafting through the dining room is so potent, several more tables order it after seeing (and smelling) the pyrotechnics nearby.

If that's not enough, don't miss Fong's other showstopping desserts, like the three-layered red velvet cake ($5.50) and the salty-sweet peanut butter-chocolate cake ($5.50). And with Nickel Diner's new dinner hours (Tuesday through Saturday, 6 to 11 p.m.), there's even more time to enjoy them all.

Nickel Diner, 524 S. Main St., Downtown; 213-623-8301; 5cdiner.com