You might think that moss, red cedar and caraway have no place in dessert.

If so, Boris Portnoy, the new pastry chef at the celebrated Meadowood Napa Valley, will prove you wrong.

Portnoy creates desserts as multifaceted and unique as the savory dishes prepared by chef Christopher Kostow. Portnoy's cerebral plates, inspired by ingredients from the Napa Valley countryside, and with poetic names like "To Quicken the Heart," are miniature still lifes.

"Nobody orders dessert because they're hungry," says Portnoy. Knowing this, he aims to captivate diners, not just fill their bellies. Consider "The Impermanence of Citrus": A citrus caramel is sharpened with yuzu foam. Alongside it, grapefruit foam is shrouded in a sheet of olive oil. The dish is finished with bergamot ice cream. It melts in the mouth, in an instant, as fleeting as citrus season.

Portnoy's creations like "Buttered Popcorn"--popcorn-infused custard dripped into liquid nitrogen to give it the look at taste of the cinema favorite--are happy accidents. Others are the result of years of thoughtful, playful experimentation.

However they are born, each is marvelous.

Meadowood Napa Valley, 900 Meadowood Ln., St. Helena; 707-963-3646 or meadowood.com