Preservation And DB Bistro Desserts | Sunny Isles And Downtown, Miami

Just like a Shel Silverstein book, a great peanut butter and jelly sandwich transcends childhood.

We've noticed a number of PB&J-inspired dishes on Miami menus recently. The two most spectacular we've tasted are not mere re-workings, but elaborate homages.

Pastry chef Jerome Maure distills memories of childhood treats into his new peanut butter-chocolate bar ($11) at DB Bistro Moderne. "Concord grapes remind me of the grape-flavored candies I ate as a child in Thailand," Maure says. What Maure calls "peanut butter cup mix" undergirds striations of grape gelée and chocolate mousse, while Concord grape sorbet packs a bright, icy zing.

A most adult dish–a foie gras trio–inspired the peanut butter and jelly baumkuchen ($10), a German cake of multiple thin layers, at Preservation in Sunny Isles.

Chef Ryan Harrison briefly cooked at John Besh's Restaurant August, where a signature dish included a foie gras torchon surrounded by baumkuchen. Harrison says, "It was incredibly difficult for me to produce at first, but once I figured it out I was infatuated."

The micro layers of Harrison's baumkuchen surround a mottled strawberry jam set with gelatin–"a play on pâté," as he describes it. A scoop of Nutella gelato and pistachio paste spread between the cake layers stand in masterfully for peanut butter.

We'll be back to order another in a Jif-fy.

Ed. Note: Preservation is now closed.