‘These are our COVID crushes.’ NC pastry shop honors Dr. Mandy Cohen, pandemic heroes
There’s comfort in chocolate, in its sweet decadent embrace.
Daniel Benjamin, owner of the acclaimed Lucette Grace pastry shop, doesn’t know what Dr. Mandy Cohen looks like.
But he knows how her voice, beamed into his bake shop on NPR, makes him feel — like the comfort of eating chocolate.
As he does every Valentine’s Day, Benjamin renamed a half-dozen popular desserts after the heroes of the pandemic, from top doctors to delivery drivers. At the top of that list is Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, who has led the state’s pandemic response.
“I feel more comfortable when she talks,” Benjamin said. “The picture is a little rosier, the way chocolate comforts me.”
Every year, Lucette Grace creates a new menu of special desserts for the love-struck holiday. Previous years have honored famous movie couples or early TV show crushes.
This year, the desserts honor the people and pets the pandemic has made a part of our lives and hearts.
“These are our COVID crushes,” Benjamin said. “It’s not a romantic type of crush, it’s the people during the pandemic that really just took a different role in our lives.”
In Cohen’s case, Benjamin said he knows her only as the voice routinely encouraging mask wearing, washing hands and social distancing. She represents the path forward.
“She’s become a voice we look to for guidance,” Benjamin said.
Cohen tweets endorsement
At its heart, Dr. Mandy Cohen — the dessert, that is — is a chocolate bomb. Based on Lucette Grace’s l’reviens cake, it is a chocolate brownie cake with dark chocolate mousse, coffee creme brulee, vanilla chantilly creme and a cocoa biscuit soaked in Irish cream. Because it’s Valentine’s Day, there’s also a large red heart made of white chocolate.
On Thursday, the dessert got an endorsement from its inspiration, as Cohen tweeted it was “So good” and that Lucette Grace had “#nailed it,” as well as her personal love of chocolate.
The other COVID crushes on the menu include an eclair named for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top epidemiologist. The eclair is filled with vanilla bourbon cream and topped with white chocolate and almond clusters and chestnut cream. Benjamin said the dessert speaks to Fauci’s longevity as an expert and his willingness to embrace new ideas.
“He’s one of these unique voices,” Benjamin said. “He seems like he would be a fun guy to sit with and and have a coffee and conversation and pass the time.”
The other desserts are:
▪ the Amazon Delivery Driver, a mango mousse with toasted coconut meringue and passion fruit cakes, lime cream cheese and vanilla rum ganache
▪ the Front-Line Workers, a dark chocolate mousse filled with salted caramel cream.
▪ the Pandemic Pets, a pistachio and white chocolate brownie with raspberry jam.
▪ And the Linda, which Lucette Grace describes as the opposite of a “Karen,” which is a lemon raspberry tart.
For this pandemic Valentine’s, Lucette Grace widened the window for its specials, making the COVID crushes available from Feb. 9 to 21.
In typical years, Benjamin said the days surrounding Valentine’s Day are the pastry shop’s busiest of the year, with a line streaming out the door. But this year, his expectations are more measured.
Benjamin said the pastry shop has fared better than many other downtown restaurants and businesses, with its sweets ready-made for takeout and delivery before COVID.
“Right now we’re not in business with any attempt to make money,” Benjamin said. “We’re operating solely to try and stay open and keep our employees working.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 4:19 PM with the headline "‘These are our COVID crushes.’ NC pastry shop honors Dr. Mandy Cohen, pandemic heroes."
