For too many kitchens, dessert is a throwaway thing. You watch Top Chef, don’t you? “I’m not very good at pastry,” they always say. Hence, if a place can afford it—and many cannot—a pastry chef can be quite the asset. Pastry chefs are dedicated to making sure your sweet tooth gets not only sugar, but tenderness, too. Behold, six local dessert masters, their inspired signature creations, why you should go and who you should bring. Just make sure your guest knows how to share.

The spot: Cosmos, Graves 601 Hotel’s futuristic restaurant, where molecular gastronomy and food-as-performance-art are what’s for dinner.. 
The Pastry Chef: Khanh Tran (Tran also crafts desserts for Bradstreet Crafthouse Café, Cosmos’s little sister on the ground floor of Graves 601).
Her signature: Chocolate globe. While it’s not her creation, Tran had no qualms about keeping it on the menu, since, as she puts it, “It’s a perfect dish.” The chocolate globe melts tableside as the server pours hot chocolate over it to reveal brandied cherries and cherry sorbet. “It looks great, it’s sexy, it tastes great, it brings the audience into the food, it brings the server in, it’s theater!” says the 2009 James Beard Semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef. 
What else is good: “I’m Vietnamese so I do like using flavors from my background—cardamom, chickory, even tofu. There’s a sticky rice with mung bean dish on the Bradstreet Crafthouse Restaurant menu. I made it because it was something I was craving from my childhood.” 
Who you should bring: The girl you’re trying to impress. 
The fine print: 601 First Ave. N., Mpls.; 612.312.1168

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The spot: Forepaugh’s, where chefs Donald Gonzales and Carrie Summer put fashionable, new American twists on classic dishes in an old-school Victorian mansion setting.
The pastry chef: Carrie Summer
Her signature: Banana cream pie. The base layer is crunchy chocolate with hazelnut, finished with sea salt. Bananas are cut and bruleed to order, then finished with a drizzle of maple Patron (top-shelf coffee liqueur). In addition to her impressive pastry skills, Summer is co-owner and operator of the Chef Shack at the Mill City Farmer’s Market, and is a self-described artist, scientist, engineer and sculptor. “I would hope people would recognize these things in my work,” she says.
What else is good: Crème brulee. Says Summer: “Crème brulee certainly is a simple dessert, but it is a complex simple dessert, and it is a perfect candidate for showcasing technical ability. It takes expertise to execute beautifully.”
Who you should bring: Your foodie friend who has El Bulli and Alinea on her bookshelf.
The fine print: 276 S. Exchange St., St. Paul; 612.224.5606

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The spot: Porter & Frye, formerly headed up by our city’s own modernist rock star, Steven Brown, and recently handed over to Joan Ida, the much heralded pastry chef of the late Goodfellow’s.
The pastry chefs: Becky Brooks & Brad Van Meerten
Their signature: Seven layer chocolate cake. “We’ve actually had people lick the plate,” says Brooks of the cake that simply isn’t allowed to disappear from the restaurant’s otherwise seasonally changing menu. The chefs say the dessert is “labor-intensive” with each individual cake receiving alternating layers of chocolate bavarian (mousse-like custard), chocolate dacquoise (cake) hazelnut mousse, and hazelnut dacquoise. Then, they add a layer of feuilletine (“a fancy version of chocolate corn flakes”), a layer of hazelnut paste and finally it all gets glazed with a shiny layer of chocolate. But that’s not all. It’s set on a layer of hazelnut praline and served with caramel ice cream and chocolate gel.
What else is good: Try the custom tasting menus. Chefs will create something sweet just for you.
Who you should bring: Your little brother who wants to go to culinary school.
The fine print: 1115 Second Ave., Mpls.; 612.353.3500