[Photo: Kathy YL Chan]

Served in a deep coffee cup, what you're looking at is the Chocolate Mousse ($5) from the Lower East Side's Berkli Parc. A ganache-like creation made from semi-sweet chocolate, this is rich enough to share. Alternate spoonfuls of the barely whipped cream and a mousse that may as well be a chocolate truffle in giant form. Some may say this is a tad too sweet, but couple with cream, and perhaps a cup of hot coffee or tea on the side, and you'll be a satisfied customer. (Berkli Parc also has free WiFi and plenty of clean seating—a rarity on the LES!)

Over at Buvette in the West Village, Chocolate Mousse ($8) is accompanied by a tower of fresh, thick whipped cream, almost in equal proportion to the mousse. While the chocolate mousse at Berkli Parc is fudgy, just one step away from ganache, Buvette's is a tad fluffier, but no less smooth and impossibly decadent. It is also less sweet, allowing the bittersweet chocolate to take center stage with no interruptions. Mark it as the finer, more sophisticated sister to the mousse at Berkli Parc. At nearly double the price, it's still a worthy indulgence.

Berkli Parc

3 Delancey Street, New York NY 10002 (map)
212-966-2737
berkliparc.com

Buvette

42 Grove Street, New York NY 10014 (map)
212-255-3590
ilovebuvette.com

About the author: Originally from Honolulu, Kathy YL Chan writes A Passion For Food, where she chronicles her eats and travels adventures between Hawai'i, New York and beyond. She firmly believes that there is always room for dessert.