Dinner at Shokolaat/Gateau Basque

Thursday night before TheatreWorks I had dinner at Shokolaat on University Avenue in Palo Alto. Shokolaat is a combination restaurant/patisserie/chocolatier. My main course was delicious; scallops with gnocchi in a lemony butter sauce. My companion's rack of lamb was also very good and cooked as ordered. I didn't get a chance to try their gorgeous chocolates, but hope to do so in the near future. According to the restaurant website, the dessert I ordered, Gateau Basque, is one of the chef's favorites. I did not enjoy the chef's interpretation made with brown sugar as the internal custard was not particularly distinct from the cake-like crust. I guess I prefer a more traditional gateau basque, which I have tried not only in Basque country but at the Basque Boulangerie Cafe in Sonoma and from the recipe in Paula Wolfert's Cooking of Southwest France. These may be less innovative, but part of the charm of the gateau is the smooth pastry cream inside contrasting with the crusty pastry outside. A version filled with cherry preserves is also very good and I especially like what Wolfert terms as Bayonne-style, with both custard and cherry preserves.