The handsomely composed sushi at Umami Japanese Bistro is the domain of head chef and owner Cong Nguyen, but in the kitchen, Nguyen’s wife, Thom, rules desserts. A recent visit to the cake boutique Lady M Confections at New York’s Plaza Hotel inspired Thom to create a version of the famed confectionary’s Green Tea Mille Crêpes, and the result is a popular meal-ender at Umami. To create her green tea crêpe cake, Thom Nguyen makes a fresh stack of delicate crêpes every day using her family’s free-hand method of making bánh xèo, Vietnamese fried pancakes. She builds the dish by alternating 12 crêpes with homemade pastry cream blended with green tea and white chocolate. The delicately spongy cake is crowned with a dusting of the green tea powder, matcha, giving it an herbaceous finish. In a way that few desserts are, this treat is both indulgent and palate cleansing.

Umami Japanese Bistro
3930 Burbank Drive
768-8808
umamibr.com
Mon.-Thurs., 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Sun., 4 to 9:30 p.m.