Chef Heather Hutton wants you to rethink desserts.
“I’m just trying to share the types of food I love and the flavors that excite me,” she said of her dessert pop-up concept, Roxa Desserts. She wants customers to put a little faith in the process, too.
“Let us show you [that] you’re not going to be stuffed or in a sugar coma,” she said.
Roxa Desserts, a project between Hutton and local entrepreneur Paula Kramer, has been popping up around town since 2023. This month the roving restaurant settles in at 218 President Street (home of The Market by Seed Catering + Events) for a holiday residency.
Diners can make a reservation for the six-course tasting menu every Friday through Sunday throughout December. The menu is Christmas-themed, naturally, and each course pays homage to holiday elements and traditions.
For example, the first course, “snow,” is Hutton’s take on eggnog. “It’s going to be a little refined but still really fun.”
It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas
While menu creation and perfect dessert execution are important to Hutton, she also values the experience that comes from pop-ups.
“I did one at Stems & Skins that was really rewarding because it was kind of like an open kitchen,” Hutton said. “And I could talk to every guest and connect more.”
The tasting menu set-up at President St. offers a similar front-row dining experience, with Hutton cooking in a kitchen that is directly adjacent to the counter where guests sit. There will be servers, too, but Hutton appreciates the restaurant’s small size and intimate nature.
Kramer said that Roxa Desserts’ pop-up will be a “winter wonderland,” decked in the kind of holiday decor folks have come to expect from local, seasonal pop-ups.
Hutton, who previously worked as the pastry chef at Free Reign Restaurants and, before that, held the same post at Edmund’s Oast, has long known she wanted to branch out on her own. The positive feedback from previous pop-ups helped her feel confident in that decision.
“People have been super receptive,” she said, adding that gluten-free diners are always excited to see options for them, too.
“People are really stoked about that,” she said. “[They appreciate] just having options [where] they can take their whole family.”
Hutton may be most excited about the “snow” course of the tasting menu. “I’m really big into shaved ice dishes and palate cleansers,” she said. “We’re going to have dishes that take on the flavors of Christmas, but the snow course gets to be over the top yet so refreshing.”
Hutton plans on serving a lychee sorbet with coconut shaved ice and coconut cotton candy on top. “[I’m] going for it but also keeping it approachable, too,” she said.
Guests can pair their desserts with a selection of beer and wine, as well as seasonal concoctions like mulled wine, punches and boozy hot chocolate.
Hutton and Kramer said that the previous pop-up experiences helped them decide on a six-course tasting menu — something that lands in the middle ground of being filling but not gluttonous. Hutton also said she has realized from experience that while some customers may not have tried a dessert pop-up before, they were almost always open to the concept.
“It definitely translates to a lot of different types of people,” she said.
The tasting menu is by reservation only at resy.com, and is priced at $50 for six courses served à la Chef’s counter. Larger groups or special reservations for a table can be requested via email at roxadesserts@gmail.com.
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