Sweet Pea's Brulee

(UPDATE: Sweet Pea's Brulee closed at the end of August 2012. As of January 2013, the new owners of this cart serve crepes.)

Sweet Pea's Brulee is located at the Good Food Here food pod (near SE 42nd and Belmont) in Portland, Oregon. Tim and Kate Bergam head this food cart filled with sweet treats and desserts!

Sweet Pea's offers various flavors of creme brulee, an amazing rich custard dessert topped with a layer of hard caramel (the sugar on top is usually torched).

Specials menu (changes often; this was in mid-October 2011)

But first, I had to sample their house-made vanilla marshmallow (usually two pieces for $1). A delicious marshmallow here, very light and perfect to toast if you want a s'more! And Sweet Pea's offers s'mores as well ($3)!

Sweet Pea's even makes their own vanilla extract that goes into most of these treats ($6 for a 2 oz. bottle).

Marshmallow sample

I then got two of their salty caramels ($1). I opted for one of each, their traditional vanilla salty caramel and a whiskey salty caramel. Both were very good. Chewy and not too sweet here; an ideal amount of salt provided the right balance of flavors. The caramel chews were naturally sticking to my teeth when trying to eat it, but hey, that's what's supposed to happen, right?

Whiskey salted caramel chew

Vanilla salted caramel chew (yup, they look the same -- that's why I took different photos)

Finally, the Sweet Pea's signature creme brulee ($4). Perfectly torched sugar on top allowed the sugar to harden nicely. Breaking through that hard sugary shell to reveal the rich, creamy custard was like opening a present on Christmas morning. All I needed were the angels singing in the background while I ate this. Just an amazing creme brulee.

Vanilla Creme Brulee (Sweet Pea's Brulee)

Breaking through the hard sugary top! Oh yeah!
You can see the custard peeking through in the middle of the brulee....

I guess if anything, it was a pretty small portion for $4. But I figure if the portion was real huge, I'd probably gain about 50 pounds pretty quickly.

The creme brulee, caramel chews, and marshmallows were a huge hit. I'll be back in the future to try some of their other menu items. I may have eaten a lot before coming here, but it just goes to show that there's always room for an amazing dessert! 8.5/10