Super sundaes: Digs Bistro, Citizen Cake and Bi-Rite Creamery weigh in

A good ice cream sundae oozes cold, sweet crunchiness, then melts into such a rich togetherness on your tongue that your only recourse is to grab another spoonful. But a great sundae? That, says Elizabeth Falkner of Citizen Cake in San Francisco, is another thing entirely.

"A great sundae is an experience,'' she says. "It makes you think. You take this traditional, iconic dessert and you completely remodel it — change up the components. The only limit is your imagination."

Falkner, who shares her flair for crazy desserts in "Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts" ($35, Ten Speed Press), gets fired up just thinking about the ice cream sundaes she'd like to add to her menus in the coming months.

"I'm a big fan of (the) unexpected. It's fun to surprise people," she says, pausing to create in words a few impromptu sundaes: Vanilla ice cream laced with the flavors of saffron and rose; a hot fudge sundae topped with curried peanuts; salty peanut ice cream topped with molten chocolate croquettes and vanilla foam.

Falkner's ideas may be over-the-top for the dessert-at-home crowd, but ice cream experts all over the Bay Area agree that the classic sundae could use a makeover — a serious injection of flavor in each delicious component.

At Sketch in Berkeley, that means peppermint ice cream topped with hot fudge and cocoa nibs. At Firefly Restaurant in San Francisco, it's a baklava sundae with grilled

peaches. At MaggieMudd in San Francisco, it's a "Tarmack Fan" chocolate and peanut butter wipeout featuring both kinds of ice cream topped with fudge and peanut butter sauce.

Anne Walker of Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco agrees that the best sundaes are essentially classic flavors placed in the company of flavors that make them taste even better.

"We're pastry chefs, so we go for combinations of things that we love. Our sundaes evolve organically," she says, adding that at Bi-Rite, sundaes are a top pick with all ages, second only to ice cream cones. They're so popular that the ice cream parlor gets regular sundae suggestions in its counter-top suggestion box.

"Some of the suggestions we get are genius, and some are just awful," she says, then adds "People really need to trust their own taste buds."

While some people may think of sundaes as a summer dessert, Walker is convinced that much of their charm is their seasonality.

"In the fall we serve a gingerbread pumpkin sundae topped with caramel sauce. Right now we're serving a berry sundae with organic compote topped with lemon snaps." Next up, she says, is a balsamic strawberry sundae with fresh berries and fresh berry compote.

Seasonal fruit sundaes, she adds, will never crowd out year-round favorites such as their Almond Joy sundae, made with coconut ice cream and topped with chocolate fudge, almonds and toasted coconut. Nor will the seasons overshadow wild card sundaes like the olive oil sundae — bergamot-flavored oil drizzled over chocolate, topped with sea salt and whipped cream. "With that one, people either love it or hate it."

Heidi DiPippo of Digs Bistro in Berkeley is convinced that anyone can build a better sundae. "A sundae is a comforting thing. It's sweet and delicious, but that doesn't mean that you can't bump up the flavor in the different elements," she says.

"For me, a good sundae always has a little bite to it,'' she says. "A lot of times the crunch is just toasted nuts, but why not make that crunch element taste really good?"

DiPippo is convinced that the reason Digs' Black and Tan Sundae has been the restaurant's top-selling dessert since it opened 7 months ago is the unexpected deliciousness of the crunch element. "We do this butterscotch praline on top. That's what makes it so special."

Since sundaes are so popular with their diners, DiPippo is continually dreaming up new concoctions to place on the oft-changing dessert menu. "We've done lemon ice cream with lavender whipped cream topped with pine nuts, and a mango ice cream topped with lime sauce."

The single most important way to improve a sundae, she says, is to make your own sauces. "It really doesn't take as much time as you think,'' she says, "and it makes such a huge difference." The most difficult thing about sauces, she adds, is making sure they are the right consistency. "You don't want your sauce too thin or it will run off the ice cream. You want it to stick to the ice cream. But if you make it too thick, it will stick on the top like a glop." She suggests making the sauce just a few hours before assembling the sundaes.

Falkner of Citizen Cake agrees with DiPippo's sauce philosophy. "The problem with most sundaes you eat — including those you make at home — is that they are just too sweet. The ice cream is sweet, then the topping is mostly just sweet. Of course a sundae should be sweet, but there needs to be some restraint."

Better, she says, is to make a sauce that creates a counterpoint to the sweetness of the ice cream. "That's why dark chocolate works so well. It's naturally acidic. When I make caramel, it's not that light butterscotch sauce you can buy. It's caramelized sugar that's amber in color so that the sauce is almost bitter. I tell people to think Anchor Steam beer."

Reach Jolene Thym at 510-353-7008 or at jthym@bayareanewsgroup.com.