Practice makes perfect for chef who taught himself pastry making
Published in the December 10-23, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Norberto Hernandez, executive chef of Betto’s Bistro, with a chocolate lava cake and sweet potato pecan pie desserts.
Norberto Hernandez, the executive chef/owner of downtown’s popular Betto’s Bistro restaurant, got his start in the kitchen at an early age and enjoyed the process of cooking, especially creating mouth-watering desserts. His unique pastry-making skills have developed Betto’s into one of the must-go eateries in the South Valley to enjoy freshly prepared comfort-food desserts.
“My passion is that after a meal I want to have something sweet with my coffee or wine,” Hernandez said. “After eating their main meal, I want my customers to relax and enjoy something they will really like (for dessert).”
Largely self-taught by reading books on baking, Hernandez said he built his culinary skills by always striving to learn something new from every cooking experience and then upping the ante by making that dessert even better the next time. The desserts at Betto’s are made fresh every day and take one or two hours to get ready for when customers start coming through the door.
“We change our desserts every week so that every week there’s something different, such as this week it’s sweet potato pecan pie that we made,” he said. “For next week, we’ll see what fresh fruits are available to make it seasonal such as maybe apple cherry cobbler.”
The choice of desserts to put on the menu depends on what ingredients are available. Influences during the winter holiday season can be American-Italian or French desserts, he said.
“We like to use fresh fruits or vegetables,” he said. “A lot of people come in and ask for desserts only. We have a lot of regular customers who come in just to see what’s special and unique on our menu.”
Among Hernandez’s personal favorites are small, single-serving cakes such as the decadent chocolate lava cake. He heats the cake up in the microwave right before it’s brought to the customer and puts a scoop of vanilla ice cream on it, which melts slowly to form a creamy white lake around the dark lava cake peak.
Other offerings include a bread pudding topped with bourbon sauce and vanilla ice cream, fresh peach cobbler covered with a pecan crust and traditional Italian cannolis made of crispy shells filled with sweet cheese, chocolate chips and candied orange zest. Betto’s also often offers a tiramisu made of mascarpone cream on a sponge base covered with a row of espresso-soaked lady fingers dusted with cocoa powder as well as a flute lemoncello gelato that’s refreshes the palate after a hearty meal.
Another dessert specialty at Betto’s is the crème brulee. Instead of simply placing it in a small ceramic ramekin, Hernandez forms a chocolate shell he fills with the creamy custard. The chef believes in the power of chocolate to make the end of a meal special.
“That’s one of our special styles that we do at our restaurant because everyone loves chocolate,” he said. “One of our big favorites with our customers is our chocolate fondu. We serve it with berries, bananas, marshmallows, cream puffs. The fondu is made with semi-sweet dark chocolate with milk and honey and a little butter.”
Not just a sweet taste but the look of the dessert adds to the customer’s enjoyment, Hernandez believes, so he takes extra time to make his sweet creations eye appealing.
“When your server puts the dessert on your table, we want the presentation of that to be — ‘Oh, wow, I want this for myself and I’m not going to share,’” he said with a laugh.
