Ube is a food trend that has been sweeping the nation's eateries in recent months. The purple-colored yam is a mellow-flavored root vegetable that adapts to a wide variety of tastes.
Cafe 86 in Los Angeles, California realizes this more than most, which is why it has been adding ube to many of its desserts. One of its most popular items is the Ube Pop-Tart, which starts with a homemade pastry crust that is then filled with an ube, cream cheese, and coconut jam filling. The finishing touch is to drizzle it with a sweet ube glaze. The cafe also offers delicious items such as the Ube Monster Truffle (comprised of an ube cake covered with white chocolate and crushed Oreos) and ube bundt cakes.
"I think it's such a unique flavor that people don't normally have here in the United States," says Cafe 86 chef/owner Ginger Dimapasok. "There's like a tropical flavor, there's a lot of hints of vanilla, coconut, that people just keep looking for."
For more on how Cafe 86 is using the ube trend to its advantage, check out the video above from Thrillist.