Banana Cream Pie

Morrison-Clark Restaurant, 1015 L St. NW, 202-898-1200; http://www.morrisonclark.com.

A thick wedge of fruit-flecked custard with soggy vanilla wafers is definitely not what arrives at the table in this elegant Victorian dining room. Chef Janis McLean has rethought the Southern dessert's elements from the bottom up. Hers features a delicate chocolate-crumb tart shell made from in-house biscotti; thin and firm banana slices; and a not-too-sweet pastry cream flavored with white chocolate and mascarpone cheese, then lightened with whipped cream. A dollop of chantilly cream and a shard of amber-colored sesame-seed nougatine gild the already-pretty presentation, along with three bruleed banana slices on the plate ($8).

-- Bonnie S. Benwick

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