Pastry chef Bianca Montijo, who's spent the last year and change making fancy confections and desserts for special events at the Chase Center and the VIP viewing suites, is the force behind a new dessert bar that will be open to the public this fall as the Chase Center reopens for real.
On Tuesday, the Chase Center revealed a slate of new food and drink offerings ahead of the start of the Warriors' season — and ahead of some fall concerts like a weekend of Phish shows (Oct. 16-17) and a weekend of Eagles shows (Oct. 22-23). There are a total of some 50 new food items, including more vegan options than before, with many of these scattered among the existing concessionaires you may have already seen if you made to a show or Warriors game for the few months it was open before the world shut down last March.
But the new dessert bar from Ms. Montijo, Room for Dessert, looks to be like something people may make a special trip to find. It's located in the lower level of the Budweiser Legends Club, and features a menu of ice cream from Tin Pot Creamery, as well as milkshakes and sweet treats crafted by Montijo and her team.
Montijo is the pastry chef behind the clever bucket-of-popcorn birthday cake that the Warriors had made for Steph Curry back in March. She comes to the Chase Center as senior pastry chef, after a stint at the Four Seasons Koh Samui in Thailand.
And for the luxury suites at the Chase Center, Montijo has been making all kinds of stuff, and it seems like she's been developing desserts for the dessert bar during the months of downtime at the arena too — like this decadent ice cream sundae in a jar.
Montijo is also behind the big dark-chocolate chip cookie that's been dubbed the Warriors Cookie — and that will be for sale at Room for Dessert too.
The menu at Room for Dessert includes rotating offerings from Montijo, as well as a seasonal cheesecake, freshly made mini powdered doughnuts, and a hazelnut brownie.
There are also three bedazzled milkshakes on the opening menu (pictured below): Banana Split (strawberry ice cream, chocolate sauce, fresh bananas, whipped cream and cherry); Cookie Dubster (vanilla ice cream, cookies and cream cookies, fresh whipped cream, cheesecake, and cherry); and Vegan Brownie Batter (vegan chocolate ice cream, soy milk, vegan whipped cream, toasted vegan housemade vanilla marshmallow).
Some of these items seem likely to sell out on busy nights, so there's some incentive to get to the Chase Center early to do your dining around, before the game/show starts.
The Warriors' first preseason game at the Chase Center is next Friday, October 15, against the Portland Trail Blazers.