The best tres leches cake I ever tasted was at a small Latin restaurant in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, tucked away in a tiny hideaway called El Cocotero.
When the sultry waiter presented it, I panicked since it was cut into a square shape and I was only familiar with the wedge-style version.
After one bite, though, I ripped it away from my dining buddy and practically shrieked, “Get your own damn cake!” I went back four times over the course of the week I was there solely for the cake, and the way they sprinkled fresh summer berries over the homemade whipped cream topping.
Nothing in Chicago has even remotely compared to the New York version, but locally, the closest can be savored at Kristoffer’s Caf? & Bakery, 1733 S. Halsted.
For me, Kristoffer’s has cornered the three-milk market. It’s pretty much perfected tres leches cake by being served different ways, vanilla, chocolate, coconut, caramel and Kaluhah, the version I had.
