Courtesy of Hot Sugar
Who wouldn’t want a grab-and-go crème brulee every now and then? Since late 2013, Tony Wentzel and Kim Contreras have been selling freshly torched crème brulees at pop-up events, church functions, and food truck parks around the city.
“I helped a friend who was doing it when I lived in San Francisco, and I loved people’s reactions,” Wentzel says. “When I said I was moving, he wasn’t ready to franchise it, so he just told me to run with the idea.”
Wentzel launched the Atlanta version, Hot Sugar, at the Atlanta Food Truck Park in late 2013 and has since expanded to catering.
“We’ve been branching out to churches and off-the-grid functions, but we also did a Bastille Day pop-up at Paris on Ponce and a pop-up at Taproom in Kirkwood where we worked with Three Taverns on a beer crème brulee and Counter Culture on a coffee one,” he says. “I’ve found people enjoy the whole show of torching [the sugar] on site.”
Hot Sugar has 10 to 12 standard flavors, including vanilla, chocolate, lavender, honey lavender, peanut butter cup, peppermint chocolate, and London fog (earl grey tea and vanilla). The company also makes a Smores edition (choc crème brulee with toasted mini marshmallows and graham cracker on top), a Southern version (vanilla with candied pecans and bourbon butterscotch sauce), and Coconut Dream (toasted coconut and sea salt caramel sauce). Thai iced tea and Georgia Peach brulees are also available. Prices range from $4 to $6.
