Banana Desserts

When bananas are fried, mashed or baked, drizzled with chocolate or topped off with whipped cream, they become an otherworldly treat. These places know how to doctor the banana or its mealier cousin, the plantain.

* Bossa Nova: Plantains are plentiful on the menu at these laid-back Brazilian restaurants. The decadent Yoram’s special is perfectly gooey fried plantains with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate syrup. (Yoram’s special, $3.50.) Bossa Nova, 7181 Sunset Blvd., L.A., (323) 436-7999; 685 N. Robertson Blvd., L.A., (310) 657-5070.

* Jozu: Owner Andy Nakano claims people scream if he tries to pull the warm banana tart off the menu. This rich tart, served warm so the ice cream will melt, is a cream cheese crust layered with bananas and homemade vanilla caramel swirl ice cream, topped off with a delicious brown butter glaze. (Warm banana tart, $7.) Jozu, 8360 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, (323) 655-5600.

* Golden Truffle: The wildly innovative menu offers a light, perfumy dish called Jamaican red banana. Chef Alan Greeley sautes the exotic spider banana in brown butter then adds litchis, pistachio nuts, and tangerine and lime juices. (Jamaican red banana, $6.) Golden Truffle, 1767 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa, (949) 645-9858.

* Babalu: This cheery Montana Avenue haunt makes a chocolate banana cream pie made with an Oreo brownie crust, pastry cream, slices of fresh banana and an inch of whipped cream, all drizzled with chocolate sauce. It’s served in bigger-than-life slices, or you can order the whole pie a day in advance. (Chocolate banana cream pie: slice, $5; whole pie, $28.) Babalu, 1002 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 395-2500.

* Jiraffe: As you bite into the individual banana cream tart with peanut sauce, you’ll taste the sugar pie crust first, then the thin layer of chocolate, then the sweet pastry cream and then sliced bananas laced with caramelized sugar. It’s finished off with a delicate peanut sauce. (Banana cream pie with peanut butter sauce, $7.) Jiraffe, 502 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 917-6671.

Nico’s: Order the individual terrine of chocolate banana bread pudding. You may intend to share it, but you might have to order your own. Each spoonful of pudding is filled with pieces of caramelized banana and topped with the subtle crunch of coconut crisp wafers. (Chocolate banana bread pudding, $6.) Nico’s, 5760 East 2nd St., Long Beach, (562) 434-4479.