Why we’re suddenly craving tarts in a big way

By Holley Simmons March 2  

Photo by Tim Chambers

Quick: Name the city’s top three tart shops.

Let us save you the trouble — there aren’t any. But Christina Marie Chambers is out to change that.

“You usually see one or two tarts in a bakery that serves many other things, but many people haven’t heard of a bakery that only sells tarts,” Chambers says.
Through her just-launched company, Black Pearl Tarts, Chambers aims to raise the profile of the oft-overlooked treat and — in the process — usurp the No. 1 dessert trend that everyone loves to hate.

Egg and bacon tart.

“Please die, cupcakes. It’s time for tarts to rule,” says Chambers, who left her administrative job last year and founded Black Pearl Tarts in January after a trip around the world with her husband.

Though Chambers lacks any formal pastry training, she received hands-on training during a stint at Craftsman and Wolves, a critically acclaimed patisserie in San Francisco.

There, through a lot of trial and error, Chambers perfected her method for preparing a tart shell, she says. “I became obsessed with making them. I couldn’t stop myself,” she says of the versatile crust, which can be filled with savory or sweet ingredients and augmented with sugar and spices. “I learned to make anything I was craving into a tart.”

Wait a minute — isn’t a tart basically the same thing as a pie? And haven’t we already exhausted that trend? Chambers is quick to disagree.

To start, the crusts are a different consistency, she says. Whereas pie crusts are made with cold butter and are somewhat fluffy, tart shells are made with room-temperature butter and have a more cookie-like consistency. Also, tarts are free-standing and are not served in a pan. Not to mention that we’ve never seen any pie quite as gourmet as Chambers’ tarts.

Chocolate ganache tart.

The mini-masterpieces ­— produced out of Union Kitchen in Northeast D.C. — are stunning to look at, and are equally delicious. Chambers prepares them in such elevated flavors as dried fruit and red wine compote with goat cheese, poached pears and winter spices; smoked salmon with cream cheese, sour cream, carrots, celery, fennel and radish; and mascarpone blended with clove and topped with grapefruit and candied peel.

She even makes the peanut butter from scratch (with a touch of mascarpone, of course) for her PB and chocolate ganache tart.

The tarts have caught the eye of people looking for something notable at their special events, especially weddings. “I’m trying to change the way people think about what you can do with a tart,” Chambers says.