Blackberries

* You know we’re deep in summer when blackberries are everywhere.

Plums Cafe & Catering: For breakfast, get a golden blackberry scone or a blackberry muffin with cinnamon streusel topping. For dessert, a berry tartlet--vanilla mascarpone cheese piled high with boysenberries, strawberries, blueberries and strawberries on a sugar cookie crust--or a sour cream cheesecake with blackberries on homemade gingersnap crust. (Scones and muffins, $1.75; berry tartlet, $3.75; blackberry cheesecake slice, $4.25; whole cake, $32.) Plums Cafe & Catering, 369 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa, (949) 548-7586.

Lucques: Pastry chef Kim Sklar uses blackberries and Elegant Lady peaches for her peach ice cream Napoleon: peach ice cream, blackberry compote and a little creme fraiche sandwiched between layers of caramelized puff pastry--and lusciously spilling out a little too. (Peach ice cream Napoleon, $8.) Lucques, 8474 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, (323) 655-6277.

Juice Fountain: This little stand in the heart of Hollywood makes its smoothies with fresh fruit, whole milk and whole yogurt. The tangy “blackberry dream” version is flavored with blackberries and pineapple with a touch of honey. (Blackberry dream, $3.50.) Juice Fountain, 1616 N. Vine St., Hollywood, (323) 464-8986.

Tutti Gelati: With advance notice, this place will make a blackberry sorbet with the perfect balance of tart and sweet. It’s nothing but water, blackberries and sugar. (Blackberry sorbet: small, $2.35; large, $4.75; pint, $6.95; quart, $13.95.) Tutti Gelati, 62 W. Union St., No. 1, Pasadena, (626) 440-9800.

Chadwick: This simple summer dessert couldn’t be more satisfying: blackberries, brown butter and eggs baked in a sugar crust, finished off with homemade vanilla ice cream and a mulberry-blackberry sauce. (Brown butter blackberry tart, $9.) Chadwick, 267 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (310) 205-9424.

Julienne: The individual blackberry tartlet here comes with “sweet cream” (sour cream and cream cheese with vanilla and sugar) and fresh mint. The blackberry bread pudding, made with homemade French bread, is served with berry coulis. The tri-berry cobbler (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries) has a crumble topping. (Blackberry tartlet, $5.50; blackberry bread pudding, piece $5.50, whole pudding $40; tri-berry cobbler, piece $5.50, whole cobbler $40.) Julienne, 2649 Mission St., San Marino, (626) 441-2299.