The ribs- baked over beer between two cookie sheets before being tossed on the grill and sauced up- arrived hot, fall-off-the-bone, and very meaty.  The skin was drier than usual so we asked for extra sauce, a mandatory move, regardless of skin quality. The fries were spot on, crispy and cooked fresh.  Pass on the potato skins ($4), listed as a special, they arrived undercooked and underloaded.  The cabbagey cole slaw is sweet and light, a nice “palate cleanser” as King of Ketchup called it.  After the King and I polished off two racks of ribs each and paid our $64 bill, it was off to sugar Sweet sunshine for some of the city’s best Banana Pudding. 

The key to great Banana Pudding is simple: 1) Balanced ratio of ripe banana to Nilla wafer and 2) rich, creamy pudding.  sugar Sweet sunshine’s ratio favors the Nilla wafer, but it makes no difference, the pudding is so sweet and decadent, you’re forced to sit down in one of their comfy armchairs and enjoy the knee-buckling deliciousness. A $4 small cup is more than enough for two people. Their cupcakes are great as well, better than Magnolia’s. Go with the Ooey Goey (chocolate cake with dark chocolate almond buttercream frosting), it’s the co-owner Deb’s favorite. 

I don’t get excited for cupcakes (sSs’s Ooey Gooey with chocolate almond buttercream frosting atop chocolate cake is my #1) but when it comes to banana pudding, I make sure I’m sitting when eating sugar Sweet sunshine’s swoon-inducing version.  Read on to find out why…

It’s all about the perfect three-way ratio.  In this case soft, ripe banana to crumbled Nilla wafer to orgasmic vanilla pudding.  Everything melds together into a decadent, knee-weakening pudding of deliciousness.  There’s no better way to describe it, you just need to get down there and taste it.

And you’ll be happy you did because sugar Sweet sunshine is a place that (when there’s no line snaking out the door) hugs you with both frosting coated arms, lifts you and your taste buds, and calmly deposits your smiling soul onto a cozy couch or comfy chair.  While you shake your head in disbelief at just how damn good your banana pudding really is, sweetness flows from the open kitchen, where co-owner Deb can usually be seen frosting layer cakes or cupcakes in.  This is a place every neighborhood, in every town or city, should wish for.