Where to Eat Ice Cream in New York Right Now

“Visit the new Flushing outpost of the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.
Since 1978, the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory has been cranking out ice cream in flavors like durian, litchi, Thai iced tea, and pandan to critical acclaim. This year, the family-owned business expanded its footprint with a second location in the city’s second-largest Chinatown: Flushing, Queens. With the new location come exclusive new flavors, including gochujang chocolate as well as misugaru (a Korean grain powder) and cookies that’ll taste great after a self-guided Flushing food tour.”

See more spots for ice cream here.

 

The Nutella Cafe is finally opening in Union Square

“Nutella stans of the eastern seaboard, your time has finally come: the Nutella Cafe in New York City opens on Nov. 14, in all of its ridiculously decadent, Instagrammable glory. In case you have not also been tracking this cafe so intensely that employees at Google are probably concerned about your Nutella search history, a bit of background: in June, Ferrero announced the opening of a Nutella cafe in the Big Apple, marking the second such cafe in the U.S. after the original opened in Chicago in 2017. The menu at the Chicago location is already drool-worthy enough — now, many of those fan favorites are about to hit the New York location, which also includes new menu items that will make your Nutella-loving heart sing.

Before we even get into the menu, though, you need to know that this new cafe is a capital E Experience, from the decor to the merchandise to ordering the food itself. The new cafe, which is located in Union Square, is so Instagram-worthy that it has attracted crowds long before its opening. The front door is a Nutella jar; the ceiling is crafted to replicated Nutella spread; even the light fixtures are based off of the yellow flower on the iconic Nutella jar. The place is wall-to-wall Nutella, lined with unique merchandise, a gelato station, a coffee station, shelves of Nutella goods, and a massive light fixture that says “Nutella” on it that covers an entire wall.”

View more here.

 

Ice Cream gets Honored With Its Own Museum

MUSEUM OF ICE CREAM .jpgBeginning in August, the meatpacking district will be home to a new museum dedicated to the wonderful world of ice cream, where guests can play in an ice cream-themed playground, learn about the history of the cold treat, and of course try samples. Co-founders Maryellis Bunn and Manish Vora originally embarked on the project last year in order to fulfill Bunn’s childhood dream of being able to swim in a pool of sprinkles. That specific fantasy will be available to all visitors at the museum, where the pair have filled a life-size pool with sprinkles that may not be edible, but are designed to look and feel exactly like the kind usually seen on sundaes.

The rest of the exhibit, which is sponsored in part by Tinder, features a playground with equipment like an ice cream scoop seesaw and ice cream sandwich swing, a tasting lab with weekly rotating flavors from New York ice cream shops, plus sculptures, paintings and murals throughout the maze-like space. Black Tap and Oddfellows have already been announced as partners.

Tickets are $18 for single admission or $30 for a couple. To read more, click here.

Cold Brew In An Ice Pop!

cold brew pop

Cold-brew coffee, emphasis on the cold, is what you get in this new ice pop from Brewla, a company whose other flavors are fruit based. The bar is a lightly sweetened mixture of the coffee and organic milk.

Brewla was founded by Daniel and Rebecca Dengrove, a brother and sister team with over 15 years of experience in food science and technology. The idea for Brewla Bars was born when the budding entrepreneur Daniel noticed an untapped market at the intersection between popular high-end juices and the boom in trendy frozen yogurt. A rising star in the beverage industry, Rebecca zeroed in on teas with health boosts. Although the concept was originally for a brick-and-mortar store, the siblings’ full-time jobs and cross-country residences created roadblocks, so Rebecca rented space in the industrial kitchen at her old graduate school, decorated a rolling freezer, and Brewla Bars began.

Brewla Barista, box of five, $5.99 at Union Market stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn, brewlabars.com.

La Newyorkina Set to Open This Summer

custom.jpg

We’re excited to announce that good colleague and friend Fany Gearson, the chef and co-owner of Dough and mastermind behind Mexican sweets maker La Newyorkina, will be opening an ice cream shop of the same name this summer. Although some may be craving the refreshing treats already in this Spring weather, hopefully the months will fly by until June or July, when La Newyorkina will open at 240 Sullivan Street. The shop will be a “celebration of Mexican sweets,” says Gearson, who grew up in Mexico City.

One thing is for sure – the options available will keep guests coming back well into Fall and Winter. Expect over 15 types of ice cream and slushy, at least 30 flavors of paletas, fruit flavored chamuyadas (imagine the best slushy you’ve ever had), and a brand new frozen treat for Gearson: the nieve de garrafa, a delicate frozen custard churned with a paddle.

We’d like to offer our congratulations to Fany, and look forward to visiting with joy and excitement.

To read more, click here.

 

 

The Chocolate-Bone Broth No One Saw Coming

BrodoChoc.jpg

Photo via Grubstreet.com

Trends have a way of folding in on themselves – stretching their own limits and testing their customers taste buds in the process. Bone broth, the trendy hot health drink which took off last winter with Marco Canoro’s Brodo is the latest example. This year, Canoro is teaming up with Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream on Rivington (which also opened last year) to open a pop-up window shop with some unexpected new mashups.

In addition to the full Brodo broth menu, the shop will offer the “What Came First” (organic egg yolk, freshly grated nutmeg, organic chicken broth), a savory take on eggnog, and the “St. Nick” (bitter chocolate, beef broth, coconut milk). Canoro calls the savory-broth-cocoa “fucking outrageous,” which is a bargain at $7.75 for ten ounces. TBD on whether New Yorkers will take to this combo the way they did to the original broths, but who knows what’s possible in this post-chocolate-and-bacon-trend world. At least customers can still tout the health benefits of the broth, with the added kick of dark chocolate.

To read more, click here.

St. Nick.jpg

Photo via Grubstreet.com

OddFellows turns into an Ice Cream Sandwich Shop

oddfellows-sandwich-shop03.w600.h400The OddFellows location on East 4th Street will transform into a sandwich shop this Friday. The menu will be entirely devoted to ice-cream sandwiches. Sam Mason’s menu will include items more appropriate for the colder seasons: ice cream and toppings stuffed into a brioche bun warmed on a panini press. There will also be customizable ice-cream sandwiches which offer a choice of flavor, topping crunch, and one of five cookies. OddFellows will continue to offer their unique favored flavors like corn-bread, vanilla bean, etc. and will offer cookies like spiced ginger, oatmeal and chocolate chip. However, while customers can customize their own ice-cream sandwich, there will be a signature creations menu including the Corn-bread Odd Pocket which is corn-bread ice cream, cornflake crunch, and blueberry compote inside a toasted brioche sandwich. Other signature sandwiches are S’mores, which has s’mores-marshmallow ice cream, marshmallow sauce, graham-cracker, and a chocolate cookie, The Classic, which is vanilla-bean ice cream, chocolate wafer, salted caramel and hazelnut, and the Chocolate Chunk, chocolate-chunk ice cream, coffee crispies, and hot fudge.

To read more, click here.

Retail Spotlight: La Newyorkina

la-newyorkina_650_20130521Their Success…While temperature and humidity levels are at its extremes in New York City, New Yorkers and tourists alike are taking their spare time along the highline. The highline boasts as an iconic glimpse into the past and present of New York City where people can indulge in both nature and the city’s skylines on a historic walkway. A common thread for people walking the highline is that people are looking for ways to escape the summer heat. It is almost inevitable for people to not seek a fresh, cold relief. La Newyorkina utilizes this demand and conveniently stands on 30th St. and 17th St. attracting many consumers with their ice pop cart. La Newyorkina serves paletas, a traditional Mexican ice pop, in an array of flavors that change seasonally. They have both regular sized paletas, at $4, and mini sized paletas, at $1. The mini sized paletas is a popular choice for children as the “regular sized” paletas are deemed to run a lot bigger than an average ice pop.

Their clean crisp white cart exacerbates the fresh and clean vibes of the product, which identifies with consumer demands after a long, hot sweaty walk on the highline. Moreover, La Newyorkina doesn’t hesitate to brand their cart and their menu board with their logo and their Mexican themed ice pop. While other vendors do exist, these vendors have aligned themselves next to each other, making consumer options broader, which potentially draw customers away. However, La Newyorkina distinguishes themselves and locates themselves in a similar area, where traffic is heavy, but still distancing themselves to be noticed. La Newyorkina is a stand-alone cart with no seats like other vendors offer so most consumers buy a paleta and continue their walk on the highline. This creates more opportunity for more customers. As people walk down the highline those who already have a paleta in hand are already cooling down and indulging in their ice pop, which draws attention to those who are dehydrated and hot. These consumers are potentially persuaded to attain their own ice pop to help them survive the walk, and because La Newyorkina stands at both ends of the highline, the paletas will be easily accessible to new consumers.

Take Aways…La Newyorkina doesn’t fail to attract consumers and create traffic. La Newyorkina is on target with consumer demands during the summer months, and is on trend with consumer eating behavior. Many consumers are seeking for fresh and healthy foods, and La Newyorkina boasts their paletas to be fresh and local. Their ice pops are sourced from NY farmers and nearby organic dairy, fruits and herb vendors. Ingredients that cannot be acquired locally like tamarind, and other Mexican ingredients are imported in by small producers in Mexico. Moreover, Fany Gerson, Founder of La Newyorkina, hand-makes her products from scratch in small batches.

La Newyorkina offers a healthy satisfaction in an array of unique flavors- Hibiscus, Cucumber Lime, Fresh Coconut, Avocado, Tamarind, Horchata, Cajeta, and Mango-Chile. These unique flavors are, ultimately, a leading factor to their success as it attracts consumers through multiple platforms- social media, by-standers.

Babu Ji redefines NYC’s Ice Cream Wars

As the humidity and heat rises in New York City, social media feeds have been buzzing around trending ice cream parlors. In recent years, gourmet ice cream shops have been spurring up in New York City and this summer is no different. Babu Ji is the latest contestant in this “ice cream war” and isn’t shying away from challenging the market.

While Babu Ji offers an array of traditional Indian fCard, Pista, Honey Kulfi Mikey Pozarikoods, it’s trademark is the Kulfi Ice Cream. New Yorkers are no stranger to Kulfi as it has already entered the market in the past through grocery vendors and other traditional Indian restaurants. However, the Kulfi at Babu Ji is unique in that Jessi Singh, the restaurant’s chef and co-owner, invests almost an entire day into making a Kulfi. Continuous stirring of the milk base and adjustments of temperature create a consistency different from an average ice cream. Kulfi has a more chewy texture that is smooth, creamy and dense and in the last bites there is cardamom and pistachio. Babu Ji offers only one flavor right now but Singh intends to bring more flavors with local fruits and in “clove-and-ginger-charged chai.”

Not only does Singh invest hours into creating Kulfi but hopes to offer a nostalgic and traditional aura to his customers. Kulfi is “the only thing that cools you down in the afternoons in India where long summers days with 100 percent humidity and no proper electricity exists. Moms and grandmas often make Kulfi to cheer others up” says Singh. Singh also uses traditional metal molds directly from India to enhance the Kulfi experience to that of India.

To read more about Babu Ji’s Kulfi, click here.

Babu Ji – 175 Avenue B, New York, NY 10009

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams Recalled for Listeria

Just days after the massive recall of every single Blue Bell Ice Cream product on shelves throughout the country, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is doing the exact same thing.  After a random sampling done by Nebraska Department of Agriculture found contamination, the company has opted to recall every ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt, and ice cream sandwich in every flavor.

Listeria is a significant concern for manufacturers, as the infections can be fatal for young children, frail or older people, and those with weak immune systems.  In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.  As such, Jeni’s has voluntarily recalled everything it sells: “Out of an abundance of caution, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is taking this voluntary precautionary measure in order to ensure complete consumer safety,” noted CEO John Lowe.

The company is working with 10 top scientists, third-party labs in Columbus and throughout Ohio, four people with the FDA, and three people from the Ohio Department of Agriculture to help test and sample the products.  Results from these tests thus far indicate the presence of Listeria in the Jeni’s production kitchen.

Now, Lowe notes, they are focusing on “eradicating it” from the production facility–which will be tested and retested after the sterilization.

Unfortunately, as mentioned, Listeria outbreaks are going through a rash of occurrences–Sabra, Blue Bell, and now Jeni’s all in a single month.  To read more, click here.