All around the world with this ice cream!
WHAT: Santa's Milk & Cookies
⚪️ 1 scoop of Santa's Milk & Cookies!
⚫️ cone: Peppermint Candy rim
WHERE: Oddfellows Ice Cream, East Village
WHIT’s scale out of 5:
Creativity: 😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄
Ice cream + Passport!
Beautiful!
STORY: After having lunch, my friend and I met up with a couple of other friends we knew from grad school. FOR ICE CREAM! Today I had felt like roaming around West Village, and therefore chose Dominique Ansel's kitchen as our next ice cream testing ground. Typically Ansel's kitchen is known for its famous cronut, which ironically was not available at the West Village location. However! They did have soft serve ice cream :) Which is what I came for, of course.
One of the primary reasons why I chose Dominique Ansel's was because I previously checked their Instagram account and it turns out that day, Sunday, October 16, was the very last day of the soft serve season for Dominique Ansel's Kitchen. Noooo!! 😱
Therefore, I definitely had to try it. And try I did!
WHAT: Soft Serve - 2 Flavors swirled together!
⚪️(L) Ice Cream Base: Burrata Milk
⚫️Toppings: Balsamic Caramel Microbasil, & whole strawberry confit
⚪️(R) Ice Cream Base): Salt & Pepper Caramel
⚫️ Toppings: Crispy Potato Gaufrett, Devil's Food Cake bites, & Maldon Sea Salt
WHERE: Dominique Ansel's Kitchen, West Village
WHIT’s scale out of 5:
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THOUGHTS: Did you ever read Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? And have you read the part about chewing gum that was essentially a four-course meal in itself? I felt that this ice cream treat I tried here was almost like that. In ice cream form.
My stomach said at the end, I ate a whole meal with this. Savory and sweet? All there! Vegetables and fruit? Yes! Chocolate? Check. The first thing I ate was the fried waffle-cut potato gaufrette (French for a fried potato wafer shaped like a waffle)! My taste buds was surprised at first, and then burst with savory happiness. (And hey, I ate a vegetable! LOL)
The Salt & Pepper Caramel half of the soft serve tasted like caramel candy that was very icy. Think Werther's candy (remember those from childhood? I do!) in soft serve form. I did notice that this soft serve was water-based. I also tasted pepper! Initially I could taste a hint of it and wished for more, but eventually after many licks it got there. I appreciated the peppery kick :)
Now I like basil, but it was a bit weird at first that a leaf of it was added as a topping. Kind of like salad + ice cream? IDK. Regardless, it was another vegetable I ate with this ice cream! YAY haha!
I really liked the cone that the ice cream was swirled into - it was like a candied waffle cone, glazed with a syrup that made it crunchier but melt-in-your-mouth, and sweet. More of these candied waffle cones, please! :)
After maybe about ten minutes of chatting with my friends and licking the ice cream, I hit upon sweet strawberry treasure!! Before reaching the bottom of the cone, there was the Strawberry Confit (if I apply the logic of duck confit to this, does this mean Strawberry was boiled/cooked in its own strawberriness? I'm curious why they named this strawberry as such. Hmm. 😳), which essentially looked to me like a strawberry fruit so doused in syrup that it was a strawberry gummy. It was also very chewy and sweet.
I think the devil's food cake was alright. However! The chocolate highlight for me existed at the bottom of my cone, which was lined with chocolate. I thought it was a nice finishing touch to the cone and this treat overall.
When their soft serve and hopefully these same two flavors come out again, I would like to try these separately! Between the two, the Salt & Pepper Caramel had a much stronger flavor than the Burrata, and the Balsamic Caramel (which were the dark brown dashes of balsamic vinegar on the Burrata side if you look closely at the photo) was lost in the other Caramel. I really wished I had tried it separately, and I almost did, meaning I would have gotten two soft serves, but my friends convinced me otherwise. Thank you for keeping my waist trim ;P
STORY: When Yelping through places to have lunch with a friend, I came upon 2nd City, a Filipino restaurant located in West Village. I looked through their reviews, and it sounded like a fabulous and unique Asian fusion place to eat at, with its menu containing entrees such as Poke Me, Bi-Curious Tacos, and lots of other fun-named ones. And then, I saw a review for its ube ice cream! Apparently the ube ice cream is a 'secret' menu item for which the password is "Tap that Ube".
My friend and I met up, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. She had the pancit bowl and I had the bi-curious tacos (chicken taco + fish taco), which were delicious. And then, I had to have their ice cream! (I ended up just asking for it without the password, seeing as how it was obviously on their menu board).
WHAT: Ube ice cream!
⚪️ Ice Cream Base: Ube
WHERE: 2nd City, in West Village
WHIT’s scale out of 5:
Creativity: 😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THOUGHTS: Delicious! Loved that they used real ube. And I was given an automatic two scoops without asking! How did I know they used real ube instead of artificial flavoring? They had small chunks of ube throughout the ice cream itself, and the ube 'meat' was very chewy and fibrous. Eating the ice cream was almost like a chewing exercise in itself that made you appreciate and savor the ube. This experience was well worth the $4 ice cream.
Ready for the MOIC!
AHH!!! 🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦 Museum of Ice Cream!
Where do I even begin?!
STORY: After waiting nearly two months (we purchased our tickets together back in early July, apparently tickets sold out in five days!), today (as in August 27) was the day! MOIC was located on Gansevoort Street, and across the street from the Whitney Museum. (How coincidental is that? Haha).
I met up with my ice cream team there around 2:40 pm. We had tickets for 3-4 pm. The line in front of us was long, and there was a checker who would come out every five minutes or so to check in with everyone, "All here for the 3 pm, right? 3 pm? 3 pm? 2:30? Come right this way". So it seemed like a pretty informal check in. There was a couple who had just got into line behind us, and when they said they had no tickets, the checker said, "Sorry :( I'm all sold out!" I also discovered that ticket scalpers also looked at MOIC, since a friend mentioned tickets were being sold and auctioned at around $100 on eBay. 😱
At 3 pm, the line started moving. Turns out they were letting in groups of 6-8 people in every few minutes. When our group of six was let in, we walked past a photo booth that used Boomerang. Really cute!
We were greeted with the first ice cream station, which the server introduced us to the flavor of the week, provided by Chinatown Ice Cream Factory! So it seemed every week, the ice cream was provided by a different creamery. She reached from underneath where the freezer was, and pulled out several cups of ice cream, placing them on the counter.
We each took one, and here's the review!
WHAT: Taro ice cream cup!
⚪️ Ice Cream Base: Taro
⚫️ Toppings: Lychee Boba & Strawberry Cream Pocky
WHERE: Museum of Ice Cream, 1st ice cream stop
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THOUGHTS: Delicious! Looks odd with the purple and being melted, however it tastes much better than it looks! On first scoop I spooned up several popping boba, which packed a refreshing and sweet punch to the taro ice cream. Though melted, the ice cream was creamy, though not as much as I'd like it to be. One smiley was taken off for Taste since I believe the taro ice cream was subtle, and demurred to the strawberry boba that had the stronger and fruity flavor. I really enjoyed the popping boba! It was the star of the ice cream cup. The strawberry pocky? Eh. It looked pretty but tasted like an afterthought.
🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦
Yum. Immediately after eating the ice cream, our next stop was a helium candy. It is a giant bubble that you can EAT! Our server made each bubble (which measured 8-10" tall) from a pump, and the bubble was blown through a Tropicana striped straw. While it had no taste, it was a lot of fun to play around with! One of our friends played with it so much that it actually burst onto her face lol!
Next stop was a "Did you know?" station. A guy dressed in all white greeted us, and as soon as we had everyone gathered, he quizzed and briefed us on the history of ice cream.
* Fun fact: The Chinese is credited with creating the first ice cream, possibly as early as 3000 BC!
*Another fun fact: George Washington spent $200 on ice cream, which is $5000 today! :O
Next up! The Chocolate room. This was definitely a transitional space. And it was the waiting room for the pool of SPRINKLES! It was a dark room measuring about 10' x 15' wide. Dimly lit, the room had several large screens screening streams of chocolate intertwining with each other... very sensual, as a friend pointed out :P There was also a large inflatable black mattress that you could throw yourself onto. The best part of this room, was the infinite supply of Dove dark chocolate. I ate three. And took four. For later. 😜 Our group waited about 10 minutes, and then FINALLY it was our turn!
SPRINKLES TIME! We were told to take off our shoes, and with them place our belongings to the side. Oh, and no diving, please. Okay.
After a few seconds of aww, we jumped, or rather, fell right in. SO MUCH fun!! We immediately started throwing sprinkles around and wading around. It was hard to move!! And then,
"Uh oh! I think I lost my phone!"
*gasps all around*
We all quickly rummaged around in the sprinkles, and then JH found it! Thankfully it hadn't been buried too deep. We started playing around in the sprinkles, taking photos, videos... all in the sprinkles! The pool of sprinkles smelled slightly stale, and I wondered if the museum crew ever sanitizes these sprinkles... Anyway, with our group we also had a couple who was playing around in the pool. After many photo ops and throwing sprinkles at each other, our 'guide' told us we had about two minutes left in the pool and we would need to leave for the next stop. One of the most epic moments in the pool was KD SWIMMING, breaststroke style 😝 It was very funny to watch. And then we looked up, and saw our reflection in a ceiling mirror!
It felt like no time passed, and then we were told our time with sprinkles was over! Next to where we had placed our belongings was a shelf with many jars of candy - swedish fish, sour patch, you name it. All free and you can take however much you want to! My friends took a whole lot xD
We walked into the next room, where we would learn about the magical Miracle Berry - which turns sour into sweet, whatever you eat! Eating lemons afterward? It would be sweet. The miracle berry docent gave us each a tablet, which was a reddish colored and dime-sized. We had to let it dissolve in our mouths, and whatever we tasted for the next 30 minutes would be sweet.
We then got the ice cream with LEMON SLICES (interesting combination) wedged onto the cone - here's the review of the ice cream!
WHAT: Vanilla soft serve + Lemon!
⚪️ Ice Cream Base: Vanilla
⚫️ Toppings: Lemon wedge (2)
WHERE: Museum of Ice Cream, 2nd ice cream stop
Creativity: 😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THOUGHTS: Hmm. After being given a miracle berry, and letting it dissolve on my tongue, we were handed soft serve ice cream. The two color swirls do not mean anything to my disappointment, I was hoping for a flavor kick. It still tasted like vanilla though :P But good, milky vanilla! Not like those water-based soft serve, which I dislike.
Once I bit into the lemon wedges, wow! It was (mostly) sweet lemon that should have been sour! The miracle berries worked! After chewing and savoring the sweet lemon juice, I proceeded to finish my ice cream. No real flavor change, just normal vanilla. I'm not a huge fan of soft serve, so this ice cream didn't wow me that much.
I really enjoyed the lemon slices - it tasted like sweet with a hint of sour, liquid candy. As I chewed through the cone, at the very bottom in the crevice were green chocolate covered sprinkles. I really appreciate that touch!
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The space we were in while we ate the soft serve ice cream was the second to last stop, and you could see outside of the museum storefront. At that point, it was an open gallery space featuring various artwork of ice cream. There was a vendor selling all items ice cream (and the miracle berries) - ice cream earrings, ice cream jewelry, and even an ice cream phone case! I really wanted the phone case, however it's meant for an iPhone 6 :( guess I'll find one for my 5!
The very last space we visited before exiting, was what I would call the playroom. It had an ice cream sandwich swing set, a seesaw shaped like an ice cream scoop, and a playfully wallpapered wall serving as backdrops for taking photos. PHOTO TIME!!
🍦 More Thoughts
Short museum experience. It was a short museum experience. Our time slot was from 3-4 pm, and while I think we did entered just before 3 pm, we came out at 3:40 pm. This museum was so hyped up that the time we spent in there and what we saw should have been longer. At each station we were probably there for a minimum of five minutes, max ten minutes.
Connectthe room experiences to each other. Helium candy? Chocolate room? Sprinkles? Each space had its distinct theme, but I don't see them as purely tied to ice cream. Also, in the chocolate room we had nothing to do except wait and eat chocolate. If you're going to work with chocolate, do something fun with it!!
Visualize the historyof ice cream. Words will come in and out of our ears, and if we see it, we'll most likely be able to remember it more.
Highlight of MOIC to be ice cream related. Yes, the pool of sprinkles was awesome. However, I strongly feel that the highlight of MOIC should have been purely ice cream, and not sprinkles (which is a topping!! Sprinkles should have its own museum then lol). (Also, literally my only takeaway from MOIC were sprinkles in my clothes...basically as I walked out of the museum, I left a trail of sprinkles LOL).
I hope MOIC comes around again, seeing as how fun and popular it was! If it does, I sincerely hope they increase the information you learn about ice cream, to how it's manufactured, how many different types of ice cream there are, how it's eaten/served throughout the world, etc. The list goes on.
More ice cream, please! 🍦
Yay!!
WHAT: Churro ice cream sandwich!
⚪️ Base: Espresso
⚫️ Sandwiched by: Mini churro cakes!
WHERE: Van Leeuwen ice cream truck, in front of Boqueria Flatiron!
Creativity: 😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY: At work, my friend & co-worker messaged me a link:
Free Van Leeuwen ice cream courtesy of Boqueria! And not just free ice cream, but it's churro ice cream sandwiches!! *OMG face*
When I arrived later after work, promptly at 7 pm, there was a HUGE. LONG. LINE.
Wow.
Despite the fact it was quite humid and hot out, it is still free ice cream! And from Van Leeuwen too, who makes delicious earl grey ice cream (I know they sell in Whole Foods in NY, check and see if they sell in yours!).
7:30 pm started rolling around, and by this time a quarter of the people had been served, and more people were lining up. At 8 pm, I was halfway through. And then, at 8:15 pm, I became almost the next person in line! As you can see in the photo below, there was a sign taped onto the window, detailing four flavors you could choose from to pair with churro cookies. Vanilla, chocolate, espresso, and salted caramel.
As the woman in front of me was about to get her churro ice cream sandwich, two other women who just came out of Boqueria, stood slightly behind her and took out their phones. Confused, the woman asked them, "Are you getting ice cream?" They responded, "Oh no! We're just taking photos of the ice cream people and truck!" Haha.
The woman then got her ice cream, and I heard the two women behind her exclaim, "Ice cream! Ahh let me take a photo of you!!" But she didn't. Aww.
It was then my turn to get ice cream, and I requested to get espresso, learning from the servers that out of the four flavors, espresso paired the best with the churro cookies. I dislike drinking coffee, but I like eating coffee ice cream!
As I waited, the women behind me asked me if they could take a photo of me with ice cream and the servers in the back. Of course haha! As long as they can also take a photo of me using my phone too 😉
And then AT LAST, I received my churro ice cream sandwich!
THOUGHTS: Mmm. I like the espresso ice cream! Ice cream was creamy, and was melting quickly (it must have been at least five minutes I spent with the women taking photos). No close up of the sandwich unfortunately :(
I liked the espresso because it was just enough coffee for me to handle - tasty and sweet. The churros sandwiching the ice cream together, though tiny cookies (2.5" diameter?), were warm and did pair very well with the espresso. I finished it in 4 bites. Mostly satisfied, but really wanted more ice cream. Churro ice cream sandwiches should be bigger lol.
Would I go back? For other flavors, yes. I don't plan to stand in line for 1.5 hours again for ice cream again in a while...
Dairy bar cow keychain! :3
WHAT: Alumni Swirl
⚪️ Base: Vanilla ice cream (with Cornell colored food dye)
⚫️ Swirled with: Tart cherry swirl & fudge pieces
WHERE: Dairy Bar at Cornell
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THOUGHTS: Seeing the red swirls, it felt like my taste buds would get a kick out of this flavor. In several licks, I did not taste the cherry, only vanilla. Seeking flavor, my taste buds were disappointed and the vanilla ice cream base didn't have that WOW factor for me either, so the fudge chunks mix-ins became the showstopper in this ice cream adventure. The density of the ice cream is surprisingly lighter and fluffier than ice creams I've had before. A little icy, and creamy. Would prefer more creaminess though.
STORY: With this July heat even in upstate NY for a weekend trip, this ice cream at Dairy Bar (Cornell's very own homemade ice cream) was a huge relief for a mid-day snack (also happened to be the hottest time of the day). Now that I've graduated from Cornell, I saw on the menu 'Alumni Swirl' and thought it would be very fitting to try this flavor. I also decided to get a Medium (three scoops).
My server: "You want a medium in a wafer cone???" *stunned look* "...this is going to be challenging...."
LOL.
Upon receiving my cone from the server, the cone was quite weighty after having three large scoops on top! She offered me a cup in case the ice cream started dripping/would topple over. Fortunately it didn't. *whew*
There was a mother next to me who was describing the flavor Alumni Swirl to her family, and I heard her say, "Oh! Alumni Swirl! It's Cherry Garcia." Overhearing this made me slightly uncomfortable. In my mind I was thinking, Uhh... Alumni Swirl has its own description and is made by Dairy Bar, there is no need for it to be synonymous with a Ben & Jerry's flavor. It can stand alone as is.
One thing you might have noticed in the photo is the cow! There were these two plastic containers of foamy cows placed very strategically next to the cash register. One container was a Dairy Bar cow keychain, the other a larger cow that was sold as a stress reliever.
I decided to get the keychain as a souvenir :) It'll be a while until the next time I come back for ice cream here. So long for now, Cornell!
Outside of the Dairy Bar building
Everyone's out for some ice cream!
3 Ice creams (4 if you count popsicles) tried out of 7 vendors from Brooklyn Flea! This is the first one.
WHAT: Traditional
⚪️ Base: Sweet milk ice cream
⚫️ Served with: Rose-pomegranate syrup, basil seeds, vermicelli noodles, topped with pomegranate seeds.
WHERE: Malai @ Brooklyn Flea!
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY: It's National Ice Cream Day! Once I arrived at Dumbo, I made a beeline towards the Brooklyn Flea, which is held underneath & next to the Manhattan Bridge archway. It was so hot, and I was sweating bullets when I arrived. Two of my friends would be accompanying me today, and would be arriving within a half hour.
I surveyed what was there - It turns out the Ice Cream Bonanza is integrated with the Brooklyn Flea. This is unlike the the 7 ice cream vendors were sporadically spread out. Four vendors were next to each other, and two others were interspersed with other non-ice cream vendors. My very first one that I would try would be Malai, a vendor who I had not tried or heard of before until today.
Menu
At first glance, their menu seems to stem from Indian roots. However after reading more into them from their FB page, their ice cream is actually inspired by "globally sourced whole ingredients, underutilized spices, and unexpected twists on old classics".
All menu items read as exotic, and I decided to try the Traditional.
THOUGHTS: The experience of seeing how the Traditional sundae (and likely all other sundaes) was very amusing. Each ingredient, save for the ice cream, was in a separate cup, and was made in front of your very eyes. In went the basil seeds first, then the vermicelli, ice cream, syrup, and finally garnished with pomegranate seeds. Wow.
I would call this more a ice cream parfait than a sundae. The only difference I see is it uses ice cream as a replacement for yogurt. Each ingredient layer was separate from each other. On first bite, juicy pomegranate burst into my mouth - which I liked. I detected a hint of spice, not sure whether it was from the milk ice cream or another ingredient. Scooping further down, I reached vermicelli, which oddly wasn't too odd eating with ice cream. Possibly because it's flavorless? Eating the basil seeds were weird though.
I'm wondering if there was a proper way to eat this ice cream sundae. I did not want to mix the ingredients together as I would in a normal yogurt parfait, because I did not want ice cream soup. And with this heat, 90+ degree weather, it was already becoming ice cream soup.
Would I try this again? I would be down to try the other menu items!
🍎+🍦 How I occasionally have my one Apple a day - Spiced Apple ice cream from Cayuga Creamery 😋
WHAT: Sprinkles Sundae
One scoop of Cherry Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between Red Velvet cupcake top & bottom
WHERE: Sprinkles @ UES
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THOUGHTS: DELICIOUS! Extraordinary combination of ice cream & cupcakes 😋 Cherry vanilla ice cream a little tart in my opinion. Cupcake was great :) I think this is a signature dish of Sprinkles, combining the best of both worlds.