Brief ice cream round-up: Coolhaus and L'Arte del Gelato

It's after Memorial Day, which means we are in full-on ice-cream-every-day-until-October mode. A quick recap of some of the ice creams we're eating:

First, Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches.



This particular one is dirty mint chip ice cream between double chocolate cookies. Coolhaus is a food truck, and it has more adventurous flavors you can try (like Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch cookies, and Fried Chicken and Waffles ice cream). And they have more chocolatey flavor combinations, as we have eaten previously. But this one hit the spot. Fresh mint, chewy chocolatey cookie, and I am happy.

Next up, L'Arte Del Gelato. Continuing in my mint-and-chocolate flavor combination craze, this is a scoop of mint chip gelato with a scoop of Valrhona chocolate gelato. I got it from the L'Arte del Gelato stand on the Highline.



It's okay. I mean, if you're nearby, and you're in the mood for gelato, definitely eat it. But I have to agree with David: I've eaten L'Arte del Gelato a number of times and have never been blown away. There is gelato in this city that I would journey to eat--L'Albero dei Gelati, for example--but L'Arte del Gelato is not one of them.

BOTTOM LINE: Thank goodness it is ice cream season at last. I mean, I was eating a lot of ice cream even when it wasn't ice cream season. But at least now that feels more culturally desirable.

Shake Shack concrete

I go to Shake Shack a fair amount, but I've never actually gotten a milkshake there, despite its name. Instead I go for the concretes. A concrete is custard (so frozen, but soft) with different toppings spun into it.

There are a lot of toppings to choose from, but I generally go with a Shack Attack, because it is chocolatiest: chocolate custard with fudge sauce, chocolate truffle cookie dough and Mast Brothers dark chocolate chunks, topped with chocolate sprinkles.



BOTTOM LINE: How can you possibly go wrong with this?

Lula's Sweet Apothecary

Lula's is probably the reigning favorite vegan ice cream shop in NYC, and has been for as long as I can remember.  They recently closed for a while, allegedly due to some dispute between the owners, but they are open now, and rejoicing is abundant.

Their chocolate ice cream is good, but honestly no better than a number of others we've reviewed.  What's nice is that they are an actual shop, where everything is vegan.  So you can get a vegan egg cream, a vegan milkshake, a vegan float, a vegan sundae, etc.

To give you an idea of the quality, the first time I went there (many years ago), I didn't realize it was vegan and ordered a chocolate egg cream.  I thought, "This is pretty good, but it's nothing special.  Ray's makes a way better egg cream just down the block.  Why does everyone make such a big deal about this place?"  But notice that (1) I thought it was pretty good and (2) I did not realize it was vegan.

Bottom Line: There is no particularly compelling reason to go to Lula's if you're not vegan, but if you are, and you're craving a real ice cream parlor experience, then Lula's is a great -- and as far as I'm aware unique -- option.

Hot Chocolate...?

So we went camping and made hot chocolate out of melted-down Chocolove 70% bars.  Plus a small amount of almond milk or soy milk or something.  But mostly just melted chocolate bars:

WOW.  It was amazing.  I was very impressed by how dark it was.  It tasted less sweet than the bars themselves.  And it was thick.  And it was warm.  So perfect.

But we used about 8 bars, so we had some leftover.  By the time we were ready for bed, it was a delicious chocolate pudding!  We then put it in a pot, closed the lid, and went to sleep.

By the time we woke up, it was one of the greatest chocolate ice creams I'd ever had:

This is the reverse of Fresco, who makes hot chocolate by melting gelato.  We made ice cream by freezing hot chocolate.  I cannot possibly recommend it highly enough.

Bottom Line: Ok, right now, I want everyone to take all your chocolate bars, melt them down, throw in a touch of milk, and freeze it.  Do it.  You will not regret it.

Wink Cocoa Dough Frozen Dessert and So Delicious Chocolate Greek Yogurt

Ok, guys.  This is a PSA.  "Cocoa-Dough" sounds like the most delicious thing in the world, but apparently it tastes like NYC roadside slush.

The yogurt, like most of the So(y) Delicious products, was palatable.

But really, it's stuff like this Wink junk that gives vegans a bad name.

Bottom Line: Be careful out there.

Raw Ice Cream Company Vegan Chocolate Ice Crean

So, I'm not gonna lie.  This doesn't taste quite like normal ice cream.  I'm not really sure how to describe it.  Actually, I do know how to describe it: it tastes like cheap ice cream.  Like Breyers or something.  Only, very bizarrely... kind of delicious?  And also much more expensive.  Of course.

The thing to note is that it is very chocolatey considering that it is not sorbet and considering that it is a fairly light shade of brown, indicating a high "cream"-to-chocolate ratio.  I had a non-vegan friend try it with me, and she confirmed that it was surprisingly good.

Bottom Line: If you want a chocolatey frozen treat, and you see this, you will probably be very happy.  But do not take a bite expecting regular ice cream.  Take a bite expecting Breyers, and you will be pleasantly surprised.  

Amorino Chocolate Sorbet

I had eaten Amorino sorbet and gelato before, and I was not particularly impressed, especially with the gelato.

I recently went back, and I got the sorbet by itself.  It was a much more satisfying experience.  The gelato is obviously high-end, but it's just not that chocolatey.  The sorbet solves that problem, as sorbets are wont to do.  And you have to give Amorino credit for having lots of chocolate flavors.

Bottom Line: If you are in the mood for some chocolate sorbet in Greenwich Village, especially if you are in the mood for chocolate sorbet mysteriously served as if it were a flower, I begrudgingly have to recommend Amorino, despite prior biases.

Uncle Gino's Italian Ices Truck

A nice day outside is a perfect occasion for some ices!  Ever since I was little, I've loved italian ices.  I'm still not sure how they are technically different from sorbet, but they seem to have a slightly different texture somehow?

Anyways, the Uncle Gino's truck was parked by Union Square, and they did a very nice job.  Nothing will ever top Pizza Town (RIP), but it was sweet, chocolatey, and cold.

Bottom Line: A convenient source of chocolate italian ices. 

Cafe Blossom Vegan Chocolate Shake

I went back to Blossom for another amazing vegan cheeseburger.  This time I got a chocolate shake:

It was pretty good.  Definitely good for vegan.  But you could tell it was vegan -- it had that sort of mediciney taste... which is not as bad as it sounds, but if you've had enough of these things, you know what I mean.

Bottom Line:  I'm not really sure if there are much better vegan chocolate milkshakes around, but this did not blow me away.

Van Leeuwen Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream

I never raved about Van Leeuwen.  They use 99% Michel Cluizel chocolate, which I love, so theoretically I should, but it was always too creamy for me.  We've discussed my thoughts on ice cream.

But when you're getting vegan ice cream, your standards drop.  Probably this isn't as good as their regular ice cream, even, but for vegan it is pretty darn excellent.  

Bottom Line: If for some reason you want vegan ice cream rather than sorbet, this is a really good option.

The Chocolate Room Chocolate-Mint Milkshake

I went back to the Chocolate Room, which, as we have said again and again, is one of our favorite places for chocolate in the city. This time my friend Kendra and I split a milkshake that was half chocolate and half fresh mint chip.



What can I say? It was a pure delight. Their mint chip is not peppermint, it is fresh mint, so it takes a little getting used to, but once you're in it, there's no turning back. Their chocolate ice cream is always wonderful. The milkshake itself was large enough that Kendra and I each got a full one of these cups.

BOTTOM LINE: The Chocolate Room never disappoints. They don't even know how to.

Kohr's

I went to Seaside Heights, home of the TV show "The Jersey Shore," for the first time last weekend. Much like Coney Island, the Seaside Heights boardwalk, while awesome, does not have many fresh ice cream options. It's a lot of Hershey's and soft serve. Unlike Coney Island, however, the Seaside Heights boardwalk has Kohr's.



Kohr's has been around for nearly a century. They make some hard ice creams but they specialize in custard, which the scooper told me was ice cream with an egg added into it to give it a smoother, more whipped texture. (Think whipped cream cheese versus normal cream cheese. Only ice cream, not cream cheese, duh.)



I got the chocolate custard, and it was pleasant, though nothing to write home about. The texture was quite nice, but it did not have a very strong chocolatey taste. The sugar cone was godawful-- if you go, just get a cup.

One thing Kohr's has going for it is a storefront placed roughly every three blocks along the boardwalk, each one with ever-so-slightly different flavors, so if you don't see what you're looking for at the first stop, just walk a little.

BOTTOM LINE: Not too remarkable or too chocolatey, but on a summer day on the Jersey Shore, Kohr's hits the spot.

L'Albero dei Gelati

When I first heard there was going to be a new gelato place in Park Slope, I have to admit I was dubious. I mean, this is Park Slope in the year 2013. It's not a neighborhood lacking for gelato. This new place was opening within a few blocks of two of my most beloved dessert venues, Culture and Caramello, so I just didn't see what new things it could bring to the table. The dessert table, so to speak.

But now that I have been to L'Albero dei Gelati, I will never doubt again. This place is awesome. It's owned and run by a couple from Milan; this is their first outpost in the United States. The gelato here is top-notch. Most of the media surrounding this place has focused on the savory gelato flavors that they offer, but let's get serious: all that matters is the quality of their chocolate gelato, which is superb. The texture is exactly right.



And they don't just sell gelato in this place. They have actual food, like classy, delightful meat and cheese platters. Obviously I didn't get those, because I was focusing my appetite on chocolate. But they also offer delicious pastries, cookies, cakes, and mousse. Here, for example, is a crispy nut cookie sandwich with a thick, nutella-like filling.



This thing is also awesome, and it only cost $2.25! There was a large selection of similarly delicious looking basked goods that I need to go back to try. Oh, and I need to go back soon because there is a beautiful backyard garden that I need to sit in.



BOTTOM LINE: A neighborhood can never have too many good chocolate options.

Emmy's Chocolate Macaroons, Superfood Cereal Cacao Crunch, and Cashewtopia Chocolate "Ice Cream"

I took another trip to Organic Avenue and stocked up on some vegan things:

Here is some foreshadowing: this was a successful trip.

The superfood cereal was great.  It was basically just very chocolatey granola.  I poured the giant bag down my throat in one afternoon.

The macaroons were really good too.  Not quite as good as the Hail Merry ones, but given that I don't love macaroons and that I really enjoyed these, that says a lot.

Lastly, the Cashewtopia-brand vegan ice cream... I'm going to say it was the best vegan chocolate ice cream I've ever had.  I have a longstanding preference for sorbet over ice cream or gelato, so I always vote vegans go that route, but if you want something creamy, this was really excellent.

Bottom Line: At this point, there is absolutely no reason a vegan needs to settle for chocolate bars.  Excellent options abound.

Dominique Ansel Bakery Frozen S'more

Most people at this point are aware of Soho hotspot Dominique Ansel Bakery as the creator of the cronut.



What you may not know is that Dominiqe Ansel is also, as of late, the creator of the frozen s'more. Now, we here at Chocolate NYC are big s'more fans, and we are also big fans of frozen desserts, so obviously I needed to check this out.

When I got to Dominique Ansel this afternoon, there was a fair line, but nothing like the line that I've heard gathers there prior to opening every morning as people desperately wait three hours for a cronut.

I did not see "frozen s'more" listed on the menu, so maybe it is some secret thing and I was ordering "off-menu," which sounds cool. Or maybe I just didn't read the board carefully enough.

Nonetheless, I got my frozen s'more. It cost more than $7. Right away, this put me on edge. I understand that a frozen s'more is a unique innovation, unavailable anywhere else, and therefore Dominique Ansel can capitalize on having a frozen s'more monopoly - but really? Seven dollars? This felt like a trick.

For the first few bites, this just seemed to be a giant marshmallow that had been browned with an electric lighter. It was not frozen. It was an excellent, artisanal marshmallow, to be sure, but still just a normal roasted marshmallow.



I ate a little further and eventually came to the frozen bit. This was buried inside the marshmallow, encased on all sides, which seems challenging for a pastry chef to manage. Is it seven dollars worth of challenging? Eh.



The frozen bit inside was some ice cream (I think vanilla?) and some delicious chocolate crunchy things. There weren't that many of the chocolate crunchy things, though. There was an extremely high marshmallow-to-frozen/chocolate stuff ratio, to the point where I even threw away some marshmallow at the end.

Guys, it was okay. It was in no way $7 worth of impressive.

I think the lesson we have now learned twice is that s'mores are perfect with grocery store graham crackers, jet-puffed marshmallows, and a bar of Hershey's. Every time someone tries to complicate that, I just get disappointed.

BOTTOM LINE: I still love the idea of a frozen s'more and want to see it perfected. This version is, at best, a first step down that road.

Fresco: Still the best

Our recent silence on the subject serves only to show the persistant truth.

Jean-Georges' Warm Chocolate Cake

Yes, everyone serves one of these now.  But you have to give Jean-Georges credit for popularizing it.  And his is probably still the best.

Don't make a beginner's mistake: always substitute out the vanilla ice cream for chocolate

The molten center gets me every time.

Bottom Line: There might be more original, or even better, chocolate cakes in existence now, but this is an indisputable classic.

Carvel

There is a time and place for everything.

Eddie's Sweet Shop

The weather this weekend was beautiful, and beautiful weather means one thing: ice cream. I was tromping around Forest Park, in Queens, an outdoor space that I selected for my tromping because of its proximity to Eddie's Sweet Shop.

This is what Eddie's Sweet Shop looks like:





It's close to a century old and has a wonderful old-fashioned vibe, complete with classic frozen concoctions like malts, egg creams, and massive banana splits heaped with homemade whipped cream. Apparently an episode of Boardwalk Empire was shot here. These dudes have been here since Eddie's opened:



I ordered a float, which is a milkshake of the flavor of your choice, poured atop a scoop of ice cream, again the flavor of your choice. I got a scoop of mint chocolate chip floating in a chocolate shake. You know, because I am so unpredictable. Here is what my float looked like when it arrived at my table:



Here is what my float looked like about ten minutes later:



I will say that the quality of the ice cream was okay. It wasn't intensely flavorful, like Fresco. It didn't have a lot of crazy flavors, like Ample Hills. "Maple Walnut" was about as crazy as it got, here at Eddie's.

But I forgave them all of this because they were not trying for the artisan food crowd. They predate that nonsense (nonsense that David and I fully embrace, obviously), and they may outlast it, as well. They're an old-fashioned soda shop. The place was filled with a elementary school girls' soccer team who'd just won a match, and parents who were getting scoops for their kids while buying giant sundaes for themselves. It's okay that the chocolate ice cream wasn't made from Michel Cluizel 72% or whatever. It still made me feel happy.

BOTTOM LINE: The ice cream itself is adequate, and the ice cream-eating experience is a true delight.

16 Hundles

16 Handles is a chain of frozen yogurt stores.  16 Hundles is apparently their branch in the East Village:

There is some case to be made that this says "16 Hindles," but I am 99% sure it says "Hundles."

Anyways, I'm usually an ice cream/gelato snob.  I don't much care for frozen yogurt.  But I went here with a friend, because why not.  Their yogurt was about as boring as expected.  But then this happened:

Cookie dough, mochi, chocolate chips, brownies, graham cracker crumbs, and hot fudge.

Ok, I get it now.  Sorry for doubting you, trendy frozen yogurt chain.

Bottom Line: I guess sometimes going the healthy route pays off.