Tag Archives: east village

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

5 May

I had heard only great things about the treats at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and I heard they swapped out the truck to build the brand with some brick and mortar stores in NYC and beyond. They are currently in the East Village, West Village, and Downtown LA.  So when searching for a place to grab a quick treat on Memorial Day, Big Gay Ice Cream Shop came up on the map and decided to finally try it.

The line was pretty long and it took us a solid 20 minutes to get to the front, but boy was it worth it.

They changed over to soft serve in conjunction with Ronnybrook Farms, but in my opinion, the ice cream plays second fiddle to the toppings (and the combination and presentation of them).  You can roll over all the flavors on this website to get the full menu.

I was excited about The Salty Pimp: Vanilla ice cream, dulce de leche, sea salt, and a chocolate dip.  But I also saw that there was a Nutella lined waffle cone on the menu, so I couldn’t resist. The woman behind the counter informed me that what I was asking for was more of a Monday Sundae, but that came with a chocolate vanilla twist ice cream and whipped cream, but no dip.  So I asked for that dipped and she obliged.

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And it was amazing.  Too amazing.

Not only do they put Nutella into the cone before the ice cream, but they also add some ice cream to the bottom, then layer in more Nutella the more ice cream on top and then toppings.  The Nutella in the middle hardens just a bit to create a delicious bite in the texture.  It was heaven.  And the sea salt put it over the top.

This place is dangerous.

 

 

Prune for Dinner

2 May

Mike and I have been to Prune before, but only for (a marvelous) brunch. Prune was so marvelous, in fact, that it ranked in at number 10 of the Top 10 Noms of 2012. We vowed to come back for dinner, and nearly a year later, we finally did.

I thought they didn’t accept reservations, but as it turns out, that applies to brunch only. So we walked in around 6pm on a Saturday and they were pretty full, but the hostess said it would be about 30 minutes as long as we didn’t mind eating at the bar and she took my cell phone number. 20 minutes later, she called and to the bar we went.

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We started with Duck Liver Garbure with Toasted Chestnut. She told us it came with brussels sprout leaves and in a duck broth. It was served with a spoon.  There was no mistaking this liver for an organ. Liver, for some reason, is usually disguised. Either made into pate or in a darkened mass that is remiss of it’s organy folds. Not this one. And it tasted as organy as it looked. Though for us, that is a good thing. Though we had a very tough time not comparing it to the amazing liver we had just a few weeks ago at Local 188 in Portland, ME.

But I just loved the chestnuts in here. Chestnuts are one of my favorite foods and here they were used perfectly. They added a really nice flavor to it and paired well with the liver taste.

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For entrees we split the lamb chop and the crispy duck.

The lamb was a Grilled Lamb Blade Chop with Turkish Piyaz. I had no idea what piyaz was, but it was served with parsley and onions.  I looked up piyaz and it appears to be a bean salad… which I didn’t see. But that didn’t make it any less awesome. The lamb was super lamby without being too overpowering and the parsley and onion were a nice compliment to the lamb.

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The crispy duck was something we had seen with other diners and when it looks THIS crispy, how can you not order it?

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This was just pure, unadulterated ducky goodness. That crispy skin was very good. (There are few things in this world I like more, or crave more, than the extra crispy skin of various fowl).

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For a side, we ordered the sweet potatoes with brown butter sauce with brown sugar vinaigrette. It was served as baked sweet potato pieces (baked up perfectly so they were soft without being mushy) and they put crisped potato skins on top of a lovely mound of (not too sweet) brown butter. This was actually our favorite dish of the night.  An incredibly side… and next to such incredibly entrees, it is impressive that it was THAT impressive to us!

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By the end of the meal, I had duck and lamb on every corner of my face and hands. Because it seemed just wrong to leave a single piece of meat on these bones. I unabashedly picked each and every one up and sucked every morsel off I could get. No shame.

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For dessert, Mike went with the espresso gelato “affogato” in cold maple syrup.  A quick google search tells me that “affogato” translates to “drowned” in Italian. And that this was.  The maple syrup was a great foil of sweetness for the rich espresso gelato.

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I chose the Breton Butter Cake which our waitress/bartender (who kept us well fed, lubricated, and entertained throughout the night) informed us was the chef’s special famous dessert. Well okay then! It is served with moscato (though I opted for the full 2 oz. pour) and is a flakey, gooey, delicious butter cake sprinkled with powdered sugar. How a butter cake can taste that good and not be the slightest bit greasy, I do not know, but it was incredibly tasty and went incredibly well with the moscato.  I can see why it’s so famous.

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There is not much more to say. This was simply an incredibly meal. I just love this restaurant.  I am sure I am slightly swayed by my love for the owner’s (Gabrielle Hamilton) book, Blood, Bones, and Butter, which is one of the best food books I’ve ever read. But Mike has never read it and he has the same fondness I do. We both left there saying that we had enjoyed our meal very, very much.  There is just an absolute love for food at Prune which comes out without flash or opulence, but is just plain delicious. Hard to beat.

Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10

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The Smith Restaurant: East Village

11 Sep

My friend had a spare ticket to a concert at Webster Hall and mentioned that she really liked the Restaurant, The Smith, around the corner. I had heard good things, so away we went.

We started with some oysters, which were quite good.

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She got the 15 Hour Pork (a Monday special).  It looked quite good and she seemed to like it, but it didn’t seem to thrill her.

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We split some brussels sprouts, which were roasted nicely with a good crispy.  Very good.

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I actually ran into a bit of an issue with my allergy. While most of the dishes seemed pretty safe, it turns out they use peppers in a lot of their sauces and seasonings.  I had very few options to choose from, but I decided to go with bibimbop (one of my favorite Korean dishes). It was nicely fresh with sushi rice, edamame, shitake, bean sprouts, pickled carrots, spinach, and a sunny side up egg.  It was pretty good, but definitely lacking in depth of flavor. I’m pretty sure they had to leave a sauce out, due to the peppers, which probably had a good bit of flavor.

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I don’t think I could really give The Smith a fair shot since I couldn’t eat most of the dishes. But the fact that the dish I did have was kind of bland made it seem like they focus on spice for flavor instead of relying on doing good things with good ingredients.  I won’t put this as a stake in the ground, but my take on it was entirely average.

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10