[MUSIC - Luscious Jackson: Citysong]

Kousha Navidar: This is All Of It. I'm Kousha Navidar, in for Alison Stewart. Thanks for spending part of Juneteenth with us. I am really grateful that you're here. Here's what's on the show today. We'll speak with the curators behind a new exhibit devoted to telling the story of groundbreaking legislator and leader Shirley Chisholm. Plus, there's a new documentary that tells the story of the first Black Barbie doll. We'll speak with the director.

Plus, coming up right after the show today will bring you a special Juneteenth celebration from Notes from America. Kai Wright goes to Houston to explore the impact of Black liberation on today's politics and democracy. That's at 2:00 PM right here on WNYC. That's in the future. Now, let's get this hour started with some sweet relief from today's broiling temperatures.

[MUSIC - Luscious Jackson: You and Me]

Heat advisory, air quality alerts, cooling centers open as we wade through official emails during what looks to be the first official heat wave of the season. Our delight at summer can turn from this [sounds] to this [sounds]. We all feel like screaming, and might I say, we might all feel like screaming for ice cream because I have good news for us. There are plenty of places in New York City to get great ice cream.

Maybe you like classic vanilla or mint chip, or maybe because you're lactose intolerant and you prefer sorbet or coconut-based treats, you'll just take ice cream to mean whatever is cool and tasty and sweet. The landscape for ice cream lovers has really expanded with everything from bases that are vegan-friendly to new methods to make ice cream like flash freezing the base with liquid nitrogen. No matter what flavor you like, it is a great way to cool down.

Because there are so many options out there in New York, we want to give you a chance to shout out your favorite spots. Listeners, our phones are open. Do you have a favorite spot for ice cream in New York? Where is it? What do you like about it? Give us a call, send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. What's your favorite flavor? What does that ice cream shop that you love do really well? What's your favorite way to eat ice cream? A cone, a spoon?

I don't know, by hand if you're really, really hungry. Give us a call. Hit us up on social as well. We're at All Of It WNYC. You can text us. Call us, 212-433-9692. Here, to help us navigate our ice cream options, I'm happy to be joined by Melissa McCart, editor of Eater NY. Hi, Melissa, welcome to the show.

Melissa McCart: Hi, Kousha. Thanks for having me.

Kousha Navidar: Absolutely. What's your favorite way to eat ice cream? Do you prefer a dish, or a cone, or something else?

Melissa McCart: I prefer either one scoop or two on a sugar cone. I know it's not very dazzling, but for whatever reason, that's my nostalgic go-to.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, sugar cones are classic. I love them. I know there's a great debate between cake cone versus sugar cone versus waffle cone. I feel like Sugar Cone has a special place in my heart as well. I want to get into it. We're waiting for callers to call in, but you have a whole lexicon, a whole itinerary of places that you love to go for ice cream. I want to know right at the top, what is your favorite place in the city? Where is it to get ice cream?

Melissa McCart: I have to say it's not an ice cream parlor. It happens to be Superiority Burger. Brooks Headley, who opened the larger location in the East Village, was known for desserts for most of his career. He had a vegan place in the East Village that was very small and a walk-up, and now it is in the old Odessa space. You can go in there and grab a seat at the counter and he has some dazzling flavors of gelato as well as some that might seem a little frumpy or old man-like, like almond joy or butter pecan or something like that.

Usually, they will knock your socks off. You can go in there, order the two gelato flavors for the day, and you'll be thrilled. You can also get it to go if you walk to the back bar. They have different pints every week.

Kousha Navidar: Am I correct, also, in knowing about the sorbet that they offer, or is there a history of sorbet there, a chocolate sorbet specifically?

Melissa McCart: Oh, my gosh. I did not know this, but chocolate sorbet kicks ice creams butts.

Kousha Navidar: Really?

Melissa McCart: It's so good. You would not even know that it's a sorbet. It's just so rich, and it has this deep, deep brown color that's more chocolate than chocolate, it seems. It just has this amazing texture, and on a really hot day, for me, I tend to gravitate away from dairy-based ice cream for whatever reason, and a chocolate sorbet hits the spot.

Kousha Navidar: That brings up an interesting question here because we were talking about sorbet, we're talking about gelato. Ice cream in general. There's a lot of permutations. In general, how would you define ice cream?

Melissa McCart: There are people who are far more knowledgeable than I am that can define ice cream, but when I think about how we categorize frozen treats, there's traditional ice cream, there's gelato, and then there's soft serve. I think that it has to do with the ratio of egg yolks or not using egg yolks and the amount of sugar and the process by which it's made, but in general, I feel like we're moving into a period where people fall in one of the genres. Then, if you're a mid-westerner, there's custard, but I can't even get into custard because it's not particularly prevalent here, and I don't know, it's too eggy for me.

Kousha Navidar: For this conversation, we're also including coconut-based ice cream as ice cream, oat-based ice cream as ice cream as well. Listeners, if you have a favorite ice cream spot in New York City, but really what is your favorite ice cream spot? Because we probably all have a favorite ice cream spot. Give us a call, send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. We've got some texts that I would love to read. We've got Malay and Morgenstern's. One person wrote in.

We've got one that says the ice cream stand at Lincoln Center is Da Bomb, and there's two ice cream sundae emojis. Thank you so much for those emojis. I love seeing those on there. We have love, love ice cream, but there's no bigger bummer than getting a pint home from the Bodega only to find out it's been melted and refrozen a few times. That is a real New York City experience.

Melissa McCart: Yes, the ice crystals. It's so sad.

Kousha Navidar: Do you know of any way to be able to discern which pints of ice cream at your local Bodega have suffered from that melting and refreezing experience?

Melissa McCart: For me, I've had this happen many times. I look at whether the freezer door is fogged up because I feel like that's a sign of people opening it and closing it quite a lot, and then it becomes a question of the temperature fluctuations and melting ice cream.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, it's hard to tell. I think this text actually hits at something that a lot of New York City folks experience, so thank you for that. Then, we've also got a text. Timothy is in BlackRock, neighborhood Bridgeport, incredible housemaid ice cream. I'd love to go to a caller as well. This is Niki. Hey Niki, welcome to the show. What's your favorite spot for ice cream?

Niki: Hi, this is Niki Russ Federman from Russ & Daughters.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, hi. Welcome.

Niki: Hello, love your show. Love Eater, of course. Just yesterday, Russ & Daughters and Morgenstern's launched an ice cream collaboration that was not 110 years in the making but years in the making. They are so delicious. We made three ice creams together. A Chocolate Babka Ice Cream Pop, a Sesame Bagel Ice Cream Sandwich, and a Chocolate covered Halvah Ice Cream bar, which is not only delicious but that one is also vegan. We supplied the main ingredients, the babka, the cream cheese, the halvah, et cetera, Morgenstern's put it together, and they're all in Russ & Daughters style, old-school boxes.

Kousha Navidar: Oh wow.

Niki: Yes, they're available at all Russ & Daughters retail locations. The original shop on East Towson Street, the Hudson Yards, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and then at Morgenstern's, and Morgenstern's is also shipping them nationwide as a six-pack, so you get two of each flavor.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, so you can go onto the Morgenstern's website and order it, is that what you're saying?

Niki: Exactly.

Kousha Navidar: Wow. Niki, it is an honor to be talking to you right now. That's wonderful. Where did the idea for this come from?

Niki: Well, Nick Morgenstern's, has been coming after us for some years now wanting to do this, and we finally teamed up, and just launched yesterday, Time Out already called it the New Yorkiest dessert, and we'll have them all summer long, so it's perfect timing with this heat wave.

Kousha Navidar: Wow, Niki, thank you so much. Shout out to Morgenstern's. Shout out to Russ & Daughters. I'm going to check those out. Of those three flavors, Melissa, did any stand out to you?

Melissa McCart: Well, I'm interested in the sandwich because it feels like it's a spin on the Italian granita on brioche. To me, it's so great to be able to skip a meal and have something like an ice cream sandwich and justify it as it's in the shape of a meal. I can't wait to go over there and try the Sesame Bagel sandwich in particular.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, that sounds great. Morgenstern's happens to be one of my favorite places in the city to get ice cream. That was lovely to get to hear from Niki from Russ & Daughters about that collaboration. Folks, we're talking about your favorite spots in the city for ice cream. We're getting a lot of cool calls and texts. Join the party. We're at 212-433-9692. We're also here with Melissa McCart, editor of Eater, New York, who's helping us go through some hot spots to cool down. I just made that up. I think it's decent.

Melissa McCart: [inaudible 00:11:19].

Kousha Navidar: Let's go to Don in Midtown. Hey Don, welcome to the show.

Don: Hi. Thanks for a great show. I love this show. I listen every single day.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, thank you.

Don: I have a general ice cream question. Many, many, many years ago, too many to count, when I was a kid, I used to go to Howard Johnson's ice cream parlors in New York City in the Bronx.

Melissa McCart: Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.

Don: They were so wonderful. My favorite flavor in the whole wide world is one of those old man flavors, Butter almond. Does anybody anywhere in this city make butter almond anymore? It's a flavor that's very time-consuming to make. I've made it myself and it's not easy, but boy, I'd give anything to have some butter almond ice cream again.

Kousha Navidar: Don, thank you--

Don: I'll put it out there in case one of the listeners might know. It's probably going to draw a blank, but I figured why not give it a try.

Kousha Navidar: Well, Don, we have the collective power of New York City at our disposal and the surrounding regions, so hopefully, and thank you so much for that call. Melissa, I feel like you had something to say to Don.

Melissa McCart: Well, I was just going to say, I feel like he is conjuring the universe to make the flavor because it seems like one that could become pretty trendy. There's a butter fad going on and who does not like almond? Hopefully, it will appear soon.

Kousha Navidar: Listeners, if you have a tip for Don a place that you can find butter almond, give us a call, send us a text. We're here. Don, I'm sure is still listening. 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. Before we go to break, I got one more caller. Amy, Upper West Side. Hi Amy, welcome to the show. Hey, Amy, you're there?

Amy: Hi. Can you hear me?

Kousha Navidar: Yes. Hi, Amy.

Melissa McCart: Yes.

Amy: Okay, sorry. I wasn't sure what to do. I went to a place, I was with my daughter. She's visiting a friend. I can't say exactly where it was, but in Cobble Hill, it's called Malai, M-A-L-A-I, and they had this amazing flavor, cherry black cardamom. The founder is of Indian descent, and a lot of the flavors are like that. I can't give you a rundown of what they are, but it was really fabulous.

Kousha Navidar: Amy, yes.

Melissa McCart: Malai is becoming increasingly popular because of its unusual flavors, and I'm so glad that you like it, and I still have to make it there myself.

Kousha Navidar: I have been there and I can echo that it is very good. They have a very cool assortment of flavors. Amy, do you remember the flavor that you had that you really liked? Oh, I think we got Amy. Amy, are you there?

Amy: Yes, yes. Did I say that already? I thought I did. [laughs]

Kousha Navidar: I might not have caught it. What was the flavor that you liked?

Amy: Cherry black cardamom.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, that's right. Thank you so much. Sorry for making you repeat that. Thank you so much for calling. Folks, we're talking about what your favorite places are in the city to get ice cream. We're here with Melissa McCart, editor of Eater NY. Give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. I'm going to put this out there one more time for Don, one of our previous callers asking for a good place in the city to get butter almond. If you have that, we are here for you. We're going to take a quick break, be right back, talk some more about soft serve as well. Stay with us.

[music]

Kousha Navidar: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Kousha Navidar and we are kicking off the show today by talking about your favorite spots in the city for ice cream. We're here with Melissa McCart, editor of Eater, New York, and we're taking your calls. If you have a good place to get ice cream in the city, give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. Melissa, before we go into more calls, I want to read some texts that we're getting because a lot of them are coming in.

One says, regarding butter almonds, this is for Don from before the break. "Lots of supermarket ice cream cases have Butter Pecan ice cream. Not sure if that's helpful." Another one says, "Hey there, butter almonds may have to go down south. I love Butter Pecan." Don, I don't know if you're willing to go with Butter Pecan, but it seems like a lot of people there think you can find that in the city.

We've also got a question about vegan ice cream. Melissa, I want to throw this to you. Are there any places that-- because I remember you said before the break, you were really interested in sorbet and doing non-dairy, potentially. What are your thoughts on vegan ice cream, places in the city for that?

Melissa McCart: A lot of the indie places have almost an equal number of vegan option as non-vegan options. I feel like it's something that's required at this point to please everyone. In terms of another vegan shop that's relatively new, this is a soft serve. It's the Morgan Stern's Bananas, which is a vegan soft-served-only shop. Now that location makes its space from different vegan ingredients, but it has flavors like banana and coffee creamer and salted peanut butter, and this almost black midnight chocolate. It's terrific.

Kousha Navidar: We just got this other text that says, "Somebody for the love of God tell me where the vegan soft serve ice cream is." That's interesting. I know that soft serve had a real moment last year, a couple of years ago. It seems like it's still there. Could you give us a laydown of your favorite soft serve places in the city and if vegan is an option at any of them?

Melissa McCart: Sure. In addition to bananas, a lot of softer serves tend to lean towards vegan, but there's also seed and mill in the Chelsea market that has an oat milk base. Matchaful is also vegan or most of its flavors are vegan. Let's see. Off the top of my head, that is what I know, but I think that you can generally ask and most places have vegan at this point.

Kousha Navidar: You had mentioned something when we talked earlier about Torico. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly, but that's a local--

Melissa McCart: Oh, Torico.

Kousha Navidar: Torico, that's a favorite for years, right?

Melissa McCart: I love it. It's in Jersey City and it's been around since 1968. There's always a line and thankfully it's expanding, but they have the gamut of vegan ice cream, vegan soft serve, straight-ahead, vanilla options, chocolate cherry and then ube and sesame and things like that. It really runs the gamut for that one.

Kousha Navidar: Wonderful. Hopefully, some of those suggestions could work for the person who texted us about Vegan soft serve. Let's get into some calls. Let's start with Jennifer from Watchung, New Jersey. Hi Jennifer, welcome to the show.

Jennifer: Hi. Ever since then, my husband, he's from Staten Island, he brought me to Ralph's Italian Ices. They've been around since '90 and they have not only Italian ices, but they also have Sherbert sugar-free ice cream and twisters. My favorite is Caramellata, which is more of a sherbert and vanilla chip and coconut. Then if you go for the traditional Italian ice, I highly recommend the watermelon. It's really refreshing and delicious.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, watermelon, Italian ice.

Jennifer: Yes. Great. Obviously, it's all homemade. Luckily, they've expanded from Staten Island. They're all throughout Long Island, Queens, and even New Jersey, thank God because that's where I'm living now. It's our go-to spot and half of the fun is waiting on the line and just checking out, they have a great wall mural outside and usually inside the shop, so it's a good time.

Kousha Navidar: Nice. Jennifer, thank you so much for that call. Let's go to John in Harlem. Hey John, welcome to the show.

John: Hey, how's it going?

Kousha Navidar: Hey.

John: I'm from New England, so I'm ice cream obsessed. We're ice [unintelligible 00:19:45] there. I live in New York though, and in Harlem, they're two cool places. One is Avrilililly, and they make ice cream or gelato I guess, and also baked goods that are really fantastic. The owner makes these gorgeous cakes, but they have bonkers good gelato and also dairy-free options. My favorite are dairy-free ones, fruit-flavored ones. Then it's also Sugar Hill Creamery, which is again, Peachy Chef couple that make ice at a high level, and they collaborate with other restaurants to make cool flavors.

Kousha Navidar: Wow. John, thank you so much for that. Sugar Hill Creamery, Melissa, that that's a very popular one, right? Have you been there before?

Melissa McCart: It really is. It's always on our list every year. We love it.

Kousha Navidar: What do they do particularly well in your opinion?

Melissa McCart: I go there for a straight cone. I think that there's probably an ice cream aficionado who goes more broad in their orders, but I tend to go for, how's their vanilla? How's their chocolate? Is it better than everybody else? Because those are the bases. The bases in terms of how a place makes ice cream and those are both spectacular.

Kousha Navidar: That's an interesting point because it is so subjective what the best ice cream is per pallet, but trying to find an empirical way to grade it I guess, or to put one place against each other. For you, you had mentioned before the break that chocolate sorbet actually beat out a lot of other chocolates you've tasted. Where do you go for your favorite chocolate? Do you have a specific go-to place for chocolate?

Melissa McCart: I go to Torico in Jersey City. I also dabble in chocolate gelato. I'll go to old school places like Ferrara because there's nothing like that whole vibe there. It's just super fun. I also like Gelateria Gentile, which has four different locations, and boy is their chocolate gelatos terrific. Oh, somebody earlier had mentioned Italian ices. I like its cousin Granita quite a lot. It's very, very refreshing. Gentile has unusual flavors like say cantaloupe.

Kousha Navidar: Cantaloupe is delicious. Let's read some more texts here. We've got one that says two places if they haven't been mentioned. One by me in Dumbo, the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and Krisch's in Massapequa. We've also got another caller that I'd love to pull down. Rupa, who's also in Brooklyn. Hey Rupa, welcome to the show.

Rupa: Hi, thanks for having me.

Kousha Navidar: Hi, go ahead.

Rupa: I am in Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn. Totally agree with Melissa. My family's favorite gelato and sorbet in the city are at Superiority Burger, but that's not always easy to get to. Our favorite after that is in our neighborhood, Carroll Gardens. It's called Dolce Brooklyn. They make the creamiest dreamiest gelato and sorbet. I don't know. My kids [unintelligible 00:22:54] on the line here. Do you want to share what your favorite flavors are there? All right. They're feeling shy, but hands down the best sorbet is strawberry basil. It is out of this world, delicious. I have been known to eat seven cups of it at a time. It's so good.

I've never seen anywhere else. The texture is impeccable and it's just the perfect balance of tart and herbal. For the gelato, they make an amazing mint straw tortilla. It is light years beyond any other mint chip and they have really great flavors like chestnut and hazelnut and mascarpone and lots of fruit flavors, but the gelato are also so creamy and wonderful. They're in Carroll Gardens in the old milk [unintelligible 00:23:41] space, which was our favorite before they moved to California.

Kousha Navidar: Nice. I'm going to pause you there. Thanks to you and to the little buddy that you have with you, I hope you both get to enjoy some more of that's strawberry basil. Let's go to Irene in Staten Island. Hey Irene, welcome to the show.

Irene: Hi, thanks. I'm calling in regard to the melted and refrozen containers of ice cream and how can you tell?

Kousha Navidar: Wonderful.

Irene: The first one obviously is never buy a container where you see the ice cream on the outside of the container. Look at the top. That's the first thing. Second thing, check if the container has a thin layer of what looks like frost or snow on it from the outside, you're just looking at it. If it has that layer of frost, do not buy it. That's a telltale sign that it was melted and refrosted.

Kousha Navidar: Nice. We've got frost on the outside, we've got ice cream on the rim.

Melissa McCart: Thank you.

Kousha Navidar: Thank you so much. We got just a couple minutes left in the segment. I want to get to two more callers. Jenny in Pine Bush, New York. Hey Jenny, welcome to the show.

Jenny: Good morning. I have two things to talk about. Boice Dairy, B-O-I-C-E Dairy in Kingston, New York, has the most delicious texture-wise and flavor-wise soft serve on the planet. I drive 30 miles to Kingston just to get their soft serve. They also made their own ice cream, which is delicious. In the butter almond question, Briers used to make delicious butter almond ice cream which they are now, however, calling a frozen dairy dessert, and it is nothing like ice cream and a huge disappointment. Those are my two offerings.

Kousha Navidar: Jenny, thank you so much. Really appreciate that. Let's go to one more caller. Chetana. Let me see if I got that right. Chetana in Queens. Did I pronounce your name right?

Jenny: Yes.

Kousha Navidar: Wonderful. What's your recommendation?

Chetana: In Queens, in Flushing there's a place called Max and Mina's and they make any flavor you want, a specialty flavor and you can order it from them. I'm suggesting if you can get this butter almond ice cream.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, wonderful. Do you have a specific flavor that you, especially like?

Chetana: I like peanut butter chocolate.

Kousha Navidar: Oh, nice. Wonderful.

Melissa McCart: That sounds so good.

Kousha Navidar: Thank you so much for calling. Melissa, that sounds so good. We're wrapping up, we got a little bit more than a minute left here. Of all the callers that you heard, did any flavors specifically stand out to you?

Melissa McCart: Now, I'm going to be on a summer butter almond hunt. That's the one that I'm like, I feel almonds are having a moment because there are so many Sicilian restaurants that have been opening up and there's a sourcing issue of like, who can have the best almonds. Now, I'm certain that I will be able to track it down and let people know this actually exists and I can't wait to try it.

Kousha Navidar: We have 20 seconds left. Very quickly, have you ever gotten something from a Mister Softee truck?

Melissa McCart: Of course.

Kousha Navidar: What is your go-to flavor for the Mister Softee truck? You have 20 seconds here.

Melissa McCart: I love anything with magic shell.

Kousha Navidar: What is magic shell? Is it with the chocolate on the outside?

Melissa McCart: Yes, it's that chocolate that hardens as soon as it hits the cold. I just think it's awesome, even though it's probably not very good for you.

Kousha Navidar: That's wonderful. Melissa McCart is editor of Eater NY. Thank you so much for hanging out with us. Everyone, just want to say thank you so much for your tips and your tricks. Melissa, happy ice cream summer to you.

Melissa McCart: Thank you, you too. Thanks for having me on, Kousha.

Kousha Navidar: Absolutely.

 

Copyright © 2024 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.