Victory Garden and Cones

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I need more soft serve ice cream in my life

Lowfat...so that means I can eat 2x as much of it?

I realized I have almost sampled all the frozen confection shops in the vicinity of Christopher Square and I am kind of proud of that is a super-glutton way. It is something I keep in mind when I run every morning and justify my sadist behavior. Enough about my own problems I finally got to try the newest on the block, Victory Garden and one of the old ice cream standbys Cones. Strangely enough, both are not gelato shops!

I started out by going to Victory Garden which not only is doing soft serve ice cream, which is a nice change up but it is goat milk soft serve. Victory Garden plays the farm fresh card hard touting using fresh local goat milk. Walking into Victory Garden can leave you a bit unsure that they serve anything edible let alone ice cream, the space is small and sterile looking, but after you get past the fact that you may of accidently stepped into a cosmetic store the warm service is assuring and helpful in deciding on what you want. They have a limited number of flavors that can vary depending on the day and when I went it was a rose, honey lavender, the choco-mastic, plain and a yogurt. I expected the ice cream to taste similar to goat cheese ice creams I have tasted in the past so I went with a mix of the chocolate and the honey lavender. They also have various toppings which are seen rarely out of a Baskin Robbins anymore but they were offering different ones such as wheat germ, honey, strawberries and even halvah, a crumbly Middle Eastern sesame candy.  I went with the halvah which I was told that they make themselves.  The ice cream had a crisp and refreshing taste and was not as texturally creamy but it was still smooth and if you had goat cheese ice cream in the past, it did not have the tangy barnyard aftertaste either. I expected to like the chocolate more but I found myself liking the honey lavender and wanting more of that, the flavors were playful and subtle and the wisps of lavender made me wanting more. 

Goat Milk Ice Cream Soft Serve

One serving of ice cream would be enough for one person, but in a blog called the Om Nomz Hero, proceeded to walk down Bleecker and go to Cones, the Argentinean ice cream shop. From a bit of research, Argentinean style ice cream is like a hybrid of ice cream and gelato in which it is suppose to have to intensity of flavors that gelato has but the ice cream are more similar to well traditional ice cream. I sampled some of their ice creams before I decided on what I wanted and I tried their corn ice cream because I have always liked corn ice cream and given they are a South American ice cream shop, they should be able to do that right. Unfortunately the corn ice cream was tooth decaying sweet and the corn tasted artificial and canned and given that corn is in season, this flavor let me down. I ended up with the mascarpone with tutti frutti and the zaboyone (hey that’s how they spelled) the moscato-spiked Italian cream. The mascarpone, while it was smooth and creamy the zaboyone unfortunately had ice crystals in it which downgraded the ice cream making me feel I got hosed.

Cones Ice Cream - Marscapone with Tutti Fruitti and Zabaoyone

The ice cream at Cones did not seem like anything special and did not stand out to me especially with the service when the dude gave me the laziest explanation of the zaboyone and then ignored me while a co-ed walked in. Victory Garden, as much as they push the natural and healthiness undertones on to you, has legitimately good ice cream and it is good to have some soft serve that that is not from a Red Mango or Pinkberry.

Victory Garden

31 Carmine Street

 New York, NY 10014

www.victorygardennyc.com/

Cones

272 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10014

Empellon: Brunch it up

 Om Nomz Her Note to Self: Stuff meant to be shared by the table, is still sharing if you are the only one on the table

Tucked away in a corner in the West Village, is a new restaurant opened by Alex Stupak. Making his name at WD~50 as the executive pastry chef, news of him leaving and starting opening his own restaurant made all the foodies go crazy in wondering what it would be. Given his reputation at WD~50, most speculated that would be a dessert focused restaurant doing crazy things and innovated (I refuse to call it molecular) food. To much surprise, he decided to open Empellon a Mexican restaurant. The reaction from the foodie sphere can be best described as: “WTF”. However, when asked why he decided to do a Mexican restaurant, he just said, “it is what I like”. It was a honest answer and made me want to go here. I have not been able to find anytime to go and hit up Empellon for dinner and try the tacos but he started to do a brunch service and on a quiet Saturday morning, I decided to make an impromptu trip and went to Empellon for brunch.

I was eating by myself and I go there a little after 11 and I was the only on there. Empellon thankfully forgoes any clichéd Mexican restaurant décor and goes for a whole modern look. Sombreros and ponchos were no where to be seen. The brunch menu does not have tacos, which is the main thing and the bulk of the dinner menu. Instead the bulk of the entrees here are egg based and savory. Many of the dishes have beans in them and the combination of meat, beans and eggs it is most likely you will not be walking away hungry from this meal. 

Churros and Hot Chocolate is my newest, tasty vice

Since my recent trip to Peru, I have been wanting (obsessing) over good churros and trying to find some. To my delight, under the share for the table section, had just want I have been hankering for, hot chocolate and churros. Although I am assuming this is supposed to be a shared dish, it was listed for the table, it did not say how many had to be at the table!

The hot chocolate and churros came piping hot and were clearly freshly made. The hot chocolate was thickened with masa and had a hit of mescal. The hot chocolate was thick, creamy and smooth and it was a subtle sweetness it was like awesome chocolate gravy. The hot chocolate was prefect consistency and taste for dipping churros in which were just as delectable. The outside was crisp and covered in cinnamon sugar adding even more to the crunch factor of the churro. The churro was denser than the ones I had in Peru however the inside was soft and custard like contrasting well against the crunchy exterior. Dipped in the hot chocolate, it was a delectable treat and because the hot chocolate was smartly sweetened, the combination of churro and chocolate did not send one into a sugary comatose and a great way to start a meal or the day. If it did not make me look like Paddy O’Fatty and I did not order an entrée I would be fine just chilling and munching on another plate of churros. 

Huevos Motuleos

For my main I got the Huevos Motuleos. The dish comprised of two sunny side eggs, sitting on top of a tostada with black beans, smoked plantains, and sprinkled with peas and ham. The tostada was a good contrast to soft and nicely cooked black beans and the runny egg. The star of this dish is the smoked plantains which took me about a quarter ways through this dish to find them hidden under the tostada. The smoked plantains were meaty, hearty and full on smoky. Adding to the smoky flavors of the dish was the cubes of country ham and although the dish was borderline just being a smoky dish, the salsa/sauce was sweetened, equalizing the dish.

Maybe I am an asshole, but I kind of wanted a taco or hell even a torta option on the brunch menu. I mean the dinner menu is full of them, and tacos are eaten in the morning in Mexico so something? However I do respect it at the same time he is not going for the expected. My knowledge of Latin American food and pretty much anywhere else eggs and beans are a staple morning ingredients which the brunch menu clearly represents and Empellon does a good job executing. Although I have not dined there yet for dinner, from what I have experienced from brunch, I am optimistic and looking forward to trying out the dinner menu. Also, there is something about chicharons on the dinner menu so I am down like a pork eating Charlie Brown. 

Empellon
230 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10014
http://www.empellon.com/

Meatball Shop Beard House Luncheon

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Not everyone, especially at the Beard House want to hear about Chef from South Park Chocolate Salty Balls.

Friday was a day off so I braved the cold and went to the James Beard House for a luncheon show casing Dan Holzman and Michael Chernow of The Meatball Shop where they prepared hors d’oeuvres and a tasting. Who does not love meat in ball form?

One thing that I learned from this and will forever take with me is: NEVER, EVER, EVER be late to a James Beard House event. You end up missing the hors d'oeuvres and hors d’oeuvres are awesome. It is like a classy buffet where they bring you stuff and mingle with other people. Due to circumstances out of my control I did not get there till before the main tasting and ended up missing the onb slaught of hors d’oeuvres. The hors d’oeuvres line up was: Miniature Maryland Crabmeat and Potato Chip Meatballs with Old Bay dipping sauce, Mini Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with Blue Cheese dipping sauce and Reuben Meatball sliders with Sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing with all the Prosecco you can drink (socially acceptable to drink).

 Miniature Maryland Crabmeat and Potato Chip Meatballs with Old Bay Dipping Sauce. 

**Due to Social Grace/Etiquette I did not sit there and shove all of them in my mouth and down the dipping sauce like a Big Gulp.