The Couch Sessions

Every summer when August comes around, I tend to make a mental list of all the things I’ve done to enjoy the warmer months, and all the things I’ve yet to accomplish. So earlier last week, while counting up the days until September, I realized: I have not even come close to eating an appropriate amount of ice cream.

With a new batch of ‘creameries pouring over the city just about every week, and less than 30 days of beautiful August sunshine left, I knew what I had to do: Ice cream, every day. Be it in a cone or cup, custard or gelato, I decided to hit up a different shop and try a new flavor each day until September 1^st. With no time to waste, here’s what I’ve sampled so far:

Monday, 08/05 - Il Laboratorio del Gelato:

After a foiled attempt at getting some corn ice cream at Sundaes and Cones, I headed over to Il Laboratorio del Gelato on Ludlow, where I heard they, too, make a sweet corn flavor. Alas, it wasn’t on the (extensive) menu that day, but I did discover they had tarragon gelato, which made me feel much better about my earlier misfortune. The tarragon was really light and fresh, and paired with olive oil gelato, it was a perfect, delicately flavored combination.

Tuesday, 08/06 - Blue Marble:

With all the salted caramel variations out there, seeing something like “Burnt Sugar” at an ice cream shop is totally welcome, and that was exactly the case at Blue Marble in Tribeca. The flavor was super deep and complex, like sugar at the hard crack stage of candy-making but in a cool new format. I did put that scoop of salted caramel on top, for good measure - a little saltiness kicked up the sweet, dark flavors while the creamy caramel kept things from getting too dramatic.

Wednesday, 08/07 - Shake Shack:

Many people go to the gym to justify eating dessert. After looking up the Shake Shack’s August Custard Calendar, I used their flavor of the day to justify going to the gym. After working out, the Apricot Jam Cookie was everything I hoped it would be – light apricot custard, with chunks of sweet, cooked fruit and bits of softened sugary cookies.

I wiped away all memories of the treadmill after that happy cone.

Thursday, 08/08 - Eataly Gelato:

I'm in love with the raspberry gelato at Eataly, but I noticed they've got a new fruit flavor for summer: cherry! Just like raspberry, it was incredibly refreshing and a nice alternative to one of my favorite ice cream flavors, black cherry.

Friday, 08/09:

Friday I went to the dream ice cream parlor in my mind, because only when I stepped foot in the actual shop-of-choice did I realize I forgot my wallet at home. Not a problem: I’ll just have to double-down one day.

Saturday, 08/10 - Bischoff’s:

While visiting the great state of New Jersey for a friend’s wedding, I snuck into this retro ice-cream shop for some good old fashioned strawberry. Surrounded by jars of every old-school candy you could think of; served by a man in a bow tie and paper hat; cones wrapped in paper flags - even if the ice cream was bad, you can't go wrong at this place (good thing the ice cream is wonderful).

Sunday, 08/11 - Foragers City Grocer/Steve's Ice Cream (freezer case):

After eating dinner at Foragers Table the other night, I noticed they had a good number of specialty ice cream pints in their freezer, so I decided to take a closer look this morning. What could have been more perfect than opening the freezer door to see this?

Steve's Sunday Morning Ice Cream is just like an Eggo waffle drowned in butter and syrup, with whipped cream on top. Happy, fat-kid childhood is sitting in my freezer at this very moment. I might try to save it to take a bite every Sunday morning until I have to scrape the pint container with my finger (this will happen).