As a Boston native, I have, shall we say, a very particular take on the relationship between cold weather and ice cream—that is, I acknowledge (or at least behave as if there were) no relationship between the two. After all, it’s not as if people suddenly stop consuming cold drinks during the winter months; why on earth would freezing temperatures be a deterrent to ice cream consumption?
Obviously, though, not everyone sees things that way.
A few nights ago, I was reading through Joe DiStefano’s food blog, when I came across a mention of cold-brew coffee soft serve at Dominique Ansel bakery on 7th Ave. South (no, not the one with the cronuts; that’s in Soho). It was freezing out, but cold-brew coffee soft serve sounded so tempting that I had to go out and try it.
What did not occur to me, at least until I was walking those last few blocks to the bakery (having eaten next to nothing all afternoon) was that perhaps Dominique Ansel would consider ice cream a summertime-only treat and adjust his menu accordingly. Unfortunately, that sneaking suspicion proved correct.
I wasn’t about to fight with the guy at the counter over what was, to my mind, the sheer imbecility of this move; however, I was sufficiently hungry and flustered that I completely forgot that the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop was just a couple of blocks away, and that if I really wanted to indulge my craving for soft serve, I could easily walk right over and get it.
Instead, I stayed at Dominique Ansel and got a slice of cake.
More precisely, I got a slice of chocolate-caramel cake, which just barely edged out the chocolate-matcha cake. It also cost almost $10 (including tax), which even by Manhattan standards is a little ridiculous. In a restaurant? Of course. But at a mostly takeout bakery with about four seats, two of which required actual climbing over benches and scrambling up to an awkward second level to access? The structure was like something you’d find in a daycare center. I understand wanting to maximize seating space, but this was truly one of the most bizarre, not to mention inconvenient, seating setups I’ve encountered. And the other patrons did not exactly look thrilled at my attempts to hoist myself up.
So I really wanted to be able to write that the cake was overpriced, that it just wasn’t that good, that I could have done without it. But the truth is that it was delicious, the mousse rich and velvety but still light, the caramel not overly sweet or sticky and with a hint of salt that provided a nice counterpoint to the chocolate. Every aspect of it was done right, and it was totally satisfying. In short, it tasted exactly what a $10 slice of cake should taste like, and I’ll probably get it again.
But I still want to try that coffee soft serve.