Banana Durian Ice Cream From Morgenstern’s Finest

Ignore the pink scoop on top — that was Strawberry Sassafras, which was fine but not particularly remarkable. The pale yellow below that, however, was one of the tastiest things I’ve eaten all year. The Banana Durian ice cream at Morgenstern’s Finest, on the Lower East Side, was incredible. Durian is a fruit native to SE Asia, notorious for its unique odor, it’s custad-like texture, and its flavors of cheese and onions. Click here for my reaction to eating fresh durian for the first time. The banana mixed in helped mellow the durian flavor, but it was still quite pronounced in all of its funky glory. My first bite of the ice cream made me sit up and take notice; I was transported back to the streets of Kuala Lumpur. My second confirmed my first impression — this was something special. I couldn’t get enough of it, and even considered going back for a pint to take home. I think it’s better as an occasional treat, though, and there’s something comforting in the knowledge that there’s banana durian ice cream out there, just waiting for me to return.

Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream — 2 Rivington St, NYC

Hot Beef And Pie At Four & Twenty Blackbirds

This past Sunday, I was introduced to something I have never heard of or seen before. Hot beef!

Four & Twenty Blackbirds hosted an event with Amy Thielen (host of Heartland Table on the Food Network) where Thielen served hot beef (a combination of smoked brisket sandwich with a scoop of mashed potatoes and covered in gravy) and the Elsen sisters paired it with their blackbottom oatmeal pies PLUS complimentary Jeni’s ice cream and Kelson beer. Oh…boy. The hot beef was delicious, well I mean what’s not to like about meat, bread, potatoes and gravy?! The meat, smoked by Fletcher’s, was tasty and tender. I went back and forth between the hot beef and ice cream. Dude, that’s Jeni’s ice cream! I couldn’t let it melt so 2 bites of hot beef then 1 bite of ice cream.

It was fun hanging out and catching up with the Elsen sisters and Alex aka Brownie.

Also the unlimited flowing of Kelso beer. Ah yeah.

Four & Twenty Blackbirds, 439 3rd Ave Gowanus, Brooklyn

Fried Chicken: The Breslin

I was a little skeptical when I first heard about The Breslin doing a summer fried chicken feast for $50 per person. $50 per person is a lot of money for just fried chicken, especially when I can get cheaper meals and a lot easier to get it without having to find at least 5 other friends willing to pay $50. But for research sake and with the help of my fried chicken eating crew to back me up, I decided to go ahead and reserve a fried chicken feast for 10 people.

But while I was doing research for this fried chicken feast, I couldn’t find any review on it. I wanted to find out from other food bloggers if they thought $50 for fried chicken was worth it or not but nope, couldn’t find much on the internet. Does this mean no one had done it? I was a little worried. But it was too late, It was too late to back out. So at 8pm few Tuesdays ago, 10 of us was about to find out what this fried chicken feast was all about.

Big Gay Ice Cream Photo Shoot

If you haven’t heard, I’ll be taking photos for the Big Gay Ice Cream Yearbook aka their cookbook. And to keep the yearbook theme going, we’re doing yearbook! photos this coming and next weekend at the West Village (61 Grove St & 7th Ave South) shop.

Go to the shop between noon and 7pm on 4/27, 4/28, 5/4 or 5/5, hopefully all dressed up for your photo (think 80s high school yearbook photos) and we’ll hand you an ice cream cone and I’ll snap your photo. Done.

For a better explanation, check out Doug’s post.

Just think, when the book comes out you can totally take the book and get all your friends to sign it. “Stay cool!” “Hope you don’t ever change!”

It’s gonna be loads of fun.