Professional Foray #5, Grom, Bleecker Street, NY

A confession is in order.  This is, and has been, my favorite ice cream (or gelato) in New York since winter.  So this is less of an evaluation than a sticky, approving wink at what I think is so far the top ice cream in town.  I have friends who have come back from trips to Italy raving about this place. 

My first scoops, in winter, were of chocolate and chestnut, a winning combination if there ever was one.  Later on, I came back for spring flavors: ginger, crema di Grom (crema, an eggy custard flavor, with chocolate flakes and crumbled vanilla biscuits), lemon cake, and the flavor of the month, fior di latte with candied cherries and chocolate flakes.  This terribly sophisticated take on Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia did not quite do it for me (I prefer a base with more flavor than just milk), but the crema di Grom was outstanding - lush and full of tasty chunks.  What sets Grom apart is the quality of its ingredients, which manifest themselves in an unbeatable texture.  Furthermore, texture aside, the flavors are also excellent: the chocolate is complex and rich (I always have the regular dark chocolate as the extra-dark chocolate is overwhelming for me), the coffee intense and smooth, the chestnut gentle and well-rounded.

One for each hand.

Anyhow, I returned Friday evening with several friends in a professional capacity (my previous half-dozen visits were sort of an internship, maybe?)  Like the greedy children in Umberto Eco's story, my friend Mara and I decided to get two small cups, so we could try four flavors.  One of our cups was vanilla and chocolate, the other tiramisu and crema di Grom.  The scooper, a very sweet Italian youth who I am guessing is the nephew of a friend of the owner of the franchise and who needed a summer job in New York while he takes the odd English class (his English was halting, to be generous), graciously let us try as many flavors as we wanted as long as we kept smiling at him.  All four flavors were truly, truly excellent - the vanilla/chocolate cup was like the ultimate version of a Mr. Softee swirl, and the tiramisu and the crema di Grom had similar mix-ins, so texturally they were a brilliant complement.

These flavors, and several crazy, crazy Youtube videos, were then savored on a stoop on Leroy street.  All in all, an excellent evening.

Grom, several locations in New York City; this one was at 233 Bleecker St (at Carmine), (+1) 212 206 1738, http://www.grom.it/eng/gelaterie.php, small $5.25, medium $6.25, large $7.25, extra-large $8.25

Professional Foray #4, Blue Marble, Brooklyn, NY

Wednesday night, after an excellent meal at The Grocery on Smith Street with my genius friend/professional hero Michelle Goldberg, we hopped on our bikes and headed down Atlantic Avenue to the Blue Marble Ice Cream shop.  This location has more flavors than the one on Court Street.  We almost missed our chance, since the kindly chef at The Grocery, who spends so much time in the dining room you'd think he wishes he was a waiter, informed us that he makes the best ice cream in the world, after which our check was suspiciously slow in coming.  

Anyway, we made it.  I had read about their strawberry flavor on Yelp or a similar site, where someone was raving that it was the greatest they'd ever tasted.  It does have a very pronounced, tart strawberry flavor, but to my kiddie palate, it was slightly too tangy.  I can appreciate the appeal it would hold for more sophisticated ice cream connoisseurs, or for purists.  But I like an emphasis on the cream in my ice cream, and this tasted too fruity to me.  I also tried root beer flavor, which tasted like a root beer float, except without the wonderful textural interplay of fizzy soda and creamy vanilla ice cream.  Instead, those two sensations and flavors get mushed into one single not-as-delicious and even mildly disconcerting experience.

In the end, I went for (surprise) cookies and cream, chocolate and black cherry.  From here forward, I'm going to use cookies and cream, pending availability, as my benchmark flavor, as well as chocolate, the same way one can judge a Lebanese restaurant by its hummus and kibbeh.  Why?  Both of those flavors leave very little margin for error: either do them well, or go home. 

Soft serve in Rwanda; courtesy of Blue Marble Ice Cream

In Blue Marble's case, they were both tasty, but nothing exciting.  The ice cream itself is of a very high quality; they use milk and cream from an organic dairy co-operative in Pennsylvania where the cows eat grass (as opposed to all the other wretched scum they normally eat in a feedlot, according to Michael Pollan).  But neither of those flavors knocked me off my feet.  The black cherry with chocolate chips was very good, however - an upscale, organic and altogether smoother and more successful rendition of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia.  I'll be going back for a few other flavors (ginger and mint chip, for example) soon.

This company is notable, if not for its chocolate ice cream, for its social efforts.  They are promoting ice cream as a development solution in Rwanda, use eco-friendly materials and packaging, use organic sugar and serve organic coffee, and support local Brooklyn bakeries by selling bagels and brownies and the like in their shop.  I know it's a cliche to call such a yuppie paradise a "yuppie paradise," but it really is one, without being obnoxious.  It's just a nice place where concerned parents can treat their children and themselves to ice cream without worrying about pesticides and poisons and corn syrups and other demons.

Blue Marble Ice Cream, 420 Atlantic Avenue, 718-858-1100, 186 Underhill Avenue (Prospect Heights), new location at 196 Court Street (Cobble Hill), www.bluemarbleicecream.com, MiniScoops are $2.90, $4.25 and $5.15, regular scoops are $3.89, $5.75, and $6.95.