Yesterday, we found the coolest place:
That’s coconut soft-serve, above, and it was absolutely fabulous!
Nestled into the Hell’s Kitchen area, Kyotofu is a modern Japanese restaurant and dessert bar with exquisitely-presented food. Although the establishment isn’t vegetarian, some of its offerings are completely vegan, such as two seasonally-rotating flavors of soft-serve ice cream.
We were lucky enough to go on a day when the flavors were coconut and Thai chili chocolate.
Yes, Thai chili chocolate.
The first spoonful simply tasted like chocolate (really delicious chocolate). But watch out!
It has quite a kick, so you’d better be prepared with water. Above is one of Kyotofu’s gorgeous sundaes: fresh berries, chocolate cookie crumbles, green tea mochi, and the most delectable caramel sauce I have ever tasted. (I want to try and recreate the caramel—which has a special ingredient—as soon as I get back to Texas.)
After snack, we explored The Westerly Market. Jessica is my health-food-shopping partner in crime, and I have to take advantage… because when S comes he won’t want to do any of this!
If only I lived closer, I would’ve taken home one of their many raw pies or cakes: Tiramisu, Strawberry Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, Chocolate Cream Pie…
Instead, I went with something more portable: chocolate!
(We also explored a few other shops, including a fun little four-story place called “Lee’s Art Shop,” which sold gifts, lights, art supplies, and toys.)
Dinner was at Josies, a charming vegetarian-friendly restaurant on the Upper West Side:
I was happy to find that the vegan lentil loaf I’d so loved on my previous visit hadn’t changed at all. The loaf features organic lentils, mushroom, sweet potato, and tahini, and it was just as flavorful, soft, and comforting as I remembered from last summer.
What’s the weirdest ice cream flavor you’ve ever seen?
There’s a gelato place near me that sells Black Pepper, as well as Violet and Chocolate Jalapeño. And in California, they have a summer garlic festival with garlic ice cream! Awhile back, someone sent me a link to the top 100 weirdest ice cream flavors ever, which listed things like Squid Ink, Chicken Wing, and Soy Sauce Ice Cream! Oh, and Viagra ice cream. 😕
Link of the Day:
Erica { EricaDHouse.com } says
I LOVE the chili chocolate combination! Reminds me of a Mexican Chili I make using a bit of dark chocolate. Ohhh now my mouths watering and I’m 2 hours away to lunch – t.r.o.u.b.l.e.!
Tanya @ playful food says
Indeed… I also think they are much alike! Plus, I love hot and spicy, so it’s a great combination for me…
Claire @ Live and Love to Eat says
I LOVE eating my way through NYC! Enjoy!
Katie @wishandwhimsy says
In Maine, there’s a place called Ben and Bills that sells Lobster Ice Cream. Dad loved it. I wouldn’t try it. Ever. (http://www.benandbills.com/ic_lobster.html) However, their other flavors were fabulous!
Gail Elise says
That ice cream looks incredible! I think the strangest ice cream flavor I’ve ever seen was fresh cucumber.
Jade C says
Wow, I have to say I think that sounds amazing!!
Angela says
Egg and Bacon ice cream from http://www.thefatduck.co.uk!
Janae @ Bring-Joy says
I like some variations on the chili chocolate theme, but some are too spicy for my taste! That said, I’m always up for some adventure & excitement in the exotic flavor department :).
Weirdest flavor? Hmmm. I actually think of Jelly Bellies when I think of weird flavors (buttered popcorn, for example), but there’s nothing to weird for me. If it’s vegan, I’ll try it!
Jennifer @ Peanut Butter and Peppers says
Yum! The ice cream looks delish! The strangest combination I have seem is bacon vanilla ice cream.
petrina says
The vegan lentil loaf looks delicious! Are you going to try to recreate that one too? I would love to try a recipe like that.
Lori G says
Me too!
Tanya @ playful food says
Agreed!
Melissa says
Go to Lula’s Sweet Apothecary or I will have to cut you, Katie. 😉
Also, Cinnamon Snail Food truck.
Shoot, just check out my buddy Abby’s blog for places to go!
http://a-soy-bean.blogspot.com/
I’ve told her I’m coming to run a race in NYC, stay with her and have her drag me all over just stuffing food into my mouth. Ahhhh. Excellent. This will happen eventually!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Definitely planning to go to Lula’s!! 🙂
Lauren says
Oh, thanks for sharing! I just checked out Josies website, and it looks wonderful. It’s the first restaurant in NYC that I actually feel inclined to visit (and I’ve done a LOT of researching!). I will take my family there next week.
Miss b says
Yum mm this is awesome wish u could make a coconut soft serve recipe and the vegan lentil loaf. I’m making your chocolate chip cookie pie and my mom wants me to make some cookie or cake batter dip for a party .
I’m so excited!!!!!!!!
Kim says
Those flavours sound amazing! I suppose the weirdest ice cream I’ve ever seen would have to be the pickle one that was offered one year at a specialty shop. Sadly I didn’t have the nerve to try it. As for the garlic ice cream, I have the recipe! It’s in a book put out by a local heirloom seed grower and involves honey. But if you know of a substitute for honey (the cloves need to steep in the honey) then perhaps it’s doable for you 🙂
Sarah L says
Oh wow! I desperately want to visit those places. And another vote for a recreated lentil loaf.
I really like the choco-chili combo, but it’s been so long since I’ve had any. Never seen it as ice cream though. I think the only ice cream I’ve thought was weird was Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food – until I learned it wasn’t Fish food. I seriously thought it was made fish and scales and things seeweedy. :S
Allison says
Look at all of that kombucha!! *sigh*
Popcorn and lobster ice cream. EWW!
Rachel says
yummmmm omg that coconut soft serve looks so good, however, I’ve always been partial to mint flavored “ice creams” lol
Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes says
This looks so good! Love coconut….
Katie @ Peace Love & Oats says
oh my gosh, that coconut froyo looks delicious! Now I just want some frozen yogurt!
Rachel's Cottage House says
i’ve never heard of that grocery store – i wish i had one near me!!! is the grocery store similar to a Whole Foods??
sarah @ let the good in says
I love all of these spots you went to in the city (Kyotofu! Westerly Market! Lee’s!). Made me nostalgic! I left NYC for Arizona in April, and the food is what I miss most about the city 🙂
If you haven’t already, and are still in NYC – you absolutely MUST go to Stogo. It is a 100% vegan ice cream shop on the lower east side. Indescribably delicious and they slays have tone of flavors!!
Also check out Dirt Candy – a truly inventive vegan/vegetarian restaurant also on the lower east side.
Caralyn @ glutenfreehappytummy says
oh my gosh, I’m going to have to try that restaurant! that coconut ice cream is calling my name!
Olivia says
I’ve heard of popcorn ice cream and avocado ice cream. They just sound so gross to me, that I’ve never got the courage to try them.
Lauren says
I’ve seen lavender ice cream before, which sounds so unappealing to me! Probably because I don’t care for even the smell, much less the taste in my food!
H says
You HAVE to go to One Lucky Duck (raw, vegan) in Gramercy Park (on 17th between 3rd Ave and Irving) while you’re in NYC. The food is seriously amazing (in particular, their chocolate pudding and their Caesar salad). It is just so, so good!
Alanna says
Oh, I forgot you were in NYC and had come up with another banana soft serve recipe variation, haha. That all looks and sounds pretty amazing, and I hope your caramel attempt is a success later because that has me craving some right now! I thought squid ink ice cream sounded the worst until I read garlic and did a full body shudder, lol. I’m all for trying something new, but that’s a little too adventurous for me!
Anonymous says
Viagra ice cream?! whoa. haha! I don’t know what the weirdest flavour I’ve tried is.. nothing as crazy as that!
It sounds like you’re finding some amazing foodie places in the big apple! That lentil loaf looks amazing.
Melissa (Better Fit) says
Sorry… forget to fill out my deets 🙂
Suzanne says
My prize for the weirdest ice cream flavour goes to Brandied Fig and Goat Cheese (they make it at the ice cream parlour I used to work at, Sweet Olenka’s in Toronto, Canada). Weird, but SO GOOD!
Lisa @bitesforbabies says
That actually sounds delicious!!! I often make my son fig compote with ricotta…I should try goat cheese next time 😉 (btw, I’m in Windsor…next time I go to T.O, I’m going to check that place out!!!)
Olivia says
Last weekend when we went to my favorite ice cream shop in Pittsburgh, they had basil flavored ice cream, and zucchini bread ice cream. I was boring and didn’t try either of them 😛
[email protected] says
Your vegan lentil loaf looks delish! Last night I had avocado tart…..I had never seen that one. It was really good, though. My all time fav is pistachio!!
Bethany @ Bananas for Smoothies says
Funny, I was completely hypnotized by Westerly Market’s shelves full of kombucha! ***love***
That coconut soft serve looks amazing!!! So airy and creamy. Yum.
I’m pretty sure the weirdest flavor I’ve ever seen is bacon. I mean, really. Is that necessary?
Liz @ Southern Charm says
Those ARE weird flavors you listed!! I’ve never had weird ones, at least I don’t think. There is a famous local ice cream shop that has the BEST inventions ever, in my opinion: honey lavendar, absteninth, bananas foster and champage are some of my favorites!!
Terri Cole says
Creole Creamery, in NOLA, by any chance? In my pre-vegan, I had one of their 5 mini-scoop samplers. Oh Man!
Shauna says
You have no idea how much that sundae makes me wish I could teleport!!
Dawna says
Here in Maine we have Lobstah’ ice cream (definitely NOT vegan), however my favorite sweet spot to stop at is The Gelato Fiasco. They make decadent Chocolate Noir Sorbetto or my fav, Strawberry Balsamic Sorbetto (both are vegan and not something you will want to share). Raise a spoon! 🙂
Lexi @ You, Me, & A World to See says
YUM! Please please please go to Lula’s next 🙂 I’m going to NYC in a few weeks, and I’m already dying of anticipation!
Lauren says
The idea of garlic ice cream isn’t that foreign to me because the area I grew up in also had a garlic festival (http://www.dbgarlicfest.com/) with garlic ice cream, though I never actually tried it!
Sally says
I just wanted to comment on the vegan lentil loaf…It sounded so delicious that I had to find some kind of knock-off recipe, so after a bit of googling, I found a recipe that has all the elements you mentioned that yours had, Katie. (Although it does feature sundried tomatoes, I’d imagine you could probably omit them if you wanted something closer to what you had.) Here’s the link: http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2012/01/10/sundried-tomato-red-lentil-loaf/
Lauren @ The Tornadic Kitchen says
Oh my goodness! Those are some interesting flavors for ice cream… Haha I think I’ll just stick to basic chocolate or vanilla 😉 However, the coconut one sounds delicious!
Irina @ Chocolatea Time says
Gnosis Chocolate is so so delicious! I’m quite jealous of the discounted price…it’s so expensive around here!
Lisa @ The Raw Serenity says
Your eats look amazing!
I must go to NYC to try all of these amazing vegan foods.
Coconut soft serve sounds spot on for what I’m craving 🙂
Julie H. of Spinach and Sprinkles says
Those sound AMAZING!! I love coconut <3 truly love it….. and chocolate with a hit of chili- mmmmm!
Cheri @ The Watering Mouth says
Okay, hold on a second. VIAGRA ice cream? Was is like “spiked” or something?? I’m just trying to think this concept through…wait, WHAT?!?!
HAHA. Lol. Now THAT is creative. Thanks for sharing Katie! 😀
xoxo
Cheri
Emma says
There’s a place near my campus that makes pie and cobbler ice creams – they put an entire pie/cobbler in each flavor! It is SO good!
Kristin says
I had Mexican Chocolate ice cream at an ice cream stand in Talkeetna, Alaska. It was definitely spicy!
I like a large variety of ice cream to choose from (think: Coldstone), and this place had Blueberry and Mexican Chocolate as the flavors for the day. So that’s why I was forced to try it.
Steph @ StephSnacks says
Josie’s is one of my go-to spots! Love it!
Meki says
Curry ice cream! 🙂
Jacque Foster says
Any chance you got the recipe for that vegan lentil loaf? Sounds divine. (Or if not, can you give me an idea, such as 50% Shiitakes, 30% lentils, etc?) You’re the best, Katie!
Heather @dragonflygirlruns says
It isn’t weird to me, just different, at a sushi restaurant we had ginger ice cream with bits of ginger through it. It was so good and different.
Heather @dragonflygirlruns says
Ginger soft serve ice cream with bits of candied ginger and chocolate sauce.
Isabella Defesche says
There is this place here in Austin called Lick that sells organic ice creams. They have the best flavors like caramelized carrots and tarragon or cilantro mint. They always have two vegan, coconut milk flavors too. The flavors are currently spicy coconut peanut and peanut, coconut, chocolate swirl. It has your (and my) name written all over it.
Joanne says
I haven’t really seen any strange flavours near where I live. A few years ago I had green tea ice cream with fresh figs and it was delicious.
That vegan lentil loaf looks so good, it’s making me hungry!
Bek @ Crave says
I’m sure S will come along with you if you want to do health food shopping and such- just maybe not willingly 😉 haha.
Holly says
I just love that you’re in NYC and going to all these parts of the city that I go to every day, yet I’ve never heard of some of these restaurants and such! I’m definitely trying them out! Weirdest ice cream? Well I work at an ice cream shop back at home and there’s nothing too incredibly weird (nothing beyond egg nog) but I will say that the most difficult to scoop is the watermelon Italian ice….it doesn’t stay together and all, so it drives me crazy when someone orders that on a sugar cone!! Lol….
Sam @ Better With Sprinkles says
Viagara ice cream? That’s just really, really worrisome that that even exists.
tessa says
you would make my world if you figured out a GOOD recipe for dairy free caramel. i’ll be waiting (im)patiently for you to work your magic!
Tanya @ playful and hungry says
The serving of chocolate ice cream looks huge! Was it? I like that!
Sam says
Have you been to Lula’s yet? It’s my favorite place. They let you try as many ice cream flavors as you like. My favorite’s cake batter!
Laura says
The weirdest flavors I’ve seen are probably lavender choc. Chip, mango cucumber(which was actually amazing), and rose(also surprisingly amazing!). I found a gelato place with a couple vegan options while I was traveling this past week, and they had banana peanut butter ice cream and I thought of you. :). It was the greatest! I kept thinking of your “low cal pb” spread.
[email protected] says
The UK chef Heston Blumenthal makes bacon and egg, mustard and cheese on toast ice cream! Not my cup of tea, it has to be said 🙂
Often when you remember a restaurant dish as that good for that long, it’s a disappointment so I’m glad the loaf was as good as you hoped it would be!
Vita @ Juicer Depot says
I don’t think I have ever seen any wierd flavor ice creams. Just the usual flavors. I would like to see a man brave enough to order Viagra ice cream though.
Christine says
I don’t know if you take requests, but I just made an awesome cookie dough cheesecake and recently had cheesecake factory’s version of it and would love to know how to make a healthified version! 🙂
Libellule says
Cool! I will read your post and i will note your good spot for my next trip in NY! Thanks!
Christine says
And lemon ice cream is the weirdest I’ve seen, not too strange, but I just can’t picture it tasting very good.
jessie says
it’s so cool you went to Westerley’s! I work about a block from there and sometimes pick up yummy things for lunch there! I love it.
Kathleen @ KatsHealthCorner says
I don’t think I’ve ever had a weird flavor of ice cream. I really like anything with chocolate in it though! 😉
Teresa says
Wow, thanks for sharing about a unknown to me place in my own city! That’s the beauty of NYC, there’s always a new place to try :). I wish I’ve had strange ice creams, but most of the ones I’ve tried are rather typical. 2 of my favorite favors are anything coffee/ mocha/ espresso/etc, and cherry amaretto. I also prefer coconut based ice creams. So far my favorite ice cream in the city is Lulas apothecary- wow, what a treat!
I’m sure you’re super booked for your time here in NY, but if you wanted to meet up, please let me know! I’ve been following your blog from literally day number 1, so it would be great to “meet,” you, but obviously I understand that you probably don’t have any free time. Either way, I hope you have a great trip and let me know if you want any recommendations!
Becky says
There’s a great ice cream store in Meadville, PA (near where we vacation each summer) that makes all of their wonderful, and sometimes crazy favors on site. The other day I tasted their sweet potato casserole ice cream. It was surprisingly delicious, but a taste was enough for me – I couldn’t commit to the full scoop. Hum, maybe you could come up with some tasty sweet potato casserole dessert!
Monica says
That lentil loaf looks sooo good oh my gosh
Katie @ Oh Shine On says
If there is “ice cream” in the name of anything, I’ll have it.
BroccoliHut says
This probably doesn’t exactly count as an ice cream flavor, but I recently visited a popular popsicle place in my hometown, and they had a pineapple jalapeno flavor! It was actually kind of good!
Lisa @bitesforbabies says
I’ve heard of the garlic festival…and garlic ice cream..ewww! Lol!
Kate says
Oh man, all of these posts from NYC are absolutely contributing to my wanderlust. I’m so excited to start planning a trip there, and am particularly comforted to know where some of the GOOD vegeterian/GF/healthy-eating places are!
As for weird ice cream… I live across the street from the best gelato parlour in our city. They have 50 flavours at any one time, and the flavours rotate about twice a day. There’s a new flavour almost every day, and I would know… ’cause that’s how often I’m there! (So sad…).
The strangest flavours I’ve seen (and my thoughts, ’cause I’ve tried them all):
Wasabi (weirdly good — it would be AWESOME on steak if I were a steak eater)
Caramelized onion (so AMAZING!)
Dijon mustard (was really really terrible. I love dijon mustard and eat it with a spoon, but this one was really inedible).
Saffron (awesome).
Butter (so smooth and amazing).
Mascarpone (traditionally italian, and absolutely divine. SO good with figs).
Blue cheese (I couldn’t get over *frozen* blue cheese. It probably would have been good with steak).
Garlic (pretty damn awesome).
Garlic and honey (they bring this out during cold and flu season. It’s really soothing!).
Cauliflower (really nice texture, actually!)
Ham and cheese (really, REALLY gross. I didn’t go back for months after that one!).
They’ve got lots of really amazing flavours, too! My top 5:
5. Chocolate peanut-butter (of course).
4. Stracciatella (traditional italian vanilla with chocolate flakes).
3. Espresso flake (espresso gelato with chocolate flakes)
2. Skrock (NOT skor, like I thought! They use almond, hazelnut, pistachio, and macadamia pastes to make a strangely textured but amazing toffee-flavoured gelato).
1. Vanilla black-currant. (They take super creamy vanilla gelato and swirl in a really concentrated black currant sorbet. I was surprised because I usually can’t handle the black currant taste, but it’s a perfect pairing).
Oh, and the pistachio and green tea gelatos are also amazing.
Hmm. I think I should go for a walk… across the street!
Kylie @ immaeatthat says
I’ve been wanting to try Organic Avenue for awhile now! Did you try any of the cold pressed juices?! And interesting fact, they’re owned by Starbucks!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
I didn’t… I tried some weird tumeric juice, but it was out as a sample and came in a bottle. I really wanted to buy the mint-chocolate drink but I was trying not to spend too much!
Katharina says
Upper West Side! That’s my neighborhood 😀 I walk by Josie’s and am always curious about it. Also, love Peacefood Cafe AND Lula’s (I love their toppings options with the ginger cookies yummy)! Glad to see you’re thoroughly enjoying the city!!!
XOXO
Ilana says
Katie! you were in my hood. my yoga studio is in bells kitchen ad westerly feeds me daily. they have the besttttt stufffff.