Ice Ice Baby

April 25, 2008

The temperature is creeping up daily, several days of over 80 degrees and 100 percent humidity is only the beginning of what’s yet to come when summer hits full force.  Sweltering in a house with broken air-conditioning had me longing for cool spoonfuls of something cool - frozen yogurt, ice cream or snowy shaved ice soaked with tart-sweet syrup.  Hansen’s is a go-to spot – nothing beats Miss Mary’s syrup or the pink lemonade, but Plum Street sno-balls and Sal’s out in Metairie vie for top honors when it comes to chocolate cream with condensed milk.  As new restaurants continue to open with shocking frequency, some come complete with shiny new spots for icy treats.  As snowball flavor preferences go, spearmint always surprises me as a top pick – tastes like toothpaste to me.  Dreamsicle, cherry and strawberry are also favorites, but last week I stood behind two bananas, a peach and a wedding cake.  It’s my turn, I’m trying someplace new and I’ll have…

YouGurt.  A nifty spot on the corner of Maple and Adams streets, this location has been a Laundromat, a bubble tea joint and now New Orleans' only self-serve frozen yogurt shop.  Inside the shop there’s a big bay of 7 frozen yogurt machines, each swirling out 2 flavors (14 choices in total), all non-fat and some with no sugar added.  With 13 fresh fruits or 29 dry toppings to choose from and a cost of 43 cents per ounce, I’m smitten.  “Plain” frozen yogurt, described on the sign as “tart,” topped with blackberries and almonds came to $2.25.  The plain flavor is excellent – a more icy texture than others, but also more tangy and not cloying; addictive.  The other flavors of frozen yogurt have a creamier texture and the list includes standards like vanilla and chocolate as well as fruity strawberry and blueberry and a deliciously perfumey Green Tea. YouGurt serves a wide variety of foods from a few Vietnamese specialties to griddled sandwiches, soups, salads, wraps and more.  Cute place, delicious frozen YouGurt.

On the west bank, Easy Dogs continues to crank out cleverly topped, sauced and garnished hot dogs, recently adding burgers (beef and vegetarian) and salads to the menu, along with a "Turducken Dog" (sausage filled with a blend of turkey, duck and chicken) covered in home-made stuffing (dressing) and cranberry sauce, and in the downstairs portion of the restaurant, a little place the owners call "The Sugar  Shack."  Snowball stand meets the swamp is the themed decor for scoops of Blue Bunny ice cream and serious snowballs spun from the steely "Southern Snow" machine.  Judy flips the switch and out comes super-fine, snowy ice to be topped by a mad variety of syrups, soft serve ice cream (if you wish) and gooey toppings like condensed milk, chocolate and their own house-made peanut butter sauce.  The creative soul might want to order an Elvis-inspired Banana snowball with peanut butter sauce or how about a coconut snowball with chocolate syrup and a splash of evaporated milk for a frozen "mounds." Judy, Alice and Todd are constant blurs of activity and inspiration for foods and desserts, even a theatrical "game show" called "Make a Wheel of Bingo."  It's a gotta-see kind of thing for adults and there's even a kiddie version.

He's baaaaack, Guillermo Peters and his daughter Ingrid have re-opened the building that once housed Taqueros/Coyoacan for its newest incarnation as Stop 9. So-called for being on the ninth stop of the streetcar line, Stop 9 is part gourmet-to-go and sit-down casual dining establishment.  There are condiments here - I spied ketchup; ketchup at a Guillermo Peters restaurant?  Someone's taken a giant chill pill and it bodes well.  Stop 9 has only been open for a handful of days, so this was no time to try much in the way of food, but I did grab a to-go tub of Spicy Hummus and another of Curried Vegetables from their cooler that was packed with a slew of prepared dishes from Cinnamon Chicken to black beans, Moroccan Rice and Beef Burgundy.  There's a sandwich board, dry goods on free-standing shelves and freshly baked cookies in a basket on the bar.  A bit scatter-shot you ask?  Maybe, but time will tell and what drew me in the door so early was rumors of snowballs, possibly liquor-spiked, and that caught my attention.  Sure enough Ingrid set the machine going and out came finely crushed ice of the slushy variety.  House-made fruit syrups like Mango, Mexican Strawberry and Blackberry were the flavor choices that day.  Mango with a shot of rum was just what the doctored ordered after a particularly trying day.  Guillermo is also whizzing-up ice creams in "exotic" flavors.  The coconut is simply genius and while he won't tell all of his secret ingredients I could swear he whispered "rum" under his breath.  Creamy and shot-through with bits of flaky coconut, it is my new passion.  He also makes Mexican chocolate ice cream and coming soon an avocado-tequila flavor.  Welcome back Mr. Peters (and Ingrid), I'm predicting success.

Finally, Magazine Street has a new snowball stand, a tiny dot of a place called "Magazine Cuisine."  Directly across the street from the Martin Wine Seller, the doors of this spot opened exactly three days ago.  No food yet, but plans are in the works.  Meantime, standard-issue snowballs are being served.  When I asked for any new or signature syrups, out came "King Cake" and "Mai Tai."  The Mai Tai was a lightly red-fruit flavored syrup reminiscent of Mayhaw and quite nice.  A guy behind me ordered half-and-half ice cream and banana flavors.    Walking away with is bright yellow snowball, he could be heard saying, "Man is this good."  Watching him closely, the woman in line behind him got to the window and said "I'll have what he's having." 

The heat and humidity may be shooting skyward, but lucky for us there are delicious ways to keep cool.  Do you have a favorite snowball flavor or snowball stand?  Let's hear about where you cool off with a snowball and what syrup flavor might make you sing, "Ice ice baby, too cold, too cold."