Results tagged “sweetshop”

When the mercury broke the 60-degree mark on Tuesday, Gothamist immediately began obsessing about frozen confections. Rest assured, the irony of the situation wasn't lost on us. If anyone offered us an ice cream cone during the recent cold snap that saw temps in the teens, things might have gotten ugly.

Located on a stretch of Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills better known for antique stores and Eddie's Sweet Shop, a turn-of-the-century soda fountain, is Ran, a small storefront that offers some of the best sushi in Queens. Gothamist isn't sure if the name comes from the Kurosawa flick whose title has been translated to mean chaos or wretchedness, but there's nothing wretched or chaotic here. It's all about impeccably fresh fish expertly prepared. Last week, we sampled some sushi and some hot food from this seven-month old spot.

Staten Island is not having a good week. In addition to the outrage over the weird ad copy appearing in part of a Virgin Mobile campaign, the borough’s president has also called for an ice cream boycott. Last Friday, a perturbed James P. Molinaro wrote a letter to Scott and Kim Myles, husband and wife co-owners of the Queens-based 5 Boroughs Ice Cream company. Someone had shown Molinaro a copy of a flyer printed off the 5B website, meant to help persuade local specialty food storeowners to carry the ice cream. There are currently eight 5B flavors, all made in small batches; each is named after a NYC locale or neighborhood. For Molinaro and many Staten Islanders, the offending ice cream flavor is Staten Island Landfill- a swirly mix of brownies, fudge, crunchies, and cherries in a vanilla base. Molinaro objects to what he considers old hat outer borough typecasting; the Staten Island Advance quotes his letter to the company as saying "I am hard-pressed to think of a more insulting and derogatory attack in the name of consumerism.”

In anticipation of the National League Division Series showdown between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals, Mayor Bloomberg and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay announced a friendly foodie wager for the game. (Wager because "bets" are verboten in professional sports.) :

If the Mets win, Mayor Slay will send a care package of St. Louis products to Mayor Bloomberg in New York, including two Imo's thin-style pizzas, toasted ravioli from the Pasta House Company, and a gift basket from Bissinger's Chocolate. If the Cardinals win, Mayor Bloomberg will send Italian subs from Leo's Latticini and Mama's of Corona, ice cream from Eddie's Sweet Shop in Forest Hills, a pizza alla vodka and the Smokin' Goodfella pizza from Goodfella's Pizzeria on Staten Island, a case of Brooklyn Lager, and a tub of lemon ice from the Lemon Ice King in Corona.

We're very upset by this wager. Why isn't Mayor Slay sending any of those famous St. Louis ribs? Or Ted Drewe's frozen custard? Clearly, St. Louis thinks they'll lose (they have no pitching aside from Chris Carpenter!) so they are sending the dregs. And don't you think they should send the arch to make things a little more equitable?

When Gothamist wants fluff pieces in the papers, we prefer them to involve food. So we greeted the Daily News' awesome political fluff piece with glee, as it detailed what kinds of ice creams the mayoral hopefuls like - if you can't be bothered to study the issues, then vote for the candidate whose cold dessert treat views align yours! Mayor Bloomberg like lemon ices from the Lemon Ice King of Corona, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller favors banana (B-A-N-A-N-A) ice cream from Emack and Bolio's, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields enjoys Haagen-Dazs rum raisin, former Bronx Beep Fernando Ferrer crosses boroughs for Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory's French Vanilla and Queens GOPster Thomas Ognibene loves butter pecan from his borough's Eddie's Sweet Shop. But the best explanation came from Representative Anthony Weiner:

Representative Anthony Weiner of Brooklyn frequents Uncle Louie G when he's in the mood for ice cream (the chain has multiple locations in the city), and he always gets mint chocolate chip. Weiner has warm childhood memories of eating the frosty stuff.

Continue reading "Ice Cream For Politicians"