The Scoop from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

I figured the odds of The Brooklyn Ice Cream factory being good were slim to none. Despite its promising old-timey store front, the BICF is located smack in the middle of a grizzly, barren block in North Greenpoint, a stone's throw away from where Newton Creek splits Brooklyn from Queens. One unbearable August afternoon, I stopped in for a scoop -- and guess what? It turns out this place is totally great! [bxA]

The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory serves only eight classic flavors, all of which are made in house. My guess is that they must do a lot of business at local restaurants, as their shop was only a small part of a larger facility and there was a lot of loading and unloading of tubs of ice cream out of the front door while I was there.

I sampled the Peaches and Cream. This is a textbook version of the dessert -- smooth, supremely creamy, and studded with flecks of real peaches. Because they only make and serve a few flavors, I have a feeling everything is probably pretty good, and from the set up behind the bar, it looks like they're equipped to make some next-level sundaes.

I plan on going back before the end of the summer to sample the rest of the goods. If you find yourself ambling across the Pulaski bridge on a hot summer day, or if your Newton Creek fishing trip turns out to be a bust, I highly recommend cooling off with some ice cream in the cozy front room of the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.

OMG: Michael Jackson Cookies at Cookie Road

The good folks at the newly opened Cookie Road bakery in Greenpoint are really on to something with these Michael Jackson sugar cookies.

The detail on these cookies is amazing, especially considering that they’re only about three inches in diameter.

The day I dropped in they were also selling cookies bearing a similarly detailed design of Charlie Chaplin, one of the King of Pop’s all time heroes!

I didn’t try any of Cookie Road’s baked goods, but I know that the owner makes them and decorates them on the premises. The Cookie Road website has some more amazing examples of her work, which you can order on the site. As of late, Cookie Road has become my go-to weekend coffee spot. The owner knows his way around the espresso bar and the result is easily the best cup of coffee in Greenpoint.

Cookie Road
94 Franklin St.
(Between Noble St & Oak St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 383 8094

Dining at Papacitos: A How-To Guide for Customers

The blog for Greenpoint tex-mex drunk food favorite Papacitos features some curious words on customer conduct: 

"Papacitos can get crazy...please be patient with your server and our staff: as you are waiting for you food, just chill out, its sunny and warm, the servers are hot, your surrounded by friends and neighbors and what you might not know, is that the reason your food is taking a little while is that we have a full dining room, 100 deliveries going out the front door and most likely a line for takeout. So you're the lucky ones in the garden, kick back, hook your server up an all will be good."

 Get it?  The papacitos staff is busy - like REAL busy.  And you know what? They're busting their asses, day after goddamn day just so you can hang around, like a lazy bum, and eat $8 carne asada burritos in their restaurant. So just chill out, shut up, tip well, and don't cause no trouble, okay? 

Casanova: Finally, a Good Pizza in Greenpoint!

Greenpoint has something of a pizza problem. I think that for most neighborhoods in NY, you can generally apply the same rule to pizzerias as you can to laundromats: you go to the one that is closest to your apartment.  A High density of pizzerias per neighborhood ensures healthy competition between establishments, so even your average, local pizza place should be better than a large chain.  

That's not the case for pies in the garden spot.  There simply aren't very many pizza places, and the one closest to my apartment, Triangolo, serves a kind of bland, junior high cafeteria style pie.  Like many food related things in Greenpoint, sometimes convenience and quality don't go hand in hand. 

Enter Casanova Restaurant.  Casanova occupies a horrible stretch of McGuinness Ave about two blocks away from the old, grey, Polaski Bridge - not exactly close to where I live, but within a comfortable walking or ordering distance.  It has one of those horrible 4' porcelain statues of a fat Italian stereotype holding a pizza (usually a bad sign), and generally kind of looks like someplace Hugh Grant would be taken by James Caan in "Mickey Blue Eyes", if you know what I mean. 

Anyway, their grandma Pizza is tops.  A Square pie, with a rich, almost foccacia like crust, it's dressed with thin slices of fresh mozzarella, bright homemade tomato sauce and lots of fresh garlic.  This thing tastes like summer.  The little dabs of basil don't really do too much, but the overall flavor combo is irresistible, and what's more, each slice is completely light and airy, with several huge air bubbles throughout.  Unlike a lot of really tasty pizzas, this pie is the very opposite of a gut bomb. We ordered one of these to celebrate a half day friday, and pretty much kept gnawing on it piece by piece for the next 8 hours like it was make-pretend food.  A Large (pictured above) is $16. 

Casanova 

338 McGuinness Blvd. 

Brooklyn, NY 11222

718 389 0990