New York Street Food

Chrissie aka Miss Softee

Who says you can’t have dessert before dinner? After reading about Miss Softee’s “fried” ice cream, I had to try one – even though I was on my way home for dinner.

Miss Softee has a normal Mister Softee truck, but has come up with some interesting combinations that elevate the product.  You could find oatmeal cookies, cinnamon buns, crushed potato chip choc dip, cappuccino, into the woods, cherry dream and more depending upon the day.

She is usually at 44th St & 6th Ave from around lunch until 6pm or so.  Then she moves to 55th St & 6th Ave for “happy hour” until 8 or so. After that, she often ends the evening in the Times Square area.  To know exactly where she will be, you can follow her on twitter here.

What exactly is “fried” ice cream?  Click through to find out.

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It was another day with temperatures over 90 degrees (Sunday) – a perfect day to try the new Kelvin Natural Slush Co truck.  They were in the Meatpacking District on Gansevoort St just off Hudson St, not too far from where I live.  By the time I walked about 15 blocks to the truck, a cold icy slushy was just what the doctor ordered.

The concept is simple.  Choose your base slush (ginger, iced tea and citrus today), choose your mix-in (mostly fruits, but also mint, basil and flaxseed oil today).  And you can also get an ice cream float for $2 extra.

Since this was a new truck and they were offering samples of everything, I asked for samples of iced tea & raspberry (left) and citrus & apricot (right).  The iced tea and raspberry was excellent.  I often make iced tea and add fruit juice at home.  This was similar, but nice and icy!  The citrus and apricot had that sweet & sour thing and was good too, but I’m not as big on tart tastes.

Once these were done, I ordered a medium-sized ginger slush with mint ($4).  Guess I wasn’t the only one, because they ran out of mint not long after I ordered and they had to make more.

You know how sometimes fresh ginger can be spicy – well about halfway through, the spiciness kicked in.  It was delicious.  The mint tempered the spiciness a little, but it was still spicy – and delicious.  Did I mention it was delicious?

Sometimes on very hot and humid days, ice cream is too heavy and creamy for my stomach.  The Kelvin Natural Slush Co is perfect for when you want a cold, icy, refreshing treat but don’t want any milk or cream. It’s certainly healthier than ice cream – and just as tasty.

We have added Kelvin Slush to the New York Street Food directory and our Mobile Munchies twitter feed, although you can follow them directly on twitter here.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

There are ice cream trucks, frozen yogurt trucks, Italian ices trucks – and now a truck with slushies!

The Kelvin Natural Slush Co (named after the Kelvin temperature scale) has interesting flavors and mix-ins.  According to their website, it’s easy as 1-2-3.

The Kelvin Slush In 3 Easy Steps

Step 1 – The Slush
Choose your slush flavor from Kelvin’s unique creations, including Spicy Ginger, Tangy Citrus or Green & Black Tea.

Step 2 – The Mix-In
Choose your real fruit purée mix-in. We rotate the fruit we offer, so there is always something new and fresh to try.

Step 3 – The Float (Optional)
Kick back to childhood and make your Kelvin a Float by adding a scoop of ice cream.

Designing your custom Kelvin Slush is that easy.  With your input, we’ll serve up amazing flavor combinations which are all natural, always refreshing and always super cold.

Some of our favorite Kelvin Slush combos are:
Blood Orange + Ginger
Blueberry + Tea
Açaí + Ginger
White Peach + Tea
Mango + Citrus

Count us in!  This is perfect for those dog days of summer.

You can find or follow the Kelvin Slush Truck on twitter here.

Libertação-72% chocolate & port wine ice cream w/cashews and bruleed bananas

The trend towards socially aware ice cream may have been started by Ben & Jerry’s, but it has been seriously upgraded by Guerrilla Ice Cream.

Ethan Frisch and Ori Zohar debuted their new cart, Guerrilla Ice Cream, at the Pushcart Market last month.  Frisch graduated with a degree in conflict studies, which accounts for the new cart’s unique take on desserts.

They wanted to create flavors that people like but wouldn’t necessarily expect in ice cream. After brainstorming revolutions past and present, they eventually came up with four. 

Frisch has put a lot of thought into each flavor-topping-political-uprising combo, but even more impressive, all of the profits will support marginalized populations locally, and all over the world. This summer they’re donating to one of our favorite non-profits, the Street Vendor Project.

They were at the Hester Street Fair recently and will be at the Fulton Stall Market at the Seaport on July 11.  Look for the world map menu—each flavor is push-pinned over the conflict region it represents. [Serious Eats NY]

Red Corridor-chai masala ice cream topped w/almond slivers & candied fennel

After opening a storefront on the Lower East Side last January and keeping their truck garaged except for special events, the Dessert Truck is hitting the pavement again this summer and into the fall.

Jerome sent out this message on facebook and twitter: “The truck will be back on the street thru the end of Oct 2010. We just got a seasonal permit and will give it a go at our old spot tonight beginning at 6pm. 3rd Ave & St. Mark’s Pl. Streamlined menu. Special thanks to Ben, John & Ernie”

Definitely a welcome return for those of us with a sweet-tooth.