BY GABE HERMAN | Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream opened its second parlor in the city in October, at the former site of longtime Village favorite Silver Spurs. The latter closed last March after anchoring the corner of W. Houston St. and LaGuardia Place for 22 years, in yet another sad example of diners closing in the area.
But ice cream does cover a world of hurt, and Morgenstern’s has dozens of flavors to choose from.
There’s green tea pistachio, burnt honey vanilla and salted pretzel caramel. There’s butter pecan, chocolate chip cookie dough and grapefruit sherbet. There’s charred banana and ginger grape nut. And there’s plain chocolate for those less adventurous. The shop offers a dozen sorbet flavors, as well, and 25 topping choices.
I recently tried the cherry chocolate chip. That’s red cherry ice cream with chips. It was really good and, as expected, had an authentic cherry taste, not that unpleasant artificial cherry flavor that some candies can have. The chocolate chips were a little scarce in my serving, if I could make a suggestion. Over all, though, it was very satisfying, even on a cold February day. I had a small cup size for $5.50, which still was a good amount of ice cream.
The original Morgenstern’s was opened in May 2014 by chef-restauranteur Nick Morgenstern on the Lower East Side, at 2 Rivington St., between Chrystie St. and the Bowery. And before its first brick-and-mortar, the company sold ice cream from street carts.
This new shop at 88 W. Houston St. is the company’s flagship location, offering more flavors than the LES original.
Along with 88 ice cream flavors, the shop offers pies and cakes, and ice cream pies and ice cream cakes. It also makes floats and shakes, an ice cream sandwich, and a “King Kong Banana Split” for $20. Cup and cone sizes for ice cream range from $5.50 to $10.50.
Morgenstern’s also held its first annual pie-baking contest this past November, and offers a special Thanksgiving pie menu. More information can be found at morgensternsnyc.com, and delivery is available via Caviar, if you trust it to come before everything melts.
