If you’ve had enough of Red Mango, Flurt, YogoMonster and the dozen or other Pinkberry clones that have opened at warp speed around town, it’s time for you to check out Daydream, Union Square’s newest chef-driven frozen yogurt shop.
Owned by Gwen Butler and partners, the shop is fashioned like an old-school ice cream parlor with elegant Italian celeste marble tables and counters, walls and ceiling painted as a windswept blue sky, dark tiled flooring and glossy white high wood wainscoting.Their yogurt is prepared in four flavors from live cultures: green tea, pomegranate, and two styles of plain—one is low-fat with a creamy texture and the other is a light-textured nonfat ($3/$5/$6 for plain flavors, $4/$5/$7 for flavored yogurts).
But the hook at this shop is the toppings (30-85 cents each) which are all made in-house by chef Greg Pena (and some by Ian Russo) like butter rum crunch, peanut butter crumble, and chocolate covered pretzel bits. More unique toppings include infused and spiced wild honeys, organic fruit dust, dehydrated espresso, milled flax seed, honey roasted wheat germ, and chocolate block shavings grated to order. All their nuts are double-roasted for extra flavor, and we toast our coconut as well. Coming soon, they’ll be serving "moffles" which are mochi waffles.
It wasn't open when I went by, but all the paper was down and everything looked ready for business. The signs inside say it's an organic, gourmet, dairy-free ice cream place. It looks like every other boring fro-yo joint, with space-age white stools and blonde wood. Very swedish -- like Ikea.
...will be home to the forthcoming East Village Pie Lounge.
The sign on the door promises everything from Apple to Pecan to Banana Cream Coconut pie -- for $5.25 a slice. Now this stretch of Seventh Street already counts the Chocolate Bar at 127 as a tenant (since June).
[Deathly silence]
So that's the Chocolate Bar. And Pie Lounge. Can we expect, say, the Tapioca Tavern in the vacant store front at 125 E. Seventh St.?
For the last 25 years, Malcolm Stogo has been in the forefront in developing today's ice cream concepts leap years ahead of the industry. He is the author of Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts, co-author of Ice Cream Cakes, and author of a new book titled How To Succeed in the Incredible Ice Cream Business. He is President of Malcolm Stogo Associates, an international ice cream consulting firm, as well as founder of Ice Cream University, a seminar series and publishing company on ice cream production, and marketing and publisher of Batch Freezer News and Ice Cream Store News, two quarterly newsletters on everything one needs to know about ice cream production and marketing. In the 1980's, he co-owned Ice Cream Extravaganza (New York), the largest single frozen dessert operation ($1,500,000 in sales). He also invented the chocolate dipped waffle cone now being produced and sold all over the world.
I went by today and a worker told me it's going to be "a vegan ice cream shop." I saw soft-serve machines in the background. Should be open in 2-3 weeks. Could it be another Lula's Sweet Apothecary? Or competition?
