Sugar Rush: Banana-Nilla Wafer Ice Cream at Cafe Cluny

There seems to be ice cream carts everywhere in the city—Griff's Gelato, General Greene, Quality Meats and Cookshop to name a few. But there aren't many options in the West Village proper, except for the cart parked right outside Cafe Cluny. Here a single scoop runs $4, $6 for two scoops. Flavors change daily, though a few you can expect to see are classics like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and cookies 'n cream.

However, if you spot the Banana Nilla Wafer, get it quick—it's delicious and will be my summer replacement for banana pudding cups until the weather cools down. The ice cream, with the deep flavor of roasted banana, is made with Ronnybrook milk, and the Nilla Wafers are made in-house, strong with vanilla—light, golden bites that remain crunchy within the folds of ice cream. A minor quibble I have is that the wafer to ice cream ratio, nearly 1:1, is too high on the wafer end—especially because the ice cream is served in a big waffle cone. More crunch than desired with a scoop of ice cream.

If the ice cream tastes familiar it's because pastry chef Jacqueline Zion is responsible for the flavors sold from the ice cream carts of Odeon in Triebca as well. The cart is open Wednesday-Saturday, from 3:00 to 10:00 pm.

Cafe Cluny

284 West 12th Street, New York NY 10014 (map) 212-255-6900
cafecluny.com

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