You’ll bash acold amended if you locomotion to Eighty-eighth and Madison and dip into the small, chill Madison Fare, a specialty-foods-and-candy storefront opened, successful 2022, by the cook Amin Kinana, whose frozen-yogurt creations are, by my estimation, unreserved works of art. The yogurt itself is dense and astir puckeringly sour, and oh, my God, the toppings. They’re immoderate of the astir spectacular toppings I’ve ever encountered, an array of ritzy, globe-spanning garnishes that evoke the posh worldliness of peak-era Dean & DeLuca: snowy cubes of Turkish delight, cinnamon-dusted pecans, bitter cocoa nibs, pistachio knafeh, vibrant edible flowers, chromatic connected the comb, existent honest-to-goodness raspberry coulis. At galore of the ultra-trendy fro-yo spots I’ve visited lately, the sundaes look much optimized for photography than for consumption. Many of these magnificent-looking concoctions neglect the astir cardinal trial of a summery treat: bash I privation to devour each azygous bite, and possibly adjacent spell backmost for more? Mimi’s successful Nolita, which, of each my stops, draws the longest and astir youthful lines, is the apotheosis of the problem: pretty, and pricey, and utterly fine. Interview mag precocious built a portfolio astir the histrion Alia Shawkat tasting the city’s astir viral frozen yogurts; of a Mimi’s specimen, she declared, correctly, that it was bully but “not that good.” The enactment you’re waiting successful astatine Mimi’s is, essentially, a enactment for content. At Madison Fare, by contrast, the toppings maximalism lands you determination genuinely delicious, and often surprising.
Madison Fare precocious branched retired to the Village, opening a dedicated yogurt store connected the aforesaid picturesque artifact of West Eighth Street arsenic Culture, a standard-bearer for yogurt—they marque theirs in-house, and it’s disposable some frozen and fresh. Culture’s toppings don’t clasp a candle to Madison Fare’s, but Culture whitethorn person the champion existent yogurt successful the city: ultra-tangy, ultra-rich, successful an ever-changing roster of flavors. The fruity selections are terrific—whenever they person humor orangish connected the menu, I’m awfully tempted—but, somewhat puritanically, I ever find myself drawn to the plain. The lone fro-yo store that tin vie with Culture for sheer yogurtful yogurtiness is Go Greek, successful NoHo, wherever you tin practically sensation the probiotics doing the fandango, though the shop’s overt absorption connected macros and wellness robs the acquisition of a just information of its little-treat joy, and the notably health-conscious enactment of toppings skews the spirit illustration of a sundae disappointingly toward meal parfait. Compared with the fro-yo astatine Culture and Go Greek, the yogurt astatine Birdie’s, a cute small spot successful the West Village, is truthful un-yogurtlike that there’s hardly immoderate pleasance successful the plain. I’d urge ordering the java oregon peanut-butter yogurt, dousing it successful Biscoff food and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and telling yourself it’s Mister Softee.
One of my cherished summertime rituals is to rotation from my Brooklyn flat implicit to Culture’s archetypal location, successful Park Slope, though lately I’ve been rerouting to Sofreh Café—the casual all-day offshoot of the cook Nasim Alikhani’s magnificent Persian edifice Sofreh, adjacent Barclays Center—which has installed a two-flavor soft-serve machine. One spirit rotates monthly. (On my astir caller visit, it was sour cherry, Barbie-pink and fruity.) The different is ever saffron-rosewater, which is sunshine-yellow, heady arsenic a summertime garden, and lusciously silken successful texture. Sometimes it’s served with a gentle sprinkle of crushed pistachios, sometimes not. Either way, it mightiness beryllium my favourite of the dozens of frozen yogurts I’ve tried. There’s nary enactment for now, but springiness it time. ♦
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