Want to know what's good at a specialty store? Stop in close to closing time and see what employees are ordering on their way home. That's how I discovered
Victory Garden's salted caramel goat milk yogurt. My husband and I stopped into Gastronomie 491, a small specialty grocery store on Columbus and W. 84th Street, on the way home from dinner the other night. We came looking for some beer and macaroons (odd combo, I know, but we each had a craving). As we were checking out a few of the employees were lined up near the counter ordering the soft serve salted caramel goat milk ice cream to take home. I hadn't noticed that they served it - the only flavor offered in a small counter-top machine. I asked for a taste and thereafter immediately ordered one to go. The ice cream was creamy and delicious, like a good soft-serve, with a hint of goatiness (yes, that's a technical term) in the finish. Goat milk is both lower in fat and easier to digest for most people, especially for the lactose-intolerant (like me!). But the ice cream was so good that my husband, who digests any type of dairy quite well and is generally not a huge fan of the goat, really enjoyed it too. I am a sucker for salted caramel - sweet and salty in one bite is like a small piece of heaven in my book - and this ice cream did not disappoint. I highly recommend picking some up, at Gastronomie 491 or at Victory Garden's West Village shop, which I have yet to visit but hear good things about. If you stop in to Victory Garden or have been let me know how you like it and what else is a must-try. If their other offerings are as good as their goat milk ice cream I will be happy to go and taste test in the name of research.
Victory Garden sources their goat milk from a local farm in Candor, NY. Their goats are raised on hay and grass, without any antibiotics or hormones.
Victory Garden, 31 Carmine Street, New York, NY (between Bleecker & Bedford); open Mon.-Sat. 12-11pm, Sun. 12-10pm (hours change seasonally); 212-206-7273.
Photo via
Chopsticks and Marrow.
