Black sesame ice cream sandwich from Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier
I’m a big fan of Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier — pretty much all of the pastries I’ve tried here are among the best in the city, so obviously I was quite excited to see that they’re serving ice cream sandwiches. And the black sesame ice cream sandwich (“black sesame cocoa sablé with a black sesame ice cream center”) was predictably tasty — but probably my least favourite thing I’ve tried here so far. I think the biggest problem is that, like with so many ice cream sandwiches in the city, it’s served mega-frozen, so you really need to let it sit out for like ten minutes before you start eating. If you lay into it right away, the ice cream is rock hard and difficult to fully enjoy. I’m not exactly Mr. Willpower, so yeah, I ate it right away. Still, the ice cream and the sablé had a pretty intense toastiness from the sesame that I quite enjoyed, and the sandwich was enjoyable — even brick-like from the freezer.
Sour Cream Cheesecake from Bakerbots Baking
Speaking of great bakeries, I recently tried the sour cream cheesecake from Bakerbots, and it completely blew me away. It’s just stunningly delicious, and easily a contender for the best piece of cheesecake I’ve ever had. The texture is a perfect combo of dense and creamy, the lemon zest they’ve mixed in gives it a nice citrusy brightness, the sweetness level is perfectly tuned, and bonus: it’s got a crispy, crackly bruleed top that’s really satisfying. Sometimes I forget how great Bakerbots is at what they do, but then I eat something like this and it reminds me that it’s one of the best bakeries in the city.
Dave’s Salad Fries from Sunnyside Provisions
Sunnyside Provisions sells an item called salad fries, which is exactly what it sounds like — salad + fries (the menu describes it as “fries, spinach, diced tomatoes, pickled red onions, pickled banana peppers, everything dressing, crispy onions”). That’s just weird enough that I felt compelled to try it. It’s not bad! The fact that the thinly-cut fries are way above average probably helps, but it’s a decent combo of zippy veggies and tasty fries. I doubt salad fries is going to become the next big thing, but I’m not mad I ate it.
