He conquered the world of high-end truffles and bon-bons. Then he made us look forward to winter with his hot chocolate. When he started baking, his kitchen quickly created the best chocolate chip cookies and brownies in the city.
Now, Jacques Torres is making ice cream.
Game over.
The Willy Wonka of Water Street has done it again (of course), creating a line of 13 ice creams and sorbets that are so rich, so thick, so luxurious that they could be icing.
The quality comes from the ingredients: real chocolate (not cocoa powder), real vanilla, juicy raspberries, homemade caramel, and even house-made peanut butter. (He roasts his own nuts, this guy!)
The Brooklyn Paper got a preview taste last week from Torres’s right hand man, Ken Goto, and through the smears on our looseleaf pages, we were able to decipher these tasting notes:
• Chocolate: This is the best thing we’ve ever tasted. One spoonful fills the mouth completely, feeling like melted chocolate instead of melted ice cream. The flavor also forms the base for Torres’s chocolate banana and his “Wicked,” a cinnamon and spice version that may be the standout of the trio of chocolates, even if you don’t like spiced chocolates.
• Vanilla: There’s a reason why most plain vanillas are plain vanilla in taste — fake vanilla flavoring instead of real beans. But in Torres’s version, you can taste the difference. The vanilla works even better in the caramel swirl variety, which tastes like a sundae in a cup.
• Peanut butter: As if it wasn’t rich enough, Torres ladles in plenty of chocolate chips. This is why he is a genius.
• Love Bug: This combination of white chocolate and lime is the only miss in the bunch. It tasted a bit like cheesecake. If you want that, head to Junior’s.
• Raspberry sorbet: Our art director, who eats ice cream every day, emitted an audible moan when she tasted this flavor.
• Banana rum sorbet: This is a daiquri in a cup. That’s a good thing.
Jacques Torres’s ice cream shop [Water Street between Main and Dock streets in DUMBO, no phone yet] opens for business on Saturday, May 30.
