New Haven’s newest ice-cream joint offers mammoth made-to-order originals, drawing on liquid nitrogen and featuring palate-glomming Frosted Flakes cereal milk.
My partners in this sugar fest were Karen Ponzio, Tom Breen, and Lucy Gellman. What we found in the latest Milkcraft shop — the third and the largest to open in Connecticut — was loud, occasionally messy and pretty tasty.
Let me explain.
We hit the new Milkcraft shop, located at 280 Crown St., at around lunchtime Monday with empty stomachs and dairy on our minds. First impressions? The place is huge. The New Haven location of the ice cream shop is Milkcraft’s biggest locations, at 1,500 square feet. (The other two locations are in Fairfield and West Hartford.)
Karen arrived ahead of us and scoped out the menu, which is made up of “chef composed” flavors, according to Milkcraft. They include:
• Smores Campfire: deep cocoa chocolate, fire roasted marshmallow, and graham cracker crumbs (being dressed in the above pictures);
• Milk & Cereal: all-natural vanilla served with Fruity Pebbles, Coco Puffs, or Frosted Flakes;
• Vietnamese Coffee: cold brew Cafe Du Monde coffee, condensed milk, chicory, and steeped coffee beans;
• PB & J Roasted Banana: all-natural peanut butter, pure jam, and caramelized banana.
• Choco Du Leche: dark chocolate, dulce de leche, and smoked black sea salt flakes.
Karen’s first choice — a flavor called Bourbon Breakfast, which features Madecasse vanilla bean, corn flakes, and a touch of Whistle Pig Maple Bourbon— wasn’t available.Karen had a backup plan: the Smores Campfire.
While she was happy with her second choice (as you can see here) — a yummy mix of chocolate ice cream with legit fire roasted marshmallow on top — she couldn’t help jonesing for what might have been had the Bourbon Breakfast been available.
“Bourbon, I love,” she said. “So the fact that it’s in an ice cream would make me want to have it. Whistle Pig is a phenomenal brand — an expensive pour. So I would definitely want to try that in an ice cream.”
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Tom and Lucy (pictured above) went for the Vietnamese Coffee, mostly out of Tom’s undying love for coffee. I went for the infinitely Instgrammable and nostalgic Milk & Cereal, which is also pictured above.
“I think coffee is my favorite flavor of ice cream,” Tom said. “It’s not the sweetest option on a menu overwhelmed by overwhelmingly sweet options.”
“You were like, ‘Let me go for the thing that might have the slightest chance of being a little bitter’ because coffee has that bitterness,” I said to Tom. “I think that was a wise choice.”
Tom Breen Photo
Both the smores and coffee flavors were a big hit among our crew. We each got one scoop of our choice in one of Milkcraft’s famous Hong Kong-style Bubblecones, which isn’t a waffle cone but actually a waffle. (More on that below.) That portion, about the size of my head, was more than enough to share with friends.
My choice — Milk & Cereal — was made to “do it for the ‘Gram.” And I did get some great social media pictures. But it might have over-delivered when it came down to taste. It really does taste like the sweet milk left behind from your favorite childhood sugary cereal. You’ll be transported back in time to Saturday morning cartoons in your PJs with just a bite or two.
That’s great for about the first five bites. It was fun to try; the flavor was spot on. But it was our least favorite of the three.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t eat the whole thing,” Karen said. And I didn’t.
Lucy pointed out that the concept of cereal milk as dessert is having a whole moment thanks to the efforts of New York City-based pastry chef Christina Tosi of Milk Bar, a spinoff of Momofuku Noodle Bar. (Read more about that here and here.) But cereal milk is a flavor we all would take in much smaller doses spread out over many more people if we get a do-over.
Milkcraft is known for making its ice cream to order with a little help from food-grade liquid nitrogen, which creates small ice crystals and thus a super smooth texture. When you place your order, you get a little magic show of watching the visible vapors rise from the row of countertop stand mixers whipping up your ice cream. That chemical reaction accounts for the exceptionally smooth texture of the ice cream, which might be good, or not depending on who you ask.
“I know this is like their thing, but I find it like a weird kind of glue,” Lucy said. “It tastes a little homogenized but not in a like Breyer’s ‘find it in the packaged ice cream section’ way.”
The Milkcraft smoothness is altogether different from, say, your traditional soft serve. The texture is pretty silky; it coats your tongue. It’s not bad. It’s just different.
“You’re either into the mouthfeel or you’re not,” Lucy concluded.
Waffling Over Bubblecones
The same could probably be said for the Milkcraft Bubblecone. Three out of four of us had seen the cone on social media but weren’t sure what the hype was about or how much it was like a waffle cone.
We discovered that it was nothing like a waffle cone. It is an actual waffle. Made right on site. The waffle maker in which it is cooked creates these little pillow pockets of dough interspersed with crispiness.
I found the waffle, which isn’t very sweet, to be a nice foil for the very sweet ice cream. But after a while, the cold, rapidly melting ice cream stole the little bits of crispiness. Luckily, the waffle doesn’t turn into a soggy mess. Though before the waffle absorbs the ice cream, you’re likely to get it on your hands and even your nose as Lucy found out. And the consistency of the ice cream seems to be a factor in its stickiness.
“It is good,” Tom said. “It’s a very messy experience. Messier than I thought.”
The waffled acted as a bit of a sponge that helped mop up the ice cream … much to Karen’s dismay.
“I had no idea about the cone,” Karen said. “I’m not a waffle cone person or a waffle sundae person. I am a hot fudge sundae person. But I kind of looked at it and I wanted that experience.”
Now that she’s experienced the cone, she said, “I’m good.”
“I would have rather just eaten the melted ice cream,” Karen added as she showed how she tried to scoop every last bit of her chocolate ice cream but found it absorbed by the spongey waffle pictured above. “I don’t want any more of this cone.”
Tom said the waffle was very soft but he’s more of a fan of a waffle that is pretty crispy. The diplomatic Lucy acknowledged that some people might actually enjoy eating an ice cream soaked waffle, as another layer of the Milkcraft experience.
One thing we all agreed on was that eating ice cream at Milkcraft might be a little like eating ice cream at your dentist’s office which also doubles as a club. Maybe we’re getting old, but the sounds of the machines providing the liquid nitrogen were surprisingly similar to the sounds of a dentist’s drill and they are loud. And the music at the Crown Street location? Even louder.
Tom observed that really loud music is a startling trend that seems to be relegated to the businesses on Crown Street. He said he had a similar experience during a recent trip to Mecha Noodle Bar down the street.
“I wonder if Crown Street food businesses feel like…this is the club row so they feel like they need to amp that shit up,” he said. “Can you imagine Arethusa doing this?”
Nope. Arethusa closes by 9 p.m. on the weekend and 8 p.m. during the week. Milkcraft will be open until 2 a.m. on the weekend — perfect for the club and bar scene let out that clusters in the blocks of Crown Street between Temple and High streets.
“I could so see coming here after the bar closes,” Karen said.
All in all, we liked the Milkcraft experience. The ice cream is good and watching the making of whatever concoction you choose is a good time. But we recommend that you bring your friends, share and maybe carry some Wet Ones and some earplugs.
“I like this place,” Karen said. “I’d tell people to come.”