In today's food world, weird flavors and innovative ideas are popping up left and right. Some seem delicious from the get-go (lookin' at you cronut and cruffin), while others are more intimidating, like pickle ice cream. But speaking of ice cream, Davey's has two new flavors with a crazy twist—they're blended with cheese. That's right! Cheese-infused ice cream exists, and spoiler alert, it's amazing.
So, I know what you're thinking...
As you probably also thought before tasting the pickle ice cream, cheese and ice cream don't mix. But let me ask you, if cheese can be made into a cake, why can't it be mixed into ice cream? And don't let the feta fool ya, it's still a dessert-lover's dream.
What are the flavors?
Davey’s Ice Cream teamed up with Président® Cheese on two different flavors: You Feta Believe It! made with Davey’s sweet cream ice cream, Président Feta®, Davey’s homemade guava curd, and spiced pie crust crumble (available at the East Village location on 1st Ave.) and The Présidential Sweet with Davey’s signature sweet cream base, Président® Creamy Brie, an oven-roasted garlic caramel swirl, and bits of brioche French toast (available at the Williamsburg location).
So now you know what's in them, and they still seem kind of out there, right? Well, let's break down the tastes for you.
You Feta Believe It!
This truly reminded me of a cool variation of cheesecake (no pun intended). I'm very picky about cheesecake and only recently started eating some, but I have to say, this hits all the right flavors. There wasn't really too much saltiness, which I was afraid the feta would bring out, but a great sweetness and slight spice from the pie crust which gave it that perfectly dessert-y flavor.
The Présidential Sweet
What made me nervous about this one was how the garlic would translate into dessert. As a big fan of garlic—my roommate can attest to the fact that I drown my food in it almost every night—and someone with a conversely huge sweet tooth, I wasn't sure how these two flavors would blend into one cohesive dessert.
Short answer: it did.
The brie acted in a similar manner as ricotta usually does in desserts, and while I couldn't really identify a standout "brie"-like flavor among the others, a friend of mine could taste it right away. The brioche balanced out the sweet cream/brie ice cream really well and the garlic-caramel seemed oddly as though it belonged.
Once you tasted it, you couldn't picture the dessert without it. The hardest part about it was figuring out which toppings to have with it because ice cream and garlic alone is confusing enough.
The only thing that would have made it more exciting would have been a brioche bun to turn it into a sandwich.
So, if you like being the first of your friends to discover and recommend some incredibly out there, yet delicious, food trends, cheese-infused ice cream is definitely in your wheelhouse. My motto is to always try something at least once (unless your allergic), and I'm so glad I did this time. You will be, too.