It's the perfect time to eat outdoors and go out for ice cream afterwards. Here are some brand new places at which New Yorkers can partake in these important activities.
► Myrtle+Gold, 343 Gold St. in Fort Greene
Myrtle+Gold serves Sriracha honey chicken wings with buttermilk dressing and black sesame seeds; a kale and quinoa bowl with roasted mushroom, peas and favas; and a dessert of clafoutis made with blackberry, brown butter and whipped cream. Its cocktail selection includes a "Bullet Bourbon Ice Tea" and a "Caperberry Juice Bloody Mary." Specialty coffee drinks and pastries are served at the coffee bar in the morning, and the space has an outdoor patio with 100 seats overlooking Myrtle Avenue.
► Elsie's Parlor, 667 Classon Ave. in Crown Heights
This new ice cream and doughnut shop serves locally-sourced ingredients like brown butter and cinnamon ice cream, and a "confettura di fichi" doughnut (glazed with mascarpone, stuffed with fig jam and topped with honey and almonds).
► Leyenda, 221 Smith St. in Carroll Gardens
Like its sister restaurant Clover Club, this resaurant has a solid drinks menu thanks to noted cocktail experts Julie Reiner and Ivy Mix. Dining options include tacos, pupusas and Peruvian ceviche.
► Ice and Vice, 221 East Broadway on the Lower East Side
Stop by this former ice cream popup's brick and mortar location for unusual flavors such as the “Three Little Pigs,” which contains salted caramel, bacon butter and bacon praline as well as the “Happy Panda” sorbet, made with black rice horchata, coconut cream and Saigon cinnamon.
► Swan Dive, 480 Union St. in Gowanus
The barbeque offerings at this canalside joint got flamed pretty bad shortly after its opening, but its staunchly local drinks menu is not to be sniffed at: Swan Dive informs its public that "all beers on the menu are produced within a 50 block radius, and each spirit category highlights a local purveyor."
► Babu Ji, 175 Ave. B in the East Village
Stop by Babu Ji for nacho-like snacks, called Papadi Chaat, which are made with chickpea, cucumber, pomegranate and a mint and yogurt chutney; kebabs made with yogurt-filled croquettes and Gol Gappa, which are small round snacks made with semolina flour and filled with ingredients that hit taste buds with tangy, spicy, sweet and sour flavors all at once. To wash it all down, customers can step up to the restaurant’s beer refrigerator and grab one of about 50 kinds of craft brews.
