Cold treats with a twist
OK, so it's after Labor Day. That doesn't mean we have to stop enjoying cool, warm-weather treats and embrace molten chocolate cakes and steamed puddings; there'll be plenty of time for those later. Ice cream is the obvious choice to help us pretend it's still summer, but there are other cold-and-sweet options around town that manage to transcend the obvious.
The ice cream soda ($3.95) at Picco is in a class by itself. The old-fashioned treat is already a summertime favorite, but when the soda is one of owner Rick Katz's stellar homemade varieties, the experience is nothing short of memorable. The raspberry soda, made from pureed raspberries, is intensely flavored and coolly refreshing by itself. Add a scoop of Scharffen Berger chocolate ice cream, and it's mid-July all over again. Katz's ginger ale is heady with the spice; I had a hard time choosing between fresh ginger and vanilla bean ice cream. The lemon-lime soda is particularly good with sorbet, such as mango-pineapple or peach. The sodas taste incredibly fresh and delicious, and the accompanying ice creams are packed with flavor. If only every marriage were this perfect.
Picco, 513 Tremont St., Boston. 617-927-0066. www.piccoboston.com
Since 1958, Café Pamplona has been making a unique frozen concoction they call parfaits. They look like standard parfaits - layers of ice cream and sauce in a tall glass - but dip your spoon in, and you realize this is not your typical parfait. The creamy layers aren't exactly ice cream, but something lighter and fluffier, yet still rich, with a subtle kick of sherry. I've never had anything quite like them, and when owner Josefina Yanguas closed the doors of the Harvard Square institution last December, I thought I'd never have them again. Fortunately, fan pressure prompted Yanguas, 88, to reopen her doors earlier this summer. ''Now I will not close ever again - it will have to close by itself,'' she says. The parfaits ($3.75) are available once more, in mocha, chocolate, ginger, and mint, all made with homemade syrups. The parfait glass is coated with syrup, the ice cream layered on top, then kept in the freezer. The result is cold, light, airy, and creamy, a mix of delicate and sublime flavors.
Café Pamplona, 12 Bow St., Cambridge. 617-547-2763.
The mojito sorbet ($8) at Jer-Ne Restaurant & Bar at the Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common, is cool, clean, and very refreshing. Pastry chef Lisa Santiago created the dish because, she says, ''I wanted to bring something from the tropics up to New England.'' To ensure that the sorbet appears at your table truly cold, Santiago keeps the silver serving dishes in the freezer. The pale scoops are a complex mélange of flavors that include the requisite mint and light rum, plus grapefruit and lime. ''I also add a touch of salt,'' Santiago says. ''It brings out the flavors.'' Three scoops are garnished with fresh berries.
Jer-Ne Restaurant & Bar at the Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common, 10 Avery St., Boston. 617-574-7100.
The most unusual ice cream sandwich I've had is one that truly is a sandwich - on bread. Pressed Sandwiches in Cambridge, known for its pressed paninis, makes a dessert version of the grilled sandwich, wherein a scoop of gelato is sandwiched between two slices of grilled brioche ($3.50). The warm bread is soft and slightly sweet, and is a surprisingly tasty foil for the cool ice cream. Favorite flavors: Caramel, espresso, and pineapple. Pressed Sandwiches, 736 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 617-864-9600. www.pressedsandwiches.com
