Have Calories, Will Travel

It is summer in the city! We've finally had a few dry days and when the sun is out, it is hot!

One of the newer trends around town that is really taking off now that the weather is nice is the high-end food truck--usually of the sweet variety. There is Dessert Truck on Astor Place, as well as a new street stand that does nothing but crepes, a couple different cupcake trucks, and frozen treats galore. All of this new interest in upscale street food has created controversy among the mobile vendor community, but for resident foodies, there is certainly room for everyone. I recently patronized the Dessert Truck with my new colleague Jean and we tried the Warm Molten Dark Chocolate Cake (with an olive oil ganache center!) and Leighton and I have shared the brownie with vanilla ice cream last Saturday night. I want to get back and order the Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding, but can't decide if I would get the vanilla custard or BACON custard sauce (uh-huh!) to go with it.

ANYWAY, amongst all this over-the-top dessert pretension is the best, the old standard, the Mister Softee truck. Always dependable, and always right where you need one. The ice cream is completely medicore, full of air and totally fake tasting, but there is nothing like it on a hot day (even better on a hot night!). Colton has been ice cream adverse since we first offered it to him a year ago. Totally disinterested and unimpressed--a huge disappointment as the entire Mitchell family are ice cream fanatics. But, on Wednesday afternoon, Leighton took Auden and CT to the Mister Softee truck on Astor Place. He ordered a cup of chocolate for AJ and a vanilla cone in a cup for himself. He offered Colton a bite of the vanilla from a spoon and Colton snubbed it. Moments later, however, Colton swiped the cone sticking up out of the cup and that was all she wrote. By the time I caught up with them, Colton was in dairy nirvana, shirtless, stroller-bound and sucking on this ice cream cone to beat the band. If you look carefully at the last photo, you can see the vanilla pooled in his belly button.