Grom & Robyn

While New Yorkers may not be sure whether to serve their tap water in a carafe or not,

we are VERY happy to have a new real Italian gelato shop from Turin.

No question about it!

GROM is a wonderful addition to a town lacking good ice cream.

Yesterday I met up with food blogger, Robyn Lee, The Girl Who ate Everything at the 2165 Broadway Upper West Side shop.
 

The flavor chart is thoughtfully placed outside to aid your decision making process.
They even have monthly flavors!

You can taste as many flavors as you like at Grom,

but anticipation, stress and angst will make you choose quickly.

The torture of watching the dipping.

Wondering if you got the right flavor.

This is very Italian to stick the cone on top, so you can eat it either way..

And the cone was definitely from Italy - crispy and light.

What is it about gelato spoons?

I save every single gelato spoon I come across.

There's always a few lurking in the bottom of my purse just in case.

Don't ask me why?...just in case.

WARNING! Very large picture of rich creamy gelato.

Robyn got Cinnamon and Pistachio.

Mine was Cinnamon and Hazelnut.

Real Italian Pistachio is NEVER green, but rather the color of dirty old duffle coats.

Notice Robyn has drapped a bib around her gelato to catch the drips.
Mine never had much chance to drip.

You can tell Robyn is a serious eater.

She's actually tasting the gelato...

Mine disappeared mysteriously almost instantly. 

Is this little girl thinking, Why didn't I get chocolate..?
Is this dog asking, Where's mine..?

Did I say this was my 4th visit and the 1st time I did not get Pistachio...

WELCOME to New York GROM!

Wayne Thiebaud, Glacée

This ink drawing came from the out-of-print Wayne Thiebaud sketchbook. If you want to paint desserts you better look at Thiebaud. He's master of dessert still lifes - his images of ice cream, cakes, pies, candy are the best.Thiebaud paints with thick brilliant oil color and strong shadow shapes against a white ground. Geometry plays a big part in his paintings: spheres, cubes, triangles (as it does in most of the top Paris pastry chefs creations, but more about that later)Cezanne said, if you can draw a cube, a sphere, a pyramid...you can draw anything. And desserts tend to take the form of strong abstract geometric shapes more than steaks, chops or mashed potatos...or broccoli.

Matcha Trio, watercolor, 10 1/2 x 7 1/2"

Since I love painting round things anyway, cups, saucers etc., I picked ice cream "dixie" cups this time. Not really a big hardship.

Dixie Couple, watercolor, 10 1/2 x 7 1/2"

I thought I'd stick with green tea flavor, since there's a nice Japanese store in the neighborhood, Family Market on 29-15 Broadway.

Melting Matcha, watercolor, 12 x 10"

They melted really fast in this heat, so I had to eat them quickly. Spoiled food and all that..Course in my rush, I forgot to mix up that special yellowy-greyish green tea color first.
After a day of painting I ran to MOMA to catch the DADA show. In the steamy garden they sell dixie cups of il laboratorio del gelato. There was no Matcha flavor so I had to settle for Dark Chocolate. This has to be the BEST STUFF ON THE PLANET! You can also get it on 95 Orchard st.