Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory: A good enough treat with a view that is sweet.

After a stroll across the gorgeous bridge of Brooklyn, what better reward than a banana split? We arrive with a well-earned appetite at the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory that sits on the river inside a cute two-storied house, just across the water from South Street Sea Port as well as the rest of Manhattan!

I feel like a child again ordering a boat of bananas with strawberries, pineapples and hot fudge. Caramel and walnuts are also options. Ice cream flavors we choose are chocolate, butter pecan and coffee, which aren't necessarily traditional but perfectly creamy and tasty still although what difference does it make when you've got all the fixins? The only other ice cream flavor available this day is vanilla, which we find to be slightly disappointing but it certainly doesn't stop us from eating every single bite.

It's a fair portion for $8, served with two spoons so perfect for sharing the love as well as the calories. Also delicious is the opportunity to sit on the deck and consume before it melts while enjoying a brilliant view as the sun reflects off the city across the way. Enjoy!

The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory
1 Water Street
Brooklyn
11201

Sparrow Tavern: Sweet Potato Fries, Oh My!

A friend and I went for a wee wander in Astoria on Monday with a pretty specific snack mission: Sweet potato fries.

She'd been telling me for weeks about these fries and mercy me, they do live up to their reputation. Hand-cut and served up with a few onions plus a little rosemary and parsley, they are pretty heavenly. Who could argue with that extraordinary flavor combo? Perfect for a pair to share as one $6 order is a plentiful one. Three beers (a can of Bitburger, a German beer, and two bottles of No 9, a tasty brew from Vermont) and a basket of bliss only added up to $24 so for New York, it's a must! And with the tavern's mismatched chairs and tables adding a special quirk and the Mississippi-born and bred bartender serving up a sweet helpin' of southern charm, it's a very cool place to sit a spell.

Guinness is all you'll find on tap but what, I ask, is wrong with that? Nothing.

Have a looksie:
Sparrow Tavern: 24-01 29th Street, Astoria, Queens - (718) 606-2260 www.thesparrowtavern.com