Dipping a few fries into your milkshake is a time-honored diner or fast-food ritual, and for good reason: that combo of hot/cold, salty/sweet, crispy/creamy all in one bite is like taking a little hit of heaven.
Now Danny Bowien and Sam Mason, two NYC chefs who know how to make people happy, have teamed up for an official "Soft Serve and Fries" dish that you should literally get out of your chair and go eat right now at Bowien's Mission Cantina.
It's listed on the menu as dessert, but it really works best as an afternoon or late-night snack, and is especially good in a sharing situation. It costs $8. Here's how it works:
1. You get a big bowl of Danny Bowien's superb fries. They have heft and crunch, they're creamy inside and taste like potato (not just "frying oil"), they are heavily, but not too heavily, salted.
2. You get a generous pour of Sam Mason's OddFellows soft serve. Mason always infuses his ice cream with intense, true flavors, and his soft serve is no exception. The flavors available at Mission Cantina will rotate, but right now it's Salty Miso and Sweet Cherry. Obviously you should order both, in a swirl.
3. That's it! Take a fry or two from bowl #1, dip into ice cream in bowl #2, be grateful that life, at this moment, is so, so good.
By the way, did you know that Mission Cantina now has an entire Chinese side to the menu, to go with Bowien's Mexican favorites? I've only had the King Pao Chicken so far, but it was a big winner, spicy and sticky with large, tender chunks of bird.
Mission Cantina is located at 172 Orchard Street, on the corner of Stanton. (212-254-2233; missioncantinany.com)
