Ninth Avenue International Grocery | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Ninth Avenue International Grocery** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

The Ninth Avenue International Grocery is in the shadow of the Port Authority bus overpass on a grittier section of 9th Ave. Not necessarily the place I expected to find a wonderland of cooking ingredients. The shop itself is no frills, but the counter assistants are so friendly and helpful; thank goodness too because there is so much to choose from.

Sacks of beans and lentils, ground flours of all varieties take up most of the floor space, while bottles of olive oil and jars of honey, not to mention the bins of whole and ground spices, nuts and dried fruit line the walls. I had a hard time knowing where to start and with prices well below what I’ve paid in the past it was hard to know when to stop!

I noticed that one pound of French green lentils - aka. lentilles du Puy - at Ninth Ave. is $1.99 compared with the $4.99 per pound my neighborhood grocery store charges. No contest, right? Naturally I took a sack of them home with me for future batches of Salmon with Lentils.

Word to the wise, if you don't see something: ASK! When I inquired I learned that they had three different types of pumpkin seeds and the whole vanilla beans were tucked away in one of the refrigerated coolers. A few scoops of toasted pumpkins seeds came home with me and I now have big plans for making vanilla sugar with the two beans wrapped carefully in waxed paper and now tucked in my own fridge. I'm excited to go back and explore the boxes and packets I couldn't get to on my first visit. Now I know where to find future inspiration. Stay tuned…

Ninth Avenue International Grocery | 543 9th Avenue, New York, NY 10018 | M-F 7:30 am – 6:30 pm, Sa 7:30 am – 6:00 pm

Gotham West Market NYC | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Gotham West Market NYC** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

It seemed appropriate for the beginning of the Labor Day weekend to do one last – for now! - post on my search for the Best Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. So far I haven’t found the “perfect cone” but I did come close and while the official search is over I will remain alert for new contenders for the throne.

For this chapter I stopped by West Gotham Market in Hell’s Kitchen to check out the pop-up location of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and try their take on a refreshing mint ice cream. Here’s the scoop from Jeni’s on Backyard Mint:

“Peppermint has a strong, sweet scent, and it also has a high concentration of oils, which are essential in flavoring ice cream. When you roughly chop fresh peppermint the way we do, the leaves are bruised, which opens the oil pockets. In our world, bruising is just the thing to do when you’re cold-soaking peppermint in cream. Soaked overnight, the peppermint scent is locked into the cream, ultimately giving Backyard Mint ice cream it’s cool, subtly sweet flavor and remarkably refreshing herb-garden finish.”

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams Pop-up NYC | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams Pop-up NYC** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

The Scientific Part:

The rules are the same and I’m judging based the contenders for Mint Chocolate champ on five criteria - Flavor and then the four “Cs” - Color, Creaminess, Chips, and Charm.

In my ideal world I want a dash of kitsch with my high-quality ingredients, so my preference is for pale green ice cream with intense mint flavor and deep dark chocolate shavings. Yes, I realize that this doesn’t make them ‘chips’ per se, but then they’re more smoothly incorporated with the ice cream. I’m giving extra points for a whimsical setting or special experience – that’s the Charm part.

Special Comment on the Score: Normally I just let the numbers tell the tale, but in this case I want to point out that the Backyard Mint is mint only, not mint chip - which makes me a little sad on Jeni’s behalf because I actually think this might be the best ice cream I had all summer, but it scores poorly due to the color and lack of chips. Rules are rules even if it’s tough to be objective, so here’s my recommendation: buy the Backyard Mint and stir in some chocolate shavings for the ultimate scoop.