It’s a bit of a schlep up the stairs to the new space-age-inspired Upper East Side ice-cream parlor CoolMess, but its intriguing neon sign — “Cool Is the New Hot” — promises a reward unlike any other.
And the moment my kids, Daisy, 8, and Bobby, 5, opened the door, their jaws dropped as if they’d stumbled across the gingerbread house in “Hansel and Gretel” — sans witch, of course.
A giant candy wall — packed with delectable goodies such as Smarties, Tootsie Rolls and chocolate-covered pretzels — is the first temptation that greets you as you step inside this sweet-filled Shangri-La. Welcome to a cool New York City shop where you can actually make your own ice cream.
That’s right. If you’re bored with the standard purchasing procedure where a server unceremoniously plops your scoop into a cup or cone, CoolMess is the answer. And squirting whipped cream on your own elaborate homemade sundae is much more fun.
We were seated at a simple white table dominated by two ice cream- making machines. Bobby and Daisy joyfully poured in their choice of a chocolate or vanilla organic liquid base from Brooklyn creamery Blue Marble, pressed the on button, threw in their choice of three mix-ins, and waited impatiently for the concoction to reach the right consistency.
Eight minutes later they each had their own wacky, custom-made ice cream — in Bobby’s case, vanilla blended with mini marshmallows, miniature gummy bears and Skittles, and in Daisy’s, chocolate churned with brownie bites, miniature M&Ms and bite-size peanut-butter cups. Delicious (at least for a kid’s palate) and certainly unique.
“Why don’t you follow one of the ‘messipes’?” I’d previously asked Daisy, referring to the more sensible recipe suggestions on the menu, such as “Cookie Monster,” a vanilla base mixed with cookie dough, chocolate chips and crushed Oreo cookies. But, as manager Babile Getachew assured me, this is a child’s time to “get creative.”
Creative and chaotic. By the end of the session, our table looked like an explosion in a sprinkle factory, not helped by a sugar-charged Bobby Hoovering up jelly beans from the floor.
But the staff didn’t bat an eyelid. Shrugged Getachew, brandishing a broom: “That’s why we’re called CoolMess.”
“The Ice-Cream Experience” costs $29.99 per batch and feeds up to three people. CoolMess, 137 E. 62nd St.; 212-355-9834, CoolMess.com