Dominant Culture Yogurt with Rosemary Sorbet: When asked for recommendations for where to eat in NYC, I always bring up Chikalicious, a dessert bar in the East Village where $18 gets you a prix fixe tasting of fine-dining-level desserts, always served by the industrious and humble pastry chef Chika Tillman. She and her husband have been offering to-go treats at a separate pop-up on the edge of Tompkin Square Park, including churro cone ice cream that I've previously reviewed. Now they're planning a yogurt shop called Dominant Culture and are doing a pilot run at the same pop-up. House-made, creamy and tart yogurt serves as a moat around a sphere of rosemary sorbet, all in a suspiciously small cup for a dessert you pay over $7 for. Still, the quality is excellent -- the sorbet is made a-la-minute and has a fragrant yet savory flavor of concentrated rosemary. Topped with a sugar tuille, a single pistachio, and a slice of dehydrated strawberry, the entire dessert is well balanced, with an unusual combination of sour, sweet, and slightly bitter. It doesn't strike me as a crowd-pleaser, but I appreciate that it's pushing ice cream in a direction that I haven't experienced before and look forward to trying more. 4.0/5.0

recommended nyc chikalicious dominantculture yogurt rosemary sorbet 4.0