Located in the West Village, in an area full of restaurants (none of which are kosher, unfortunately), Popbar (5 Carmine Street – at 6th Avenue – New York, NY 10014; Tel: 212.255.4874) is a refreshing oasis for the kosher palate. When I say refreshing I mean it literally, especially, now that summer is almost here. They sell popGelato and popSorbetto… Unlike other gelati, their product comes on bars. Unlike other bars, theirs are made with all natural, healthy ingredients… not quite what you get at your friendly supermarket, is it?
An assortment of flavors and your choice of poppings (toppings) and dippings...
The popSorbetto flavors (strawberry, peach, mixed berry, blood orange, lemon, mandarin, pineapple, melon, grapefruit) are made with 70-80% real fruit, with no syrup, no milk and natural fructose, intead of sugar. As a result, not only are they healthier, but they do not taste overly sweet like so many other brands do.
The choice of popGelato flavors is a little larger (chocolate, vanilla, coffee, mint, coconut, hazelnut, giandula, pistachio, almond, banana). They use more milk than cream, as a result these bars have fewer calories and are lighter than regular ice cream.
They also just started producing a new popular item, yogurt strawberry.
All their ingredients are imported from Italy, and when you taste these bars you immediately notice the difference. I tasted a popGelato coffee which they customized for me by dipping it in hazelnuts and dark chocolate…
Decadently delicious!
Decadent, creamy but light, not overly sweet… a feast for the eyes and palate! Then I had a mixed berry popSorbetto. It is made from real strawberry, real raspberry and real blueberry. Not only is this just different from other sorbet bars, it’s faaar better tasting, certainly healthier.
Their poppings (toppings) include: almond, hazelnut, coconut, pistachio and chocolate sprinkles. Their dippings include: dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate.
Before leaving, I picked three flavors to take home: lemon and strawberry (half of it covered in dark chocolate) from the popSorbetto selections and Hazelnut (covered in milk chocolate and hazelnuts), a popGelato selection.
As you can see, I could not resist taking a bite out of the strawberry on the side dipped in chocolate, while CS was setting up to take a photo, and... I'M NOT ASHAMED OF IT!
CS – who loves lemon flavored anything – thought this bar was the best he ever had, while I found the strawberry tasty, juicy, delicious with a true strawberry taste, the dark chocolate dipping was just the right touch. I cut the hazelnut popGelato in half (weeeell, not exactly half), gave one piece to CS (guess which one!), we both thought it was superb, creamy, flavorful and just sweet enough. I guess Popbar will be seeing us a lot.
SYR
The Kosher Scene 
thanks!!! are these dairy? pareve? hechsher info?
looking forward to summer!
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The popSorbetto line is pareve, the popGelato line is non-cholov yisroel. Hechsher is from NKS, Rabbi Mehlman. They are open on Shabbos.
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Nummy!
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WOW.. IT LOOKS WOW…..
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I hope I can find this in NJ! It would melt on the train home from Brooklyn.
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I reread. These are only available in the shop? I will gladly visit. I am in that neighborhood all the time, and a kosher treat is a plus!
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Chaim, oyoyoy: what are you doing to us? There’s NEVER a time conversation turns to ice cream that I am not standing at attention! To me, Ice Cream days are days planned with military precision: Very spartan meals for the whole day, to make room for ZE SPLURGE. Only one thing: It has to be worth it big time. I ain’t wasting my caloric resources on some …. whatever mediocre gooey brand, nonono. So this one is the next destination: PopBar here I come! Not overly sweet and full of flavor: You have just listed my two top cardinal rules for good dessert. Do tell the exact Kosher Supervision so everyone knows what to expect!
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