BROOKLYN (WABC) — Brix Haus Ice Cream Shop in Brooklyn brings joy to its customers. That was Tara Glick’s mission when she opened the shop in Williamsburg.
Originally starting in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, her business has expanded quickly thanks to unique flavors and her unique style.
“Ice cream when it really comes down to it is very simple it is only four or five ingredients. But there’s this magic to it all; if you’re just drinking milk or just eating egg yolks not very delicious, but I always say the secret ingredient to ice cream is magic,” Glick said. “I always say if you want to have a bad time you ask pastry chefs what the difference is between ice cream and gelato and then you wish you never asked that question.”
I always say the secret ingredient to ice cream is magic.
Their style of ice cream is a special blend of both styles.
“We have taken what we like best about American-style ice cream and gelato-style ice cream and mixed those and sometimes we just throw out the rules. We use a higher fat content, milk, cream, and eggs, and we churn it at a lower rate so there’s less air churned into the ice cream so you end up with a more flavorful, more creamy, and a more dense, chewy product which is what we like here,” she said.
We have taken what we like best about American-style ice cream and gelato-style ice cream and mixed those and sometimes we just throw out the rules.
One of their famous flavors is a throwback to a childhood, or ballpark favorite.
“This is our signature Cracker Jack sundae it is two scoops of popcorn ice cream, caramel sauce, peanut brittle, caramel popcorn, and whipped cream,” Glick said.
But you can always find their three signature flavors in her shops.
“That’s the best part of our week is coming up with what we’re serving that week. We do have three signature flavors that are constantly in the rotation at all three shops and those are our Basic V, which is our vanilla bean, our popcorn ice cream which goes into our Cracker Jack sundae, and our Brix Trax ice cream which is easily our most popular ice cream: it is a sweet cream ice cream with peanut butter, Oreos, and chocolate chips in it,” Glick said.
She discovered, after one door closed, that her favorite thing to make could also bring others joy.
“When you’re a chef people love asking you what your favorite thing to make and for me, it was always ice cream. Ice cream was always the backbone of my dessert menus when I was a chef in the city. Following the closure of my first restaurant in 2022, I needed more joy in my life and so for me, that’s ice cream. You know, everyone is always happy at the ice cream shop, no one is having a bad day at the ice cream shop,” Glick said.
Everyone is always happy at the ice cream shop, no one is having a bad day at the ice cream shop.
Brix has a double meaning for Glick.
“Brix is first and foremost the unit of measurement of sugar. Degrees Brix is how pastry chefs in other professions measure the sugar content of things. When I got Brix in 2018, I was so excited. I knew I wanted a dog and I knew I wanted to name her something pastry-related, but I didn’t want it to be too cutesy so I decided to name her Brix and she is a six-year-old Boston terrier, French bulldog mix, total terror. So, when it was time to name the ice cream shop I knew I had to name it after my only child, so Brix Haus is named after her.”
Brix Haus’ three locations came into existence in less than a year and a half.
“We’ve opened three locations in 15 months which was sort of by design and sort of by happy circumstance of finding excellent neighborhoods that we wanted to be a part of,” Glick said. “All of the locations, as I always say they are siblings not identical triplets so they’re not the same but you can find our delicious ice cream at all three locations.”
You never know what might inspire a new flavor.
“We are constantly drawing inspiration from absolutely everything. A lot of it is nostalgia based like what we ate in our childhood. The popcorn takes me back to like sticking your hand into a bag of movie butter popcorn and eating it,” Glick said. “Sometimes it’s just accident you know something didn’t turn out very good as a baked good, it goes into the ice cream, and we do no waste here everything that we sell as baked goods goes back into ice cream.”
She shares her secret to a perfect scoop of ice cream.
“A little bit of an art you want to get a nice long line you want to roll it into a nice ball you want to give someone a full scoop you don’t want to give anyone a sad half scoop. I actually have over 20 years’ of experience scooping ice cream. My first job was on the Jersey Shore scooping ice cream so it’s kind of come full circle now,” she said.
Glick says she and her coworkers believe in eating ice cream all year round, but spring and summer are when they really hit their stride with flavors.
That’s because they’ll go to their parents’ houses on the weekends and pick fresh fruit and herbs from the gardens to use for the most authentic, unique flavors.
You can visit Brix Haus in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Park Slope, and Williamsburg.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE MORNINGS @ 10 PODCAST
Discover more podcasts from abc7NY here
———-
* More Brooklyn news
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Copyright © 2024 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.
