Haru recently moved its theatre district location, Haru Broadway, to Haru Times Square. It’s located in the Times Square Building, the former headquarters of the New York Times (229 West 43rd Street).

In addition to lunch and dinner, there’s a happy hour from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (scoot from the matinee to enjoy drinks and light bites), and a private room that holds up to 15.

One of our favorite items on the menu is the Trio Of Fish Tacos, a fusion dish that uses taco shells made from wonton dough. Three full-size tacos are filled with three different sashimi blends: tuna with cherry tomato salsa, salmon with avocado and striped bass with apple yuzu ceviche sauce.

Here’s the recipe if you want to try it at home.

Another recipe that can be made by any home cook is summer rolls. Summer rolls, a Vietnamese specialty, are never fried but served in an uncooked rice noodle wrap. Here’s the recipe, with an explanation below about the differences among summer rolls, spring rolls and egg rolls.

Our favorite dish: Three Fish Tacos. Photo courtesy Haru.

An overhead view of summer rolls you can
make at home with this recipe. Photo courtesy Haru.

Strawberry sundaes have gone out of style. In fact, strawberry ice cream, one one of the “top 3” with chocolate and vanilla, has fallen to #8.

As each new generation comes up with favorite ice cream flavors (Birthday Cake, Cookie Dough, Peanut Butter Cup, Red Velvet Cake), strawberry, an “original” ice cream flavor, has receded into the shadows. When was the last time you saw on a menu, much less ordered, a strawberry sundae?

On July 7th, National Strawberry Sundae Day, it’s time to give this classic its due.

Below:

> Hack: how to make a quick strawberry sundae.

> Recipe: classic strawberry sundae.

> The Top 20 ice cream flavors.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of strawberries.

> The history of the ice cream sundae.

> The history of ice cream.

> The different types of ice cream and other frozen desserts: a photo glossary.

> Strawberry ice cream soda (float) recipe (photo #4).

> The year’s 6 ice cream sundae holidays.

> The year’s 50+ ice cream holidays.

> The year’s 9+ ice cream drink holidays.

> The year’s 12 strawberry holidays.

> How to create an ice cream party bar.
 
 
HACKS: HOW TO MAKE A QUICK STRAWBERRY (OR OTHER) SUNDAE

You can make it with strawberry, vanilla or chocolate ice cream—or a combination.

 
For The Syrup

Since lush summer strawberries beckon, there’s no need to buy a cloying, HFCS-laden strawberry syrup. Here’s all you need to do.

 
 
RECIPE: STRAWBERRY SUNDAE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. CHOOSE a dish. You don’t need sundae or parfait dishes: A bowl, glass or wine glass will do. (The photo above uses a rocks glass.)

2. PREPARE the strawberry sauce. Dilute the strawberry jam with orange liqueur to taste. Add lemon juice to taste. Add a tablespoon or more of warm water to achieve the desired consistency.

3. SCOOP the ice cream/sorbet into a dish. Top with the strawberry sauce, sliced strawberries and optional whipped cream. Dig in.

[1] You don’t need a special sundae dish, just delicious ingredients (photo © Baileys).

[2] If you prefer vanilla ice cream, layer plenty of strawberry filling in the style of a parfait (photo © Fortnum & Mason).

[3] How about a strawberry sundae with a crumbled pie crust or cookie garnish? You can also call it a deconstructed pie à la mode (photo: The Nibble).

[4] Drink your strawberry sundae: Make a shake (photo © Sebastian Coman Photography | Unsplash).

________________
 
*It’s a sherbet rather than traditional ice cream, but rainbow sherbet is often included in frozen dessert. These rankings are from You.Gov. Because there is no single official U.S. ranking, the exact order from about #6 onward changes depends on whether the list is based on consumer surveys, grocery sales, scoop shop sales, or premium ice cream brands.

†Superman ice cream is a Midwestern staple consisting of three distinct ice cream flavors swirled together in the primary colors of the superhero’s costume: blue, red, and yellow. While recipes vary, it traditionally combines blue moon, cherry, and vanilla flavors. It has a flavor often compared to fruit punch, cake batter, or Fruity Pebbles. The colorful flavor combination is actually believed to be older than the comic book character himself. Legend holds that it was invented in the 1920s or 1930s by the Detroit-based Stroh Brewery Company. During Prohibition, the brewery shifted its operations to produce non-alcoholic goods, including ice cream.
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Like BLTs? Here’s a BLT Pasta Salad. Photo
courtesy QVC.

It deconstructs a BLT sandwich, using baby arugula for the lettuce and adding cheese and chicken so it has the protein to serve as a luncheon or dinner salad.

But, you can leave out the cheese and chicken and serve it as a side salad.

David advises, “If you want to serve it as a side salad, this recipe is a flavor-packed side dish that would pair perfectly with anything from ribs to grilled salmon.”

Add optional croutons for a fully deconstructed BLT sandwich.

Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
Preparation

1. COOK the pasta according to the package directions. Drain well.

2. TRANSFER the pasta to a large serving bowl. Add the bacon, green onions, cherry tomatoes, and arugula to the warm pasta. Add feta cheese and optional chicken and toss.

3. WHISK together the balsamic vinegar, lemon rind and mustard in a small bowl. Gradually add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking until blended. Whisk in the salt and pepper, to taste.

4. POUR the vinaigrette into the pasta salad and toss until well coated. Serve warm.

 
Find more of David Venable’s recipes at QVC.com.
 
  

We worshipped Parisian pâtissier Pierre Hermé, a fourth generation pastry chef from Alsace, even before we saw these ice cream sandwiches. As his Star Chefs bio says, “Pierre Hermé didn’t just carry on the family tradition; he rocketed it into the stratosphere.”

Hermé began his career at age 14 as an apprentice to Gaston Lenôtre, was a full-fledged pastry chef by 20 at Fauchon, and established Pierre Hermé Paris since 1996.

Unable to get to Paris, we set to work recreating the ice cream sandwiches.

Hermé, the master of macarons, makes rectangular meringue cookies to sandwich his ice cream sandwiches. By all means, try it if you’re up to the challenge. Unschooled in the technique, we couldn’t get ours out of the pan and evenly sliced without a lot of breakage; but the pieces tasted fine.

Otherwise, you can use any base, from cookies to cake slices. We really liked pound cake, pre-toasted and cooled before the ice cream was added.

The prettiest ice cream sandwiches, on meringues. Photo courtesy Pierre Hermé.

PIERRE HERMÉ ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

Ingredients

 
While all combinations we tried were delicious, we especially loved vanilla ice cream with raspberry sorbet or passionfruit sorbet.

Preparation

1. LINE a loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing a border of wrap to hang over the sides so you can pull out the frozen loaf of ice cream.

2. LAYER the two flavors of ice cream/sorbet, one on top of the other. Sprinkle any inclusions over the first layer.

3. LET the ice cream soften until you can take a firm spatula or the handle of a wooden spoon and swirl it through the layers. This will create the marbled design. Freeze until hard.

4. ASSEMBLE by removing the loaf of ice cream, slicing it and adding the sandwich component.
 
If you want to drool over desserts that are an ocean away, head to PierreHerme.com.

And if you’re inspired to fly to Paris to enjoy them firsthand, remember: There’s always a line at the shop at 72 rue Bonaparte, in the Saint Germain des Prés district.

We wonder if the people who approved the name “Breakfast In Paris” for lavender tea have been to France.

If they had, they’d know that lavender-accented foods do not abound in Paris. You’ll find them way south in Provence, where the lavender is grown.

Perhaps the namers knew that, but felt that “Breakfast in Provence” wasn’t as fetching a title?

Folks, it’s better to be accurate than slapdash.

But that doesn’t stop us from liking Stash’s new Breakfast In Paris, subtly accented with lavender. We have often steeped dried lavender* into tea for iced tea. We love both the lavender aroma and the alluring flavor.

Breakfast In Paris simplifies the process. There’s no need to strain out and toss dripping springs of lavender.

Stash blends black tea with aromatic, floral lavender and a touch of citrusy bergamot oil. The result is pleasurable with or without milk, hot or iced. The ingredients are all natural; the line is certified kosher by KOF-K.

Stash calls it a breakfast tea†, but you can enjoy it anytime.

 
Our recommendation: Buy the six-pack. It takes four bags to brew a quart of iced tea, and you can always give extra boxes as gifts.

 
FUN FACT FROM STASH

In earlier centuries, tea was a valuable commodity, transported all the way form China by clipper ship. The ship’s captain often was presented with some of the finest teas for his personal use.

This supply was his private reserve, or stash, a term that still denote anything put away carefully because of its preciousness.
 
*Only cook with culinary-grade lavender, roses, etc. They’re grown without chemical pesticides.

†Breakfast teas are strong black tea blends made to accompany a hearty, English-style morning meal and to go well with milk. Examples include Chai (flavored with Indian spices), Earl Grey (flavored with bergamot orange), English Breakfast (Keemun and other black teas), Irish Breakfast (a malty Assam blend) and Orange Pekoe (Ceylon black tea). Breakfast teas are more robust than afternoon tea blends. However, these distinctions descend from an old British tea-drinking tradition. Feel free to enjoy whatever tea you like, whatever time of the day.