Grace Street

After a fun meal at BCD Tofu with Ken and Hsiao Mei, we headed down 32nd street searching for dessert. I mentioned a few options since we were in the mood for shaved ice: Grace Street, a place in the East Village, or my usual for patbingsoo in Koreatown, Tous Les Jours. We decided on Grace Street because it was the closest to BCD Tofu and because it happened to be pouring rain when we were trying to decide where to go.

Grace Street is relatively new (less than a year old, I think). They sell artwork inside and it’s a coffee shop as well as dessert and tea shop. We opted for three different desserts. The first: black sesame shaved ice with vanilla ice cream, red beans, and mochi:

The second dessert: green tea shaved ice with strawberry ice cream, red beans, and mochi:

And finally, their donut, which is called a ho-dduk, with vanilla ice cream:

Three desserts might have been too aggressive for the three of us, but we managed to finish all of them. I preferred the green tea shaved ice to the black sesame shaved ice; closer to what you’d get in Asia but still not as good. The shaved ice you usually get in Asia tastes just like snow – light on the tongue and dissolves into nothing in your mouth. It’s easy to survive off it during the summertime in Asia because it’s so refreshing and there are so many different combinations and flavors that you could just continue trying different mochis, toppings, and ice creams and never get bored!

The ho-dduk is the traditional Korean doughnut that was actually pretty good; it has a cinnamon-walnut type filling that tastes really good with the warm fried dough and very cold vanilla ice cream.

Definitely a cute spot in K-town – great for a quick bite if you are looking for something sweet!