Sunday News: Do you deserve better ice cream? Quokka Sweets says yes

Oded Rauvenpoor at Patina 250, Orso Nero lands, Moriarty curry lamb pie

Jenn Batt of Quokka Sweets poses with a pastry order.

Better ice cream is possible. Just ask Jenn Batt.

She should know. The former Grange Community Kitchen pastry chef is an all-around confections expert. By day, Batt’s a product developer for a dessert manufacturer. By night, she labors in an otherwise closed restaurant kitchen she rents by the hour to chase her dream: a kitchen to call her own.

She has a name for her brand: Quokka Sweets. Batt takes orders for pastry and other desserts, but her core offering is better ice cream, sold by the pint at Farm Shop in the Elmwood Village..

Batt has 15 years’ experience turning seasonal fruit and other ingredients into the most blissful forms she can imagine. And her imagination – fueled by research, travel, and an insatiable curiosity about flavors – is breathtaking.

Spruce tip stracciatella: Culinary grade spruce tips are infused into a sweet cream ice cream base with flecks of dark chocolate. Reminiscent of taking a wintery walk in the woods

Speculoos Cookies and Cream: House-made Speculoos spice blend infused custard, including cinnamon, anise, and white pepper. Swirled with Biscoff butter cookies.

Coquito: Latin holiday punch inspired, coconut milk base with cinnamon and dark rum.

Banana Pancakes: custard base infused with house-made pancakes and bananas, maple syrup caramel rippled throughout.

Torta della Nonna: homage to the classic Tuscan lemon tart, lemon infused custard, toasted pine nuts, crumbled shortbread cookies.

Love Potion, also known as Blood Orange Bergamot with Strawberry Stracciatella: Bitter, tart blood oranges squeezed into sherbet base and infused with Bergamot for added complexity. To pair with this flavor, Valrhona Strawberry Inspiration (also known as Strawberry White Chocolate) is drizzled through while churning, for pops of strawberry flavor.

Three’s Company: Tiramisu essence deconstructed then reconstructed in one bite. Boozy coffee custard, creamy mascarpone ice cream, and dark chocolate ice cream swirled together.

Batt uses better ingredients. The difference between Quokka and the Upstate Farms base that serves as the foundation for many local ice cream retailers is stark.

Quokka custards use egg yolks, not found in the commercial mix. Quokka’s base is whole milk, and cream, which contributes body and luxurious texture. The commercial base’s first ingredient is nonfat milk. Which is why it needs the last four ingredients, gums and stabilizers, to compensate.

Batt’s pastry skills are available by special order.

Quokka Sweets goes for $12 a pint. But when you put a spoonful in your mouth, you know where that money went.

“There is also something very special about having freshly churned ice cream that isn’t soft serve,” she said. Truly fresh ice cream, the Quokka pints are usually gone inside the month. Sometimes within the week.

Right now, there’s only one place to buy Quokka: Farm Shop, 235 B Lexington Ave., door facing Ashland Avenue.

Yesterday’s Quokka options at Farm Shop. (Photo: Kelcey Gurtler)

Actually, why quokka of all things?

“I was trying to think of my spirit animal, what animal would represent my brand, and I thought about quokka,” she said. “The little cute smiley animal in Australia that has no predators, and is just always happy. And I want to kind of bring that sort of joy to people that when you eat my food, you’re just like a smiling little quokka, and you’re like, ‘Oh, this is so good.’ ”

Subscribe to Quokka Sweets’ Instagram if you don’t want to miss any release dates for new flavors.

REVIEW: Buffalo is a city made by immigrants. In the heart of Allentown, Burmese immigrant turned American citizen Hla Thu is staking his claim to his own American dream at Bamboo Ridge, his Thai-Burmese restaurant at 244 Allen St. With a professional resume that includes two continents and four kitchens, Thu is dealing strikes from both sides of the plate, from Burmese tea leaf salad and oh no kauk swe (coconut curry chicken noodle soup) to Thai beef salad and mango sticky rice in black and white rice versions. (Later today, for patrons)

Orso Nero lands: Mike Diletti’s Neapolitan-inspired Orso Nero pies are another reason to head to Beer Kind Brewing, 2765 Kenmore Ave., Tonawanda. Diletti stretches dough and fires pies to order in a trailer-based oven parked outside. From 3 p.m.-9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, options will include:

Diavola: tomato sauce, hot soppressata, Calabrian chile, pickled red onion, stracciatella cheese, chile oil ($20).

Margherita: Bianco DiNapoli tomato sauce, fior di latte mozzarella, basil, extra-virgin olive oil, ($16.50).

Assassina: spicy sauce, Calabrian chile, garlic, crispy spaghetti, stracciatella cheese, chile oil ($18.50).

EVENT: Falafel Bar chef-owner Oded Rauvenpoor, the only Israeli chef in Buffalo, presents dishes from his Levantine heritage at Patina 250 on March 4.

Expect passed bites like cheese borek, and dates stuffed with goat cheese and pistachio.

Family-style maza appetizers, and Moroccan lamb tagine.

The dinner, 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m., is $125 plus tax and tip. Get tickets here.

CRITIC’S PICK:

When shopping for Valentine’s Day dinner required steak, I headed to Moriarty Meats, the butcher shop next to Cafe Bar Moriarty, 1650 Elmwood Ave.

Picanha secured, I admired the dozen types of sausages in the Moriarty case, and ready-to-grill shashlik lamb and beef skewers at $3.50 apiece.

Then I saw the pies. Moriarty sells meat pies ($11) in a butter-lard crust, with flavors that change week to week. I happened upon curry lamb and barbecue pork week, so I got both.

Moriarty’s curry lamb pie, packed with chunks of gently spiced meat, has officially joined my list of reasons to be happy I eat in Buffalo, N.Y.