Isotope

It’s hard to walk by without turning your head. Isotope’s colorful storefront stands in stark contrast to the more subdued styles of traditional ice cream shops. Here, the colors already hint at what’s to come: flavors that don’t just rehash vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but prefer to push the boundaries a little. Plum and smoked harissa, black sesame ice cream with grapefruit marmalade, watermelon with olive oil, or cucumber and elderflower: in the display cases, these combinations intrigue before winning you over with the very first spoonful. Behind the counter, Matthieu Meisse and Clément Hu, already the brains behind I/O Café, Causeries, and Boot Café, have teamed up with pastry chef Frances Leech to bring their culinary worlds to the realm of ice cream. A new generation of ice cream makers, then, one that’s freer, even down to the playful name “Isotope,” a play on “ice au top.” But above all, because in chemistry, isotopes are different versions of the same element. This ice cream borrows from contemporary cuisine, its contrasts, imagination, and seasonal variations, but is always eaten with the same sense of urgency: quickly, and before it melts.