Coffee with grass-fed butter? Check. Zucchini noodles? Check. Gluten-free avocado toast? Check. Beef-broth popsicle? What?!
Springbone Kitchen (90 W. 3rd St.), a new health-food spot in the West Village, has a menu full of trendy dishes familiar to yoga lovers and CrossFit freaks — and an unexpected twist: On Wednesday, the restaurant will start selling a $4 popsicle made from beef broth.
“It’s a little bit sweet,” says the eatery’s founder, Jordan Feldman, 26, of the pop, which also features coconut milk, pomegranate juice, raspberry puree and a touch of maple sugar. Feldman, who previously worked in real estate development, swears you don’t even taste the meat.
“It’s there, but it’s totally overwhelmed by the other flavors,” he says.
The reason for the broth, he says, is its health benefits. Feldman first started drinking the collagen-packed liquid a few years ago when he injured his knee playing tennis. After physical therapy failed to help, he started drinking a cup or two of broth daily, and it healed.
“I was pretty much sold at this point,” says the East Village resident.
Each pop contains one-third of a cup of beef bone broth — but is that enough to make much of a difference?
According to Manhattan nutritionist Keri Glassman, the answer depends on a number of factors. “Are you having it once a day or once a year? Are you eating other healthy foods? It all accumulates,” she says.
Feldman himself says he aims to have at least a cup of broth per day, but as for the popsicle, he says every little bit helps.
Springbone also offers several hot broths — free-range chicken, pastured smoked pork, grass-fed beef and seaweed miso — served with add-ins like spirulina, beet-and-carrot puree and turmeric-infused coconut milk.
Feldman, who hasn’t worked in the restaurant industry previously, says he and his team came up with the popsicle idea while trying to find a cool way to serve broth in the summer.
“We tried some cold broth, but we had to dilute [it], otherwise it’s too gelatinous — it’s like Jell-O. It took away a lot of the flavor … Then we thought, ‘Let’s freeze it.’”
But is this a perfect indulgence for hot weather — or a wholesome fad gone awry? So far, the response from bone-broth-headed customers is mixed.
“I’m willing to try anything with bone broth in it, and I love berries,” says Alison Jarosky, 39. The Union Square resident, who works in technology and often pops into the restaurant after a run, admits that hot bone broth isn’t always the most refreshing beverage post-exercise. “If they have new creative ways to consume [broth], I’m in,” she says.
Jesse Manocherian, 32, an actor living in Soho, isn’t so sure. He loves Springbone’s chicken stock, but he’s not interested in chilling out with a popsicle.
“I might try a sample,” he says. “But honestly, I like the hotness of the broth.”
— Additional reporting by Molly Shea