Glace & Glace Candy, Nostalgia & Apple Crumble with Sasha Zabar

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Sasha Zabar, founder of Glace and Glace Candy in New York.   While many kids dream of opening an ice cream shop or candy store, it’s something Zabar actually did! The two stores are connected in the middle, so customers and their friends/family can visit one or both sides, and if they want, mix their candy into the ice cream for infinite variations and options.   Zabar has fond memories of getting these ice cream and candy at his neighborhood shops. Since most of those establishments have since gone away, Zabar now gets to be the source of others’ nostalgia … and revitalize the neighborhood in the process. After his first year’s ice cream season, when business started to dwindle, Zabar started thinking outside the box … er cone.   “We created what has become kind of a viral sensation, which is our s'mores hot chocolate,” he explains. “We make a house-made marshmallow [which] we pipe around the rim and toast … it's very theatrical, but it's also delicious.”   Their hot chocolate videos - some of which are in the millions of views - have led to lines around the block every day during hot chocolate season (November to middle of January),    While social media is an amazing tool to see what people and businesses are doing, especially in the food scene around the world, you need to be creative to stand out.   “We take a common conceit - hot chocolate, ice cream, sundaes, candy - and play around with it until we find something that is both familiar but different,” he explains. “We randomly found our way into a corner of the universe: people love … trying something different than what they expect.”   Sasha Zabar talks about growing up in the family food business. His grandparents, Louis and Lillian, founded Zabar's in 1934; his father, Eli, had various businesses, including Eli’s Market and Eli’s Bread. Zabar also shares how he started Glace and Glace Candy, the part social media played in making Glace a destination, and the recipe for one of his favorite year-round treats: apple crumble, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.   “I don't remember a time where I didn't want to be in some way in the food business,” Zabar says. “So it is kind of destiny.” Learn more about Sasha Zabar at GlaceNY.com and follow @GlaceNewYork on Instagram.   For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.