Red Trolley, at 2639 West 32nd Avenue, serves amazing gelato and ice cream, including vegan sorbettos and a truly decadent vegan chocolate ice cream -- but there are plenty of other reasons to stop by this new spot in Highland. Red Trolley also supports local farmers and growers, and its menu of organic dishes -- including vegetarian options -- changes with the seasons. Not only that, but it serves Novo coffee brewed in the Clover machine, which makes for the best cup of coffee you'll ever taste.
I stopped in yesterday to try the lunch special, and the butternut squash soup was perfect -- smooth, soothing and wonderfully spiced for fall. And lucky for me, it came in an oversized mug/bowl that made the soup easy to sip, since eating it slowly, one spoonful at a time, just wasn't cutting it. (Meat eaters could opt for a chicken vegetable soup.) The soup came with your choice of two salads, both made with organic greens: the house salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and Haystack Farms goat cheese with a citrus vinaigrette, or a seasonal salad with honeycrisp apples, candied pecans, blue cheese and maple cider vinaigrette. I opted for the seasonal salad without the cheese (making it vegan).
The special also included a heavenly homemade popover served with fresh fruit preserves (peach yesterday -- yum!) and butter. At $7.95, it made for an ideal, autumnal lunch.
It also was so filling that I almost skipped dessert. The concord grape sorbetto made from grapes grown in the neighborhood was very tempting, but I went with the chocolate-covered sea salt caramel gelato, since salted caramel is a recent flavor obsession of mine, and it was the perfect ending to a perfect meal.
Red Trolley is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Lunch is served daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; after that, the emphasis is on dessert. -- Aubrey Shoe
