What a Day for an Orange Daydream

Though Spring is still playing peekaboo with the Northeast, a recent warm day seemed like a splendid occasion to try Reben Luncheonette's Morir Soñando.

After all, last year Saveur listed it as one of only two Gotham food highlights.  Furthermore, this little Williamsburg shop has been making its famous concoction over four-and-a-half decades. The $3 drink even comes with a satisfaction guarantee! It just has to be good, doesn't it?

The Morir Soñando (literally, "to die dreaming") is a Dominican beverage made with fresh-squeezed orange juice and milk, sweetened with sugar and vanilla syrup.

The flavors are reminiscent of an Orange Julius or, perhaps, a creamsicle.  Is it good? Of course.  But …

While Reben's is widely considered to be the best, I find this Morir Soñando a little too sweet. (The far less famous version served at El Gran Castillo de Jagua in Prospect Heights is more refreshing owing to judicious restraint of sucrose.)  In the end, I wasn't dreaming and I guess I'm still somewhat alive.

 

Reben Luncheonette

229 Havemeyer Street (near Broadway, next to McDonald's), Williamsburg, Brooklyn

(718) 338-7696

By train: J,M,Z to Marcy Avenue
By bus (from Manhattan): B39 to Washington Plaza