Javier Zuñiga: Bad Habit Ice Creams
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Ice cream is for pleasure, full stop. We pass the Halo Tops of the frozen deli aisle and want to love them, but real deal, rich, creamy ice cream feels harder and harder to come by. Enter Bad Habit. We first discovered Bad Habit on our Instagram stories--when doing our nightly pre-bed swiping turned into a full on hunt for their Cara Cara Creamsicle pint. We loved the simple label and the vampire imagery, and had to figure who, what, when, where and how can we get our hands on some. A few click throughs and DMs later, we were in touch with Javier, one of the co-founders of Bad Habit. He walked us through his and (other co-founder) Jesse's ice cream making scheme in their Bushwick apartment. We are so happy this pandemic project has turned into something that has already given our fav Haagen Daas a run for its money.
Name, age, place of birth
Javier Zuñiga, 31, Caracas, Venezuela.
What is your job title?
I am Co-Owner of Bad Habit and the new coming project, Caleta.
What were your family dinners like growing up?
Even though I grew up in Venezuela, our family dinners were more influenced by Argentina and Chile; lots of fish and tons of salads.
What are your earliest memories of dining out?
Ever since I was a little kid my parents would bring me with them to their favorite spot in town which was a true bistro; there were no frills, no big names, just amazing food.
What drew you to this industry?
I was in law school in Caracas at the time, bored, desperate for a change. My passion was more in surfing and music and food than in law, so I turned to what I thought was the complete opposite of my studies at the time: cooking.
One piece of advice for someone looking to get into the field?
Work hard and focus on your goal.
What has this industry taught you?
Resilience, and a crazy instinct of survival.
Favorite ice cream flavor?
I have to go with one of the originals, Hazelnut.
Where would we find you when you eat out?
As much as we appreciate “tweezer food’, in our hearts we would definitely rather be messily sharing moules frites, a steak and a bottle of wine in a bistro like Minetta Tavern.
