The Best Summer Scoops in the City
It’s officially Ice Cream season, and our cups and cones runneth over, with inspired frozen dairy desserts from a seemingly endless number of NYC suppliers. And while it was exceedingly difficult, we managed to narrow down just a few of our favorites, including guanciale-studded malteds from Hail Mary, top-notch gelato from Superiority Burger, and Hong Kong-inspired sundaes from the Smorgasburg vendor, Wowfulls! Did we mention Dominique Ansel’s ice cream tacos, too? Yep…
Superiority Burger
We count ourselves amongst the minority of not being totally sold on veggie burgers. That said, we would totally brave the line that snakes from the miniscule East Village shop all the way down E. 9th Street, for scoops of Brooks Headley gelato (an ever-changing roster of flavors includes vanilla labne, toasted pecan and fresh chamomile) and sorbet (think strawberry, nectarine, mango-chili, shiso-rhubarb). Headley made his name as Del Posto’s inimitable pastry chef, after all.
Read MoreDominique Ansel Kitchen
Being that Dominique Ansel always seeks to up himself with his pastry creations, it stands to reason he’d be equally ambitious when it comes to ice cream. So in addition to reopening his soft serve window for the season (with flavors like Burrata and Salt and Pepper Caramel), he just debuted an ingenious Ice Cream Taco with nuevo Mexican guru, Alex Stupak; think a brown butter masa shell cradling corn ice cream, rimmed with fresh lime zest and served with a tomatillo-chile-avocado-agave dipping sauce.
Read MoreOddfellows
Oddfellows regularly collaborates with restaurants all around the city (they’ve debuted ice cream cookie sandwiches with Ovenly, and ube ice cream and shiso granola-stuffed brioche with Mission Chinese), but with outposts in both Williamsburg and the East Village, you can also go straight to the source for their reliably wacky creations. Rotating flavors include Maitake Peanut, Carrot Cake Cheesecake, Lime Tarragon and Ants on a Log, although they’re really just the jumping off point, for boozy shakes, off-the-wall sundaes, crazy cones and more.
Read MoreAmple Hills
Not only did they expand from their shoebox-sized Prospect Heights location a couple of years ago, into expansive, bi-level digs (complete with an open-air rooftop!) in Gowanus, Ample Hills scored one of the few, coveted spots in the perennially mobbed Gotham West Market. So no matter where you are in the city this summer, you’re always within striking distance of one of their whimsical, hormone-free, house-pasteurized flavors; think Sweet as Honey, Mexican Hot Chocolate and our personal favorite — Salted Crack Caramel.
Read MoreWowfulls
This season’s Ramen Burger, the Smorgasburg newcomer is attracting Instagrammers in droves, clamoring to take beauty shots of their gigantic cones (crafted out of Hong Kong hot cakes), filled with ice cream (such as vanilla, coffee or black sesame), and drizzled with rivers of condensed milk, mounded with toppings like fresh strawberries, chewy mochi or Oreo cookie crumbs, and accented with frosted pocky sticks.
Read More10Below Ice Cream
This modern parlor serves traditional, Thai-inspired ice cream rolls, in the heart of historic Chinatown. Using advanced cold plates that reach temperatures well below 10-degrees, liquid cream is turned to ice cream in under two minutes, eliminating the need to add additional fat and emulsifiers, and resulting in a naturally smoother and creamier product. So you can feel justified in fleshing your rolls out into a sundae, by adding chocolate and graham crackers (for the “S’mores Galore”) or bananas and nutella (the “Monkey Business”).
Read MoreMilkMade
MilkMade may have started out as a subscription-only ice cream delivery service, but widespread demand necessitated opening a Brooklyn brick-and-mortar, which showcases flavors developed with local, artisan food producers. Past — and hopefully future — concoctions include New York Style Cheesecake (studded with chunks from Juniors), Sarsaparilla Sour (spiked with whiskey from Kings County Distillery), and Harvest Moon; a peanut butter and jelly-inspired dessert featuring concord grape ice cream with Locust Grove Farm fruit, and sticky candy orbs formed from Saratoga peanut butter.
Hail Mary
Talk about a finer diner; the Hail Mary team (whose combined resumes include Atera, Del Posto, Dover, Empellón Cocina, Momofuku and Rotisserie Georgette) make everything at scratch at their not-so-greasy spoon in Greenpoint. And that includes ice cream (such as sage and sesame, saffron mochi and tres leches) incorporated in all sorts of sundaes, sodas and frappes; most notably the “Paulie Gee Malt” — inspired by the beloved pizzeria next door — comprised of burrata ice cream, hot honey and guanciale.
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Oh no! Thanks for the heads up