New York City is full of places to treat your sweet tooth. In these hot summer days, there is nothing I’m craving more than some ice cream. I’m not talking about plain vanilla, ordinary old chocolate or everyday strawberry. I’m talking about flavors you can’t even pronounce! These shops are all one-of-a-kind, putting the flavor back into our favorite frozen treat.
Popbar
Head over to the Lower East Side on Carmine Street to feed the inner child in you with a very unique kind of popsicle: Gelato on a stick!
The Popbar is full of surprises. They never have the same flavors available more than twice in a week. Their variety of flavors changes daily except for strawberry and pistachio, which are the most popular. There is a three-step process to creating your own myPop. First, you choose any one of their flavors made from scratch right on site. I chose the coconut and it was like a taste of tropical paradise, promise. Next you choose your toppings out of hazelnut, almonds, shredded coconut, pistachios, granola, coffee grains and chocolate sprinkles. Lastly, you want to choose a dipping sauce out of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or white chocolate. And yes, you can double dip!
The Big Gay Ice Cream
We can all remember chasing down the ice cream truck when we were younger. Well, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck/Shop does us all the favor of staying in one spot. These guys add a twist to our childhood favorite soft serve ice cream. You can choose from the endless list of toppings and enjoy your own creation. Or you can choose from the menu of signature creations – which may take some bravery to try but they are all guaranteed satisfying.
Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory has created their reputation of “undeniably delicious” ice cream around ancient history. The invention of ice cream dates back to the Chinese during the Tang Dynasty with both mythical and abstract legends. Wherever it all began, the Chinatown Factory has put some exotic Chinese twist on our favorite dessert.
Their regular flavors are exotic to our palates: Wasabi, Zen Butter, Green Tea, Durian, Avocado, Black Sesame, Lychee (my favorite!) and so much more. For all the safe-buds they do have a variety of exotic flavors including Pistachio, Oreo Cookie, Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, and Rocky Road. All of these flavors are created right in the shop from scratch and made from an old family recipe. The Ice Cream Factory is a family run business for over 28 years now. Two thumbs up to Philip Seid and his daughters Christina and Katherine for keeping the tradition alive in NYC!
Holey Cream
If you’re looking for a sweet pastry to accompany your ice cream, you should check out Holey Cream on Ninth Avenue. Holey Cream specializes in ice cream, sundaes, milkshakes and even cupcakes and brownies. Their extensive ice cream menu includes homemade favorites such as Java Guatemala made with exotic Guatemalan espresso beans and Belgian dark chocolate and also Dulce De Leche made with caramel and sweet cream.
These two are my personal favorites but I may be a biased Latin girl who loves foreign flavors. Along with my ice cream, I created my own milkshake with one scoop of butterscotch praline and two scoops of butter pecan and a freshly baked brownie to top it all off. If you’re in a rush, Holey Cream will gladly deliver – fresh, cold and sweet right to your front door!
The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory
Not everyone likes to be so daring and try new things. Some of us are fanatics of those reliable and always fulfilling flavors that we’re used to. Offering ice cream with a spectacular view of the Brooklyn Bridge and our beloved city, the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is a sweet place to go to on a nice day date. They like to keep it classic and simple. The menu consists of the Neapolitan trio, butter Pecan, coffee and peaches and cream.
The production of this delicate and delicious ice cream is only made at their two locations in small batches. This ice cream is made with the best ingredients and some tender love and care.
Whatever your tastes buds do like, any one of these places will be glad to meet the needs of that sweet tooth and beat this summer heat all in one scoop (or more)!
Contributed by Denise Pina
Jessica Tiare Bowen lives in the juicy Big Apple with her adorable pink-nosed chihuahua, Gillman. He’s the inspiration for her first published children’s book, “Park Avenue Pound Puppy.” The book is the combined result of her two greatest passions: pooches and penning stories.
Her passions include art, urban hikes through Manhattan, drinking coffee with 3 creams and 6 sugars, making extremely detailed itineraries and traveling to far away places, singing along to Broadway shows, Netflix movie nights, discovering incredible treasures at Goodwill and thrift stores, and listening to stories from little people under 7 and big people over 70.
She started her career as New York City Teaching Fellow, teaching elementary school and theater arts at a special education school in the South Bronx for 6 years. She is now a Special Education School Improvement Specialist working in public schools throughout New York City. She is the Editor-In-Chief of the online New York City travel magazine, Used York City. The magazine focuses on finding the best of New York…as used by New Yorkers. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and an ASPCA Ambassador.
