Bagels and pizza might be a New Yorker's main source of sustenance, but when summer rolls around, people in this city really love ice cream. Many ice cream places have such long lines (New Yorkers love lines!) and you often have to strategize to find a less popular time to go, lest you melt on the sidewalk while waiting for dessert. Luckily, you're not limited to the nightmare that is the Morgenstern's queue, and we've rounded up a big assortment of frozen treats of all shapes, colors, and sizes to enjoy as it gets hotter and hotter while sweat runs through the streets like blood in wartime. But I must warn you, do not substitute ice cream for meals as much as I did to write this. It might seem like a thrilling subversion of life’s rules, but you will start to feel like a withering sack of sugar dust.
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
DADDY MAC AT MIKEY LIKES IT: Mikey Likes It is a small storefront on 13th and Avenue A that offers a mighty selection of homemade flavors. Unlike some other ice cream places boasting exotic and unusual flavor combinations, Mikey keeps it simple but surprising, with handcrafted offerings such as the Foxy Brown, a delightfully mild mocha ice cream with oreo and salted caramel swirls; or the Southern Hospitality, a pecan pie-inspired flavor. If that doesn’t sound good enough, you can go the extra mile and turn your treat into a waffle sandwich using a plain or red velvet waffle, made in-house. If $9 seems a steep price to shell out for something sweet, consider that their Daddy Mac sandwich, two generous scoops nestled between two hot waffles, is more than enough to share.
In addition to ice cream and sandwiches, they also offer milkshakes and a coconut milk-based berry flavored “healthy” ice cream shake. Get there early for maximum options—by the time we arrived, three flavors were already sold out.
Mikey Likes It is located at 199 Avenue A, between 12th and 13th Streets in the East Village (646-896-1836, mikeylikesiticecream.com).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
NON-DAIRY PUSH POPS AT ALCHEMY CREAMERY: These ice cream push pops, available at Smorgasburg Williamsburg and Queens and sold at various pop-up events around the city, are a perfect choice for someone who wants to grab a sweet, cold treat without suffering cone drippage or dealing with utensils. Simply pop the cap off and slide your way to bliss—we liked the chocolate flavor, which comes topped with gluten-free brownie crumble, though a crowd favorite is the peanut butter, topped with a small crown of peanuts and sporting a layer of brownie at the bottom. In addition to being non-dairy and soy-free (the ice cream is made with a blend of cashew, hazelnut, almond, and coconut milks), all of Alchemy’s pops are made in their Long Island City facility, which also happens to be gluten-free. Finicky stomachs, come hither.
Alchemy Creamery sells their pops at various locations (917-342-2677, alchemycreamery.com).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
BUTTERFINGER SHAKE AT BLOSSOM DU JOUR: A milkshake spells certain death for the lactose intolerant, but the shakes at vegan fast food chain Blossom Du Jour are plenty rich, sweet, and thick, but with no dairy to be found. Not that you should let this deter you if you're an old-fashioned diner diehard. I can confirm that these shakes, made with soy-based ice cream and soy milk, are so tasty that at no point did I find myself missing anything. Their Butterfinger shake is a real crowd-pleaser, made with peanut butter, chocolate, and their cookie dough ice cream, and they also offer a peppermint patty shake, a cookie dough shake, and more standard chocolate and vanilla flavors.
Blossom Du Jour has 5 locations: 259 W 23rd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues in Chelsea, 617 9th Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets in Midtown West, 449 Amsterdam Avenue between 81st and 82nd Streets on the Upper West Side, 15 East 13th Street between 5th Ave and University Place in Union Square, and in the Columbus Circle subway station at 8th Avenue and 57th or 58th Streets (blossomdujour.com).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
ICE POPS AT PEOPLE'S POPS: For a less creamy alternative, these refreshing ice pops are handmade in Brooklyn from combinations of local fruit. These aren’t just your average popsicle—flavor combinations include plum iced tea, blueberry lemonade, and strawberry basil, and there are chunks of real fruit and herbs in there. You can snag one along the High Line, at their storefront in Park Slope, or at most of the outdoor markets in Brooklyn for $3.50 each, so you can indulge while feeling healthy. Hey, you're eating fruit! But bring napkins, lest you end up covered in juice drips and a passerby mistakes it for an injury.
People’s Pops has 2 locations: The High Line Park, W 15th Street at 10th Avenue in Meatpacking, 808 Union Street at 7th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and various Smorgasburgs and Brooklyn Fleas. (peoplespops.com).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
FROZEN SMORES AT DOMINIQUE ANSEL: Dominique Ansel Bakery might be known for the Cronut, i.e. the Rainbow Bagel of 2014, but their frozen s'mores are a perfectly-sized sight to see (and treat to eat). Tahitian vanilla ice cream and chocolate wafers are lovingly nestled inside DA’s signature honey marshmallow, which is torched, giving the outside a creme-brûlée-esque sweet crisp. Recalling a more upscale version of a beachside fire pit BBQ, it comes skewered on a smoked willow wood branch, smartly minimizing any drippy messiness. Each frozen s’more is individually torched to order, so you can feel special every time you order one. And as mentioned earlier, they're not too big, giving you the right amount of sweet without rendering you immobile.
Dominique Ansel Bakery is located at 189 Spring Street between Sullivan and Thompson Streets in Soho (212-219-2773, dominiqueansel.com).
ICE CREAM SANDWICHES AT ODDFELLOWS ICE CREAM CO: The unusual ice cream flavors at OddFellows really live up to the institution’s name. The Oddfellows crew offer a rotating selection of flavors (14 at their Williamsburg flagship store, 8 at their East Village Sandwich Shop) that often mix sweet and savory like Saffron Passionfruit and Grapefruit Jalapeno sorbet. If you're looking for something more delicious than odd, there's the OddPocket, a twist on the standard ice cream sandwich: warm brioche bread stuffed with ice cream and toppings and heated on a panini press.
OddFellows Ice Cream Co. has 2 locations: 75 East 4th Street between Bowery and 2nd Avenue in the East Village and at 175 Kent Avenue between North 3rd and 4th Streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (oddfellowsnyc.com/).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
SPECIALTY SUNDAES AT BROOKLYN FARMACY: Harken back to days of yore with this quaint old-fashioned soda fountain, which serves up milkshakes, ice cream sodas and more. The real shining stars here are their specialty sundaes, featuring inventions like the owner’s favorite, Affugazi Affogato (vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate shell, vanilla cake with fresh espresso poured over it); and the Breakfast In Bed (coffee ice cream, maple syrup, candied bacon bits, and a buttermilk biscuit.) At $15, they run a bit pricey (blame Big Farma?), so the $10 half size can be tempting, but it’s actually more worth your while to split one regular one than to each get a half size. Also, you’re partially paying for the charming vintage atmosphere, so it's totally worth it if you settle in for a while.
Brooklyn Farmacy is located at 513 Henry Street between Sackett and Union Streets in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn (718-522-6260, brooklynfarmacyandsodafountain.com).
CEREAL ICE CREAM SWIRL AT KITH TREATS
: Momofuku isn’t the only one mixing frozen treats and cereal. At this strange combo of cereal bar, ice cream shop, and sneaker store, you can get the simple delight of vanilla ice cream with your choice of cereal and one topping blended into it. They’ve got all your childhood guilty pleasures like Froot Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, and even slightly bland classics like Kix and Rice Krispies. It’s a fairly down-to-business dessert for such an outlandish and trendy spot, and it won’t break the bank at $5.50 for a fairly large serving. You can take pleasure in knowing you’re consuming an even sweeter version of the sugary cereal your mom didn’t want you eating as a kid.
KITH Treats is located at 233 Flatbush Ave between Dean and Bergen Streets in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn (kithtreats.com).
GELATO AND SORBET AT GROMM: Gelato is like ice cream’s sexier European cousin. Sorbet is like its fruity uncle. Combine them, and you’re literally in for a treat, whether you’re hankering for a tangy raspberry sorbet (apparently one of the rarer sorbet flavors due to the price of the ingredients) or tiramisu gelato made with Guatemalan coffee and Colombian chocolate. It may seem a little overhyped, but trust that his stuff is the real deal: they use no additional flavorings, colors, preservatives, or emulsifiers. Just straight up tastiness. Their website does have a bizarrely gendered list of “For Him / For Her” flavor recommendations, but ignore that, Italy is weird.
GROM has 3 locations: 1796 Broadway between W 58th and 59th Street at Columbus Circle, 233 Bleecker Street between Carmine and Leroy Streets in the West Village, and 5th Avenue and 72nd Street in Central Park. (grom.it/en/).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
SHAVED ICE CREAM AT SNOWDAYS: Sure, you’ve had shaved ice, but go the next step and try some shaved snow. It’s essentially ice cream made in-house at their East Village and Flushing locations that’s frozen into a block and chipped off with a machine, creating a light and fluffy pile of sweet, sweet snow that’s more refreshing than your typical ice cream. With flavors like their signature Yeti Tracks (blueberry Oreo), matcha green tea, and toppings like condensed milk and tea-flavored grass jelly and even Cap’n Crunch and pocky sticks, this snow is way better than anything that could ever fall from the skies.
For those worried about stuffing themselves, the sizes at Snowdays are actually deceiving. The regular size, while rather robust in appearance, is actually only equivalent to one scoop of refreshingly light and airy ice cream. Part of that is due to the shaving process, and also it’s made without eggs and a lower milk fat percentage. And if you somehow end up bored of the flavors they have, they’ll occasionally have special flavors that aren’t listed on the menu, like Thai iced tea and Vietnamese iced coffee.
Snowdays has 4 locations: 241 E 10th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave in the East Village, 167 7th Avenue South between Perry and Charles Street in the West Village, 37-20 Prince Street, Suite 1C between 37th and 38th Ave in Flushing, Queens, and 72-24 Austin Street at 72nd Road in Forest Hills, Queens. (snowdaysnyc.com).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
THAI ROLLED ICE CREAM AT FROZEN SWEET: Thai rolled ice cream is made before your very eyes. It starts with a liquid base that is poured onto a frozen slab and optionally mixed with fruit or sauces, then as it freezes into something resembling an ice cream pancake, it’s scraped up and made into small coils, arranged in a cup. The $7 price tag may seem a bit high at first, but each order comes with unlimited (!!) toppings, from fruit like lychee and pineapple to standard fare like Oreos and gummy bears, along with their truly charming panda-shaped sugar cookies. Rolled ice cream may be all the rage lately, but when we went we got our treats in about five minutes, proving you don’t have to go with the biggest name on the block to get a great product. They also offer coconut milk-based non-dairy flavors, and you can choose from a menu of recommended combinations or create your own concoction.
Frozen Sweet is located at 184-186 Mulberry Street between Kenmare and Broome Streets in Little Italy (518-328-7777).
ICE CREAM TREATS AT BIG GAY ICE CREAM: Big Gay offers extra-creamy sweets that are the best of both worlds: all the simplicity and literal softness of Mister Softee with the novelty of a boutique dessert shop. This marriage results in sweet inventions like the Salty Pimp (chocolate dip cone with added sea salt and dulce de leche) and the Cococone (chocolate ice cream coated with toasted curry coconut). Those who prefer to create their own cones can choose from intriguing toppings like wasabi pea dust and elderflower syrup, but if you’d just like a typical chocolate dip, you can get that too. We won’t judge. Also, on weekdays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., you can get a mini vanilla or chocolate cone with sprinkles and dip for only $2.
Big Gay Ice Cream has two locations: 125 East 7th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village and 61 Grove Street at Seventh Avenue South in the West Village (biggayicecream.com).
GUINNESS SHAKE AT MARK: Not everyone is a fan of this signature dark, dark beer, but if you are then you’re truly in for a treat. That is, if you manage to make it through the crowds of awful teens, tourists, and the occasional bro to stop by this divey slider joint in the middle of St Marks Place. Unless you’re looking to prioritize booziness and/or a stomachache, this shake is hefty enough to share, blending beer and vanilla ice cream for a nicely balanced combo that’s neither too bitter nor too creamy. It’s something for everyone, be you a beer connoisseur, a dessert fiend, or someone who just wants to get a little buzzed.
Mark is located at 33 St Marks Place between Bowery and 2nd Avenue in the East Village.
ALCOHOLIC MILKSHAKES AT MEL'S BURGER BAR: What if dessert and drinks could happen simultaneously? Enter Mel’s Burger Bar, serving up some of the tastiest booze-soaked milkshakes around. There are fruity options like the Fruit Fly with strawberry ice cream and Bacardi Dragonberry; and the almost sickly sweet Dark Night, with chocolate ice cream, Kahlua, and Godiva liqueur. Like the Guinness shake at Mark, they’re also big enough to share, but there’s always the option of, you know, not. Either way, for a couple extra bucks you can make it a double shot if you’re feeling particularly daring/large-stomached.
Mel’s Burger Bar has 2 locations: 2850 Broadway between 110th and 111th Streets in Morningside Heights and at 1450 Second Avenue between 74th and 75th Streets on the Upper East Side (melsburgerbar.com).
OLIVE OIL GELATO AT OTTO ENOTECA AND PIZZERIA: Otto, chef Mario Batali’s Italian joint near Washington Square Park, is a fine restaurant offering pizzas, Italian meats and cheeses, and apparently the aesthetic decor of an Italian train station. But you’d be remiss only to treat yourself to the savory, when you can also take a bite of Chef Meredith Kurzman’s gelatos. For the uninformed, olive oil gelato may seem like a strange and slippery choice, but you’ll find that it’s actually quite delightful: mild, creamy, sweet but not too sweet. That, my friends, is amoré.
Otto is located at One Fifth Avenue (at 8th Street) in Greenwich Village (212-995-9559, ny.ottopizzeria.com).
GOAT MILK SOFT SERVE AT VICTORY GARDEN: Nowadays, there are plenty of varieties of non-dairy ice cream, but Victory Garden takes it back to the farm with their goat’s milk soft serve. I mean that literally—they get their milk locally from Side Hill Acres in Candor, NY, from goats that are only fed grass and hay, and hopefully not eating things like tin cans like you see in cartoons. Goat milk is considered lactose-friendly, meaning it’s actually ok for those with lactose intolerance to consume. And if you’re tired of all the sweet stuff on this list, this is generally more tangy than sweet (they have a “plain” option, but also rotate from more than 45 flavors like Rose, Maple, and Mint), with the option of adding healthier toppings like carob chips and dried mulberries.
Victory Garden is located at 31 Carmine Street between Bleecker and Bedford Streets in the West Village (victorygardennyc.com).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
REGULAR AND VEGAN ICE CREAM AT VAN LEEUWEN ARTISAN ICE CREAM: Van Leeuwen may not have a staggering array of flavors at first glance, but what they do have really packs a punch. Simple but sophisticated flavors like sweet cream with honeycomb chunks and Earl Grey are good enough to make it worth the wait on line, and the cones have a nice tinge of sweetness so the dessert experience continues even after the ice cream is gone. They also have nearly the same number of vegan flavors that are equally delicious and actually melt slower than the dairy ice cream, so if you’re a slow eater you’ll have less to worry about on a hot night. This place can get so crowded (especially in the evening) there’s a line out the door, so either buck up and commit to waiting for deliciousness or try to swing by at a less popular hour.
Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream has 5 locations: 620 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, 81 Bergen Street in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, 48.5 East 7th Street in the East Village, 152 West 10th Street in the West Village, and 204 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (vanleeuwenicecream.com/).
ALCOHOL-INFUSED ICES AT TIP THE WAGON: If you happen to be in Staten Island and are in the mood for a tipsy treat, consider dropping by Tip The Wagon, a local spot run by artsy folk offering boozy ices of refreshing varieties like peach tea with Honey Jack Daniels, Mango Coconut Rum, and Lime Margarita. They've also got non-alcoholic ice cream and sorbet options like pancake bacon maple or cotton candy to please the younguns or sober folk while you booze.
Tip The Wagon is located at 70 Van Duzer Street at Hannah Street in Tompkinsville, Staten Island (917-723-8532).
(Cassidy Dawn Graves/Gothamist)
ICE CREAM AT AMPLE HILLS CREAMERY: Brooklyn-based ice cream purveyor Ample Hills pride themselves on their homegrown process, crafting small-batch ice cream from grass-fed cow’s milk and organic cane sugar that’s pasteurized on site. Their flavors tend to focus on the sweeter side of life, like their brown sugar cinnamon ice cream with oatmeal cookies or their vanilla with chocolate chips and brown butter cookie dough. Try their pretzel cone (note: it’s an extra $1.50) to add the occasional burst of salt to your saccharine journey. Ample Hills is truly popular: buzzing with patrons, walls plastered with press accolades, but they value both quality and efficiency. I was in and out in probably about seven minutes despite the lengthy line, which certainly can’t be said for other popular ice cream spots.
Ample Hills Creamery has four locations: 623 Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, 305 Nevins Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn, Gotham Market West at 600 11th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Bubby’s High Line at 73 Gansevoort Street in Meatpacking, and seasonally at Brooklyn Bridge Park and Riis Beach Bazaar (amplehills.com).
Cassidy Dawn Graves is a writer, event producer, and performer whose ancestors may have been eaten in the Donner Party. Follow her here.
