As the weather continues to heat up, nothing says summer more than a nice scoop of ice cream. It’s the perfect dessert to bring along on a stroll at a park. Luckily, ice cream shops are rolling out more than just your average vanilla and chocolate now, and they’re located all over Manhattan now.
1. Ample Hills Creamery
With its original location in Brooklyn, one can only be thankful that Ample Hills now has two locations in Manhattan. Each ice cream is made in-house with hormone free milk, grass-fed cows, and finished off with mix-ins for each flavor. Some of the best selling flavors include salted crack caramel, ooey gooey butter cake, and peppermint pattie. You can even skip the line and buy a pint in store.
2. Ray's Candy Store
This joint is so old school that it doesn’t even have a website. Since its establishment in 1974, Ray’s Candy Store still maintains incredibly low prices on a plethora of desserts, with pictures on the wall acting as the menu. Ray’s is famous especially for its soft serve ice cream, which comes in chocolate, vanilla, swirl, and pistachio. If you’re lucky, Ray will even be there when you place your order.
3. Victory Garden
Unlike typical ice cream, Victory Garden uses goat milk in creating its flavors. Along with using local ingredients and incorporating floral essences, this ice cream is tangier and lighter than what you normally find at other ice cream shops. Flavors like orange blossom vanilla and salted caramel provide great twists on original favorites.
4. OddFellow's Ice Cream
Decorated like a vintage ice cream shop, OddFellows has stepped up the game with its creative innovations. From alcoholic ice cream to cotton candy cones, sundaes and floats won’t be the same again. Flavors change daily, and they include twists such as miso cherry and olive oil.
5. The Sweet Shop NYC
Doubling as both an ice cream parlor and a candy shop, you’re immediately brought back to your childhood when you step into this retro shop. With both regular and vegan options, your dessert is scooped into a Chinese takeout container and provided with a silver spoon. Be sure to ask about possible specials as well; when I went there, the cashier told me that he had limited dulce de leche and sea salt for a small number of sundaes that day.
6. Ice and Vice
Previously in LIC, this shop has since moved to the LES. Its mission is to push the boundaries of ice cream already, and the shop frequently experiments with different flavors on a weekly basis. Some include smoked dark chocolate with caramelized white chocolate ganache and toasted milk with honey. They even have ice cream sandwiches.
7. Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
A family run shop for 30 years, it now remains one of the neighborhood’s oldest businesses. While you can have your usual vanilla here, Asian flavors are another specialty. Black sesame, durian, and taro are three popular choices that really display how tradition ties into ice cream making here.
8. Frozen Sweet
The rolled ice pan ice cream craze has taken over the city in the past few months, and Frozen Sweet may be the best one of them all. It starts out with a liquid base and chopped ingredients mixed together on an ice pan. Once it has finished freezing, unlike other places, you are allowed to pick unlimited toppings for a set price. You can either make your own creation or choose one of the already designed menu options.
9. Magnum
Recently opened, this pop-up shop screams luxury the second you walk in. You can make your own magnum ice cream creation with toppings such as chocolate covered sunflower seeds, gold leaf, and chocolate pearls, and dips ranging from white to dark chocolate. Each one is finished off with a drizzle and magnum medallion. Be sure to go soon, as this shop is supposed to close by the end of summer.
10. Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream
Made internet famous from its Kanye Ice Cream Week, Morgenstern’s focuses on unique flavors and sublime texture to please one’s palette. With choices such as banana agave and black coconut along with elaborate sundaes, this place has a load of options to please anyone. For a short time in June, you can even sample the menu dedicated to Mr. West and try the croissant ice cream sandwich.
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