31 Days 31 Ice Creams

I love Ice Cream and I am on a mission to find the best Ice Cream in NYC.

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I want to start out apologizing to my "fans" (my brother and dad) for not writing a post since I completed the 31 days 31 ice creams posts. I have been pretty busy lately from moving and saying good bye to friends. Now that I am in Florida with my parents, I have time to finally create my top 10 list. Now let's get to it! :)

MY TOP TEN NYC ICE CREAM LIST - This list is purely on the ice cream itself unlike the ratings (which included decor and price).  

1. Il Laboratorio Del Gelato

2. Sundaes and Cones

3. Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

4. Van Leeuwen

5. Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

6. Blue Marble

7. Victory Garden

8. Big Gay Ice Cream

9. Alchemy Creamery

10. Amorino

I enjoyed all the above ice creams, however none of them had the best decor. My favorite decor by far was Brooklyn Farmacy. The ice cream sundaes are a little too sweet, but it is totally worth checking out! 

I hope you all enjoyed reading about my ice cream journey. I would love to hear what you all have to say! Please feel free to reach out and let me know! :)

Happy Ice Cream Hunting!!!

Cydni

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Mister Softee - New York City

Mister Softee is one of the most well known ice cream trucks in New York City. It has even been featured in TV shows and such (like Curb Your Enthusiasm). Since it's a New York City icon, I decided to try it for the last day of this blog.

Mister Softee does not have a variety of flavors. It's pretty much chocolate or vanilla soft serve with a topping. The only dairy-free options are slush or Popsicle brand "snowcones". I tried the vanilla soft serve with a hard chocolate coating. The flavor was a traditional vanilla, kind of sweet with a light hint of vanilla. The chocolate coating did not taste like real chocolate and was way too sweet. The consistency of the ice cream was smooth and creamy, however it melted in like five seconds. The price of a small ice cream with chocolate coating was $3.

Mister Softee has no decor since it's just an ice cream truck. There is not much originality with the ice cream itself, but the trucks are iconic. I would give my overall rating a 5.5; Mister Softee may not be the best tasting ice cream, but it is a New York classic.

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Mister Softee

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Yogorino - Greenwich Village

My roommate has been raving about Yogorino and how amazing it is. She has told me about a million times that I have to go and review it. So today I decided to see for myself.

Yogorino has both gelato and frozen yougurt. There is not a huge variety of either (about 10 gelato flavors and 4 froyo flavors) and no dairy free options. I tried the dark chocolate gelato and it was pretty good. It was very rich and very dark. There was nothing too special about the gelato; it had a great flavor, but it was not as memorable as other gelato places. The consistency of the gelato was smooth and creamy; it melted at a regular pace. The price of a small gelato was $4.75 (the cups look bigger than it is, in reality the portion is too small for the price).

Yogorino looks like a funky froyo place. It's kind of futuristic and full of bright colors. The only original thing about this place is that they sell both gelato and frozen yogurt. I would rate my overall enjoyment at a 6; the gelato was pretty solid, but there are better gelato and froyo places in NYC.

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Yogorino

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Je & Jo - Hell's Kitchen

Je & Jo is said to be a hot spot for ice cream in a number of media sources. Everyone seems to admire their original flavors that all include some sort of cookie. I am always down for cookie dough ice cream, so today I finally made the trip to Hell's Kitchen.

Je & Jo has a variety of unique cookie dough ice creams, including one vegan ice cream. I tried the banana ice cream with peanut butter cookie dough. I really enjoyed it; the banana flavor was not overwhelming, it was nice and light. The peanut butter cookie dough was super hard though (probably because all the ice creams are pre-scooped and stored in the freezer). It was still delicious, but I prefer to have my ice cream freshly scooped. The consistency of the ice cream was hard and smooth; it melted normally. The price of a small ice cream was $4.50 (for that price, I believe the ice cream should have been a bit bigger).

There is not much of a decor at Je & Jo. It is very small, but kind of cozy. It felt very cramped while I was there (there were only about 8 people in the parlor). I would rate my overall enjoyment at a 6.5; the ice cream is good, but it is pre-scooped and too small for the price.

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Je & Jo

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Ample Hills Creamery - Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Ample Hills Creamery has received a lot of attention from both the media and my friends. Basically every website said "you have to try this place" or I was asked "have you been to Ample Hills yet?" My reaction was "this place is okay, I guess." I know, some of you are probably like this girl is crazy, we can't listen to anything she says; but honestly, I felt the ice cream was way too sweet.

Ample Hills had a decent variety of original ice cream flavors as well as a few sorbets. I tried their munchies which was pretzel infused ice cream with clusters of potato chips, pretzels, Ritz crackers and mini M&Ms. A sample size of the flavor was great, but a whole scoop was too much for me. The ice cream itself was too sweet and the mix-ins were too overwhelming. It kind of made me feel a little sick after eating it. It had a great flavor, it just might not have been right for me. The consistency of the ice cream was smooth and creamy; it melted at a normal pace. The price of a small was $3, but it was really small.

The decor of Ample Hills was cute; it looked like an old ice cream shop. It feels like summer there, even on a rainy day (like today). I would rate my overall enjoyment at a 6.5; the ice cream is too sweet for me, but I can see others really enjoying it.

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Ample Hills Creamery

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Alchemy Creamery - Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Alchemy Creamery is a new vegan ice cream company that has been celebrated for their flavors on countless websites. Unfortunately, they are only open at Smorgasburg, which is on the weekends. Oddly enough, I chose to go there with my two friends who chose to eat a ton of meat at Mighty Quinn's instead of partaking in my ice cream adventure.

Alchemy Creamery has only 4 flavors (obviously all are dairy free), but they all sounded original and appetizing . I tried their Chocolate Chai, the flavor was not too overpowering, it was nice. It actually tasted like dairy ice cream. They added salted almonds which added a lot of flavor. The ice cream was nice and creamy; it melted normally for being outside at a booth. A price for one scoop of ice cream was only $3, but it was a small scoop.

Alchemy Creamery does not really have any decor as it is an outside booth. The staff was really friendly and welcoming. The booth seemed really organized. I would rate my overall enjoyment as a 7.5; it was better than Lula's Sweet Apothecary, but it did not have very much variety.

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Alchemy Creamery

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Melt Bakery - Lower East Side

Now that it's getting to the final countdown, I have few ice creams left on my list. I have now decided to find the best ice cream through yelp. Melt Bakery has been given very high and very low reviews. I decided to go and see for myself.

Melt Bakery has very few ice cream sandwich choices (four to be exact), none of which are dairy free. They are all pre-made and you are unable to make your own variation. I tried the Morticia, which was crackly chocolate cookies and malted chocolate rum ice cream. The ice cream did not have much flavor. The cookies were okay, but I've had better. The consistency of the cookies varied. Some of the cookies were hard and some were soft. The same was true about the ice cream; it was hard yet smooth, but some were stiffer than others. The price of an ice cream sandwich was $4.

Melt Bakery did not have much of a decor. They had an ice cream stand outside of their store (which looked empty). The only thing that was original about Melt Bakery was the cookie and ice cream pairings, other than that this place is not very memorable. I would rate my overall enjoyment at a 5.5; the ice cream sandwich was okay, but I want something better.

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Melt Bakery

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Dessert Club, ChikaLicious - East Village

Dessert Club, ChikaLicious has been featured in many articles online. Not only for their ice cream, but also their other desserts. Being a dessert connoisseur, I had to go.

Dessert Club, ChikaLicious has limited flavors of ice cream (they are all soft serve). There were no non-dairy options and it pretty much reminded me of big gay ice cream, except not as good. I split the Michelle Obama with my best friend (because it was so big). It was vanilla soft serve, covered with pecans, caramel and espresso. We did not get the espresso, so the server took a dollar off the bill (which was really nice). The soft serve was good, it was just a little too sweet. While eating the ice cream, the pecans cut down the sweetness; however, when the pecans were gone the sweetness became too much. The consistency was very creamy and it melted very slowly, which I found very interesting. The price of the ice cream was $6.50.

The decor of Dessert Club, ChikaLicious is very welcoming. It is small, cozy and yellow. They have a large variety of desserts, including Macarons. Across the street they have a fancy dessert place, which I really want to try. I would rate my overall enjoyment at a 6; I wouldn't go here for ice cream, but the other desserts looked good.

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Dessert Club, ChikaLicious

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L'Arte Del Gelato - Chelsea

L'Arte Del Gelato has appeared in a variety of top 10 lists. With all the hype I would have thought it to be outstanding; unfortunately, this was not the case.

L'Arte Del Gelato had a variety of flavors of gelato as well as sorbets. There is nothing too original except their olive flavored gelato. They did have my favorite flavor Dark Chocolate Orange, but it was nowhere near as awesome as the one at Il Laboritorio Del Gelato (which I rated a 9). The gelato itself did not have a strong orange flavor; however, the dark chocolate was very bitter, which I loved. It was pretty good, but the consistency was not ideal. Some flavors were creamy, others were icy. It also melted a little faster than I would have liked. The price for a small was $5.

The decor of L'Arte Del Gelato was almost non-existent. It is pretty much just a booth at Chelsea Market. I did like that everything was pink. Their service was kind of disorganized, they almost forgot to charge me. Overall, I would rate my enjoyment at a 6.5; they had my favorite flavor, but it just wasn't good enough.

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L'Arte Del Gelato