By Tracy Zwick

In Wallace Stevens’ “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” ice cream represents fleeting pleasure or ephemeral bliss. The poem calls on all of us to seize life’s delights before they slip or melt away. With the heat dome upon us, there’s no better time to experience all that ice cream has to offer, both symbolically and literally. And there may be no place richer in options for the sensory delights of gelato, frozen yogurt, and ice cream than the Upper West Side.  

I visited more than a dozen scoop shops, delis, and counters of all kinds on Wednesday, just as the heat descended, and talked to staff, owners, patrons, and pals in an effort to produce a reasonable round-up of the UWS’s 2024 ice cream landscape. Please add your favorite gelateria, cart, or ice creamery in the comments. 

Emack & Bolio’s: Amsterdam Avenue & West 79th Street 

This branch of the Emack and Bolio’s chain has been owned by the same local family for 21 years. The woman behind the counter, who identified herself as the sister of one of the owners, talked about how happy they were to make it through the pandemic, and how the pocket-sized store paid for the owner’s daughter’s education (she’s now a lawyer). Emack & Bolio’s is popular with kids for its pop colors and large cones coated in Fruit Loops, Rice Krispies, Oreos, and Butterfingers, as well as the usual rainbow sprinkles and M&Ms. Another counter staffer said the most popular ice cream flavors are grasshopper pie (crème de menthe with chocolate chips and Oreos) and, in summer months, peach. My friend Dan, a local, nodded knowingly toward deep purple, a black-raspberry-based ice cream with white and dark chocolate chips. 

Pressed Juicery: Broadway between West 110th & 111th Streets

This shop’s plant-based “Freeze” is a five-ingredient soft serve offered in a cup with optional toppings. Chocolate is the most popular choice, but vanilla, acai, and tropical also feature on the menu. A manager indicated chocolate chip cookie pieces are the most frequently-ordered topping, and a patron, Emily, attested to their deliciousness: “Like Chips Ahoy!, but better.” Other toppings include fresh banana, strawberries, mango, coconut chips, pumpkin seeds, vegan gummy bears, marshmallows, and granola. You can also get a sundae with or without almond butter or cacao drizzle, or an acai bowl with any soft serve as the base. 

Ben & Jerry’s: Broadway & West 104th Street

When I polled friends, a few expressed distaste for Ben & Jerry’s politics, but nobody challenged their Chunky Monkey. My own kids loved Ben & Jerry’s so much that their grandmother sent them gift cards to celebrate every possible occasion. They dreamed of the “Vermonster,” a 20-scoop sundae with hot fudge, cookies, brownies, and a buffet of toppings the Sugar Plum Fairy couldn’t have conjured. Non-dairy (oat milk and sunflower-butter-based) ice cream and sorbets are also on the menu. 

Milk Bar: Columbus Avenue & West 87th Street 

No cones here, just cups, and the limited options (soft-serve only) make a decision-averse orderer’s life easy. Cereal milk is the classic at Milk Bar, and fruity cereal, which resembles a Fruit Loop more than a Fruity Pebble, is the recent addition. A brand-new flavor, orange squeeze, is out this week.  

Ample Hills Creamery: Amsterdam Avenue between West 85th & 86th Streets

This is the local favorite of several 11-year-olds I know. With its balloon-filled window, spacious parlor, and toddler-height faux mint-chip cone posted on Amsterdam Avenue, it’s inviting. A scooper told me ooey gooey buttercake (butter-soaked yellow cake in a cream cheese ice cream base) is the most popular flavor. But my middle-aged male companion went for Nonna D’s oatmeal lace, a brown sugar & cinnamon ice cream mixed with crisp oatmeal lace cookies. There’s mango sorbet and vegan fudge crackle (made with coconut milk, cocoa powder, and Rice Krispies) for dairy-free eaters. 

L’Arte del Gelato: Lincoln Center Main Plaza between West 62nd and 65th Streets

This seasonal cart specializes in classic Italian gelato. The flavor choices, like stracciatella, hazelnut, and mascarpone, won’t surprise you, but that doesn’t mean they won’t delight. The line was manageable when I visited on Wednesday afternoon. 

Pinkberry: Broadway between West 110th & 111th Streets

As an indication of its popularity, there’s always a line here; but don’t let that deter you. It moves fast. Famous for its simple frozen yogurt in about a half-dozen flavors and its bar of toppings, which include fresh fruit, boba, chocolate, candy, nuts, and sauces, Pinkberry appeals to Columbia students as well as neighborhood kids, who can order up the limited-run mega-minion banana pudding for the rest of the summer. Current flavors include pomegranate, chocolate hazelnut, dairy-free strawberry, orange tang, cinnamon churro, and peanut butter. 

Big Gay Ice Cream: Columbus Ave between West 84th & 85th Streets

Lots of NYC ice creameries have Pride offerings these days, but Big Gay Ice Cream made the rainbow its brand when it launched in 2009. With specialty cones like the “Salty Pimp” (vanilla ice cream injected with dulce de leche then dipped in a chocolate shell) and “Gobblers,” like the blueberry variety that  consists of soft-serve vanilla with blueberry balsamic sauce, blueberries, pie crumble, and whipped cream, Big Gay leans into innuendo and garishness, creativity and color. Count on the menu’s main components and check-in for weekly specials. Beginning Thursday, June 20th, the flavors of the week will be soft-serve dairy-free pineapple and dairy-free mango.  

Amorino: Amsterdam Avenue between West 79th & 80th Streets

All the sorbets and cones are vegan here, with dairy-based gelati options galore. I was told the most popular flavors globally are pistachio and hazelnut, while the most frequently ordered on the UWS are stracciatella and amarena (cream and black cherries). 

Van Leeuwen: Broadway & West 97th Street; Columbus Avenue between West 71st & 72nd Streets; Amsterdam Avenue at West 81st Street. 

As WSR reported just a few months ago, Van Leeuwen, which began as a food truck in 2008 in Brooklyn, took over the erstwhile Blue Marble on Broadway this spring, giving it a third UWS outpost. Dense ice creams often laced with mix-ins, like the chocolate caramel cheesecake flavor recommended by a 12-year-old from West 106th Street, as well as less gob-strewn options, like honeycomb and earl grey tea, have made Van Leeuwen a family favorite. In addition to plentiful vegan offerings, Van Leeuwen has summer specials including passion fruit berry pop, vegan mango sorbet, vegan marionberry chocolate chip sorbet, and chocolatey crisp cereal & milk. 

Six Corners Marketplace: Broadway & West 106th Street

An editor friend at The New Yorker and connoisseur of just about everything put me on to Nightingale ice cream sandwiches, sold at select bodegas and convenience shops, including this great one. The strawberry shortcake flavor, with golden-crusted brown sugar cookie & fresh strawberry ice cream is particularly recommended, though I’m key lime pie curious.

Shake Shack: Columbus Avenue & West 77th Street; Broadway & West 116th Street

Shakes, floats, and frozen custard are mainstays of the Shake Shack menu. If you add rainbow sprinkles to your strawberry frosted donut, peaches and cream, or chocolate salted caramel-flavored shakes or frozen custard (vanilla or chocolate) this month, Shake Shake will make a small donation to PFLAG in honor of Pride. 

Venchi: Columbus Avenue & West 69th Street

Venchi’s been making Italian chocolates since 1878, though its gelato is of a much more recent vintage. It’s offering a taste of Italian summer in a cone via its three “Gelato Signatures:” the Summer Twist (azteco, mango, and chocoviar), the Heritage Duo (chocoviar, cremino, & hazelnut) and the Vita Dolce (stracciatella, pistachio, & chocoviar). There are plenty of other options for scoops, cones and shakes. 

Gelato Factory: Apthorp Building on Broadway between West 78th & 79th Streets

Occupying the former Apthorp Pharmacy space and just down the street from one of several Nuts Factory locations, a chain owned by the proprietors of Gelato Factory, this new-ish addition to the UWS ice-creamscape has mountains of swirling gelato in its display cases. Each tower looks like the famous Magnolia frosting swirl if it was atop a beach ball-sized cupcake. Flavors include bubble gum, orange peel, coffee, rum raisin, and more, offered in cones or cups. 

Trudy’s: Columbus Avenue between West 107th & 108th Streets

It’s just two years old, but Trudy’s has become a neighborhood staple with its old-fashioned vibe, friendly service, and classic ice cream parlor offerings. Everything is made in-house and can be enjoyed at brightly colored sidewalk tables. A helpful ice-cream slinger told me cookies & cream is the most popular flavor, but check the handwritten sign on the door for “Flavors Today.” There’s dairy-free pineapple and orange sherbet soft serve as well as guava sorbet. The owner, Steve, is also the proprietor of Crepes on Columbus, just across the street. The $4 kids scoop was generous enough for this grown-up. 

Wafels & Dinges: Columbus Avenue between West 78th & 79th Streets

Started as a food truck, Wafels & Dinges now sells its well-known wafels along with ice cream cups and cones across from the American Museum of Natural History. A friend directed me to the spekuloos (cookie-based) cookies & cream, a flavor that to an American hints at Delta Airlines’s Biscoff biscuits. Along with vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, and mint chocolate, Wafels & Dinges serves up “Superman” fruit punch-flavored ice cream, which references Original Bomb Pops. 

Zabar’s Cafe: Broadway at West 80th Street 

My pal Liz flagged Zabar’s Caribbean coffee soft serve. “It’s for the old lady crowd” she said, unabashedly. She buys it for herself after taking her 11-year-old to Big Gay Ice Cream. Zabar’s only has soft serve and offers it in two options: “Lite Choice” (french vanilla and dark chocolate truffle) and “Zaberry” (plain tart and Caribbean coffee frozen yogurt). Available in cones or cups, and there’s a double malted milkshake on the menu. 

16 Handles: Amsterdam Avenue between West 75th & 76th Streets

A neighborhood favorite for over a decade, just try to keep your kid out of this shop. Their trademark is “Let the Good Times Swirl!” and swirl they do. Self-serve soft serve dairy and vegan options abound, with 16 rotating flavors and endless toppings. 

Baskin Robbins: Broadway between West 108th & 109th Streets; Broadway between West 98th & 99th Streets

I remember Baskin Robbins making a big deal about offering 31 flavors, one for each day of the month. But most of the retail stores actually offer fewer. I counted 24 at the Broadway and 108th Street location, including one non-dairy choice, daiquiri ice (lime with a splash of rum flavor). BR is paired with its sister brand, Dunkin’ Donuts, and a server told me they sell coffee all morning and ice cream all night. Her personal recommendation: the on-brand jamoca (coffee ice cream). For me, memory lane leads to rocky road. Flavors of the month are “IF” movie tie-ins: blossom’s berry twirl (strawberry and sweet ice creams with rainbow sprinkles & pink sugar cookie dough pieces) and blue’s boardwalk bash (blue raspberry ice cream with Oreo pieces and blue cotton candy swirls). 

Häagen-Dazs: Amsterdam between West 72nd & 73rd Streets; Broadway between West 113th & 114th Streets

The newest addition to the classic menu is New York strawberry cheesecake. You’ll know the classic Häagen-Dazs packaging, but did you know the chain was started by a Polish immigrant, Reuben Mattus, who “stuck an umlaut on a nonsensical name and parlayed the exotic result into the multibillion-dollar company” we know today as Häagen-Dazs? He began selling frozen deliciousness from a horse and wagon as a teenager in the mid-20th century and peddled his family’s homemade ice cream for over 30 years to small neighborhood candy stores and restaurants in the Bronx, before he went big with Häagen-Dazs, which was sold to Pillsbury in 1983.  

Nota bene: 

Épicerie Boulud offers gelato in pints only (chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, and raspberry) so isn’t included in the scoop shop round-up. Unfortunately, Silver Moon Bakery isn’t currently selling their house-made ice creams, but may offer them again later this summer. Similarly, Mama’s Too is only serving from its gelato cart at the downtown location. Jacob’s Pickles is offering its pickle-flavored soft serve at Moynihan Station, but not on the UWS. And I wish Magnolia Bakery would bring back their ice cream sandwiches, but, alas. 

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