Van Leeuwens Wows in NYC

Our final New York City ice cream stop was a rather last-minute addition to our plans as we had to fit it in before catching Stew’s The Total Bent at the Public Theatre. But before experiencing this amazing show, I thought it was important to get one more amazing ice cream place in. And wow, am I glad I did! Van Leeuwen has a very unassuming exterior. It’s very small, and the bookstore across the street, for instance, is much more prominent. The prices aren’t cheap either, as you can probably make out from the sign. But they have classic stylings, fun specials and carry an outstanding variety of vegan ice creams, generally made from cashew milk. The special while we were there was Red Currant Wedding Cake. With a vegan flavor like that, who would choose the cow’s milk, right? 

Well, we tried a few flavors, for research purposes, and on a quiet Saturday morning we made our selections. We paid  $5.50/small (2 flavors), $7.50/large (3 flavors) and tipped $2 for their patience and awesomeness. 

Earl Grey Tea: Trust me – this is your new coffee ice cream. It’s an outstanding consistency, and an absolutely delightful tea flavor. It’s super-smooth, creamy and flavorful. 

Rhubarb Pavlova: Here’s all the rhubarb flavor you could desire. Amazing fruit and outstanding all around. Perfection in a scoop? 

Red Currant Wedding Cake: I was so tempted to get an entire scoop of this! Probably should have as the chocolate wasn’t my absolute favorite, but so it goes. This ice cream has a coconut-based wedding cake that gives you your fill of ice cream and cake all in one delicious vegan bite! 

Hazelnut Chocolate Rice Krispie Treat: This trio of flavors combines a light chocolate base, a hazelnut swirl ala Nutella and Rice Krispies, which get soft but stay delicious to give you a nice combo of flavors and textures. 

Honeycomb: Wow. This flavor is outrageously good. It’s sweet and creamy, with honey and honeycomb throughout. So, so good! 

Chocolate: My only slight disappointment from this outstanding business. It’s rich but also a tad harder than I like. But it’s still ridiculously smooth and not fudgy. This ice cream features super-high quality chocolate that reminds me of the best Ghirardelli’s. It also combines with other flavors phenomenally well. 

My husband and I fell in love with this ice cream. Be sure to pick up a copy of their recipe book/origin story across the street, especially if you tolerate cashews and want some vegan ice cream options. We couldn’t recommend a visit here more highly! P.s. Thanks for doing your usual Amazon shopping via my affiliate link!