Ice & Vice! not an ice cream float

WHAT: Love & Hate (root beer ice cream with ginger molasses bites throughout)
WHERE: Ice & Vice (Madison Square Eats)

Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Ice & Vice is known for their experimental take on ice cream (I had previously tried their popcorn flavored one last summer), so when I went with my friends to Madison Square Eats and saw their stand, I had to stop by! I asked what their special flavor was -

Them: "Root beer ice cream, with ginger molasses!" Me: "Sure! I'll definitely try it!"

I decided to get two scoops of it sitting pretty on a lovely 'Birthday Cake' ice cream cone by The Konery. My first taste of root beer ice cream was heaven.

My friends thought I was crazy. When I returned to them excitedly holding a giant ice cream cone, they initially thought from the brown shade it was coffee - nope! xD It's definitely root beer. Their reaction - "Ugh!". LOL.

I very much enjoyed root beer as the ice cream base - it was very lickable, and the ginger molasses chunks were swirled throughout. I didn't taste the ginger molasses very much until the second scoop - the molasses tasted fine, but texture-wise it felt like I was eating sand inside ice cream. I really didn't like that feeling. (Maybe that's why they named it Love & Hate?) Therefore, one icon off of Taste. Apart from that, I wouldn't hesitate to get it again.

Extremely happy with my un-root beer float ;D

Apple Festival = apple ice cream

🍎+🍦 How I occasionally have my one Apple a day - Spiced Apple ice cream from Cayuga Creamery 😋

24 Garrett Swirl

Celebrating Cornell's inauguration of President Garrett #CornellPresident

🍦...and a new ice cream flavor! 24 Garrett Swirl. Pretty good! It's mocha, caramel, & chocolate combined. I suggest you try it when it comes out at the Dairy Bar 👌🏻

Sprinkles: Last review for summer 2015!

Sprinkles Sundae

WHAT: Sprinkles Sundae
One scoop of Cherry Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between Red Velvet cupcake top & bottom
WHERE: Sprinkles @ UES

Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: DELICIOUS! Extraordinary combination of ice cream & cupcakes 😋 Cherry vanilla ice cream a little tart in my opinion. Cupcake was great :) I think this is a signature dish of Sprinkles, combining the best of both worlds.

[store-bought] steve's ice cream!

🍦 reviewing store bought ice cream! More of these may show up once school starts haha. Which is soon.

WHAT: Steve's Brooklyn Black Out
WHERE: Bought @ Whole Foods
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: not too chocolatey, not too cakey, *almost* just right. The chocolate ice cream was very good. I felt 'meh' on the swirled fudge - vanilla ice cream may have been a better pairing for it.

A.B. Biagi's

🍦 summer is nearly over!! Aaaahhh! before it ends, here's to a few more ice cream & gelato reviews~

Up first, Gelato time! Would not have noticed this place if @itsinti hadn't pointed it out.

WHAT: Stracciatella, Vegan Almond
WHERE: A.B. Biagi's

Creativity: 😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: One of the best gelato places I've been to so far. Taste is definitely delicious & creamy. Almond was my favorite. I also loved the cone itself, the cone pattern is cute & tasty!

Morgenstern's Finest!

🍦 Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream was the venue of choice earlier this week for ice cream with @acetaminophen & @itsinti :)

WHAT: Burnt Honey, Green Tea Pistachio
WHERE: Morganstern's Finest Ice Cream
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: pretty amazing! We were first amazed by how perfectly spherical the ice cream scoops were - no messy, dripping bits of ice cream falling off. Taste was delicious - burnt honey was my favorite of the two. Inti loved her Burnt Honey, & Amy had Black Cherry Pepper and it was kickin' good! This place is similar to Coldstone Creamery in that they mix toppings in, BUT different in how they leave it in. The mix-ins are in the center of the scoop:)

What I like about Morgenstern's is also the creativity of flavors (wide selection). Their shop interior is cute, bringing back the classic ice cream counter look. Visit their webpage also! The web/graphic layout is one of the best & cleanest I've seen, and was a factor in persuading me to go there🍦

Van Leeuwen's Vanilla

🍦 Previously this week in ice cream:

While in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, my friend & I stopped by Van Leeuwen before returning home. A little background: Van Leeuwen Ice Cream makes their Classic & Vegan-friendly ice cream from scratch right out of Greenpoint

WHAT: Earl Grey Tea, Vanilla
WHERE: Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream (Brooklyn location)

Creativity: 😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Earl Grey Tea definitely the better flavor of the two. The tea aroma is strong (in taste) & flavorful. Vanilla flavor slightly lacking. Maybe I should have tasted vanilla first? In any case, would recommend Earl Grey Tea. Texture is a bit icy. Also FYI, value-wise it's better to get two scoops than one.

Matcha!

🍦 Long funny story short, yesterday my friend & I ate only ice cream at a Japanese ramen restaurant. 😛 also, #GreenTea lovers, this one's for you 😉

Earlier this week at dinner with friends, my roommate described to us a really delicious green tea ice cream that exists only at a Japanese ramen restaurant. Yesterday, YX & I were in the vicinity so we went & tried it out!

WHAT: Green Gelato Ice Cream
Topped with red bean paste & sobacha (crispy soba noodle bits)
WHERE: Jin Ramen @ 125th St

Creativity: 😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Green tea ice cream was good - more authentic than typical green tea ones I've had. It's more bitter, tastes like tea, and is less sweet. Red bean paste I liked, would have preferred it to be integrated in ice cream more. The sobacha was a bit weird though. After eating it with the ice cream, the soba noodle aroma came out strong as an aftertaste. I like this ice cream without sobacha :P

Pinkberry!

Pinkberry is the way to go For FroYo

WHAT: Blueberry
WHERE: Pinkberry @ 14th St

Creativity: 😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Berry flavored frozen treats I find are the best way to cool off from a hot summer. This blueberry hit the spot for me. Raspberry & strawberry toppings were ok. Blueberries were the best toppings to pair FroYo with.

Mo Money, Mo Mango please!

🍦 Mo Money. Mo Mango. This is the flavor my friends @itsinti & @lv_leslie had, & I tasted a few spoonfuls of theirs. FYI this what I should have gotten. & would highly recommend to you

WHAT: Mo Money Mo Mango
WHERE: 10Below Ice Cream
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Yummy!! Refreshing & flavorful. One star off due to wait time (1 hr +!!). Definitely better than Cookie Monster. Friends also agreed and exclaimed, "It's SO good!!" :)

Gelato ti Amo

What better way to cool off on a hot humid New York day than with gelato?

🔴 What? #Fig & #Pistachio gelato
🔵 Where?
Creativity 😉😉
Presentation 😎😎
Taste 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture 😜😜😜
Value 😀😀😀😀
Overall Experience 😊😊😊😊

💭 A small cute shop located in the Financial District. Scoops were generous - Fig was good and not too sweet; same with pistachio.

MELT #2 - S'Mores

🍦 Introducing a revised rating system for ice cream, beginning with this post! Ice cream & overall experience will be rated in six categories (out of a 5 ⭐️ rating, but with emojis 😊) to provide a better consumer review.

🔴 What? Graham cookies with chocolate marshmallow ice cream (special edition for#FourthofJuly!)
🔵 Where? #MeltBakery

(Out of 5 emojis)
Creativity 😉😉😉😉
Presentation 😎😎😎😎
Taste 😋😋😋
Texture 😜😜😜
Value 😀😀😀😀😀
Overall Experience 😊😊😊😊😊

💭 There is a giant 'frozen' marshmallow inside the chocolate ice cream. I think I would have preferred it to be blended with the chocolate instead of by itself. Since this is a special edition, this flavor is only available until the end of July! It's worth a try 👍🏻

Rock it out with Mikey's!

Mikeys 1

🍦 Double blueberry ice cream with red velvet cake pieces & cheesecake chunks - all sandwiched between red velvet waffles?? I'm in!

💭 quite delicious & creamy. Pretty good ice cream. Blueberry flavor was there - yet I felt it was more of a singular blueberry, instead of double lol. The red velvet cake bits I didn't taste much. Cheesecake chunks were a tasty addition. Red waffles complemented ice cream well. Next time I would like to try this flavor again in a cone. Also, as a note about this ice cream shop, their ice cream is inspired by pop culture. Definitely visit. I'm sure Steve Urkel would love this place.

📝 A

Gelato at Eataly!

🍦After running errands and purchasing "groceries" (snacks 😅), I was hungry and decided to get Eataly's gelato, which was nearby.

What I got: Tiramisu & Stracciatella

💭 Overall, not my favorite... Too icy. With tiramisu as the top scoop, the espresso was strong throughout. If I hadn't known it was tiramisu, I would have thought it to be coffee ice cream. I think I should have asked for tiramisu to be the bottom scoop, since when I tried the stracciatella, I barely tasted the sweet milk cream. I did, however, taste the dark chocolate bits mixed in. Especially since a large chocolate rock had not been broken and blended enough, and had to be bitten through like a chocolate bar. This made the overall experience of stracciatella (& tiramisu) too sweet and not an ideal ice cream experience.

📝 B-

Popcorn with Ice & Vice!

🍦 Popcorn flavored ice cream and a movie on a Monday night! Ice cream made by Ice & Vice. The name of the flavor is 'Movie Theatre' - buttery popcorn as the ice cream base, with crunchy raisins and chocolate chips. Perfect for a movie night with Bryant Park Film Festival!

📝 A-

💭 Unexpectedly tasty. Definitely tasted as if you were eating popcorn, but in cold ice cream form. A little weird at first, but loved it after first bite. I was hesitant because I generally dislike raisins, yet the raisins were actually okay. Since they were frozen, they were crunchy and didn't give much flavor. I guess they were there for texture? The chocolate chips were nice, but I wouldn't ordinarily pair them with popcorn, much less raisins. I liked this ice cream overall for its success in flavor.

Davey's Ice Cream

🍦Reunited with a special friend last night, and celebrated with dessert, which in my book means ice cream :P

We went to Davey's Ice Cream, and I had roasted pistachio and s'mores*

📝 A- / A

💭 S'mores is a new flavor not on the menu yet - was good and chock full of what I'm guessing was large chunks of chocolate covered graham crackers. These chunks were fairly large (~1") and I had to eat them first before being able to lick the ice cream. Other customers there were really excited and loved this flavor after trying a taste, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

Roasted pistachio I loved. Real pistachios are blended in, which I liked - creating a natural brown hue instead of the artificial green you usually see with pistachio. Good texture & consistency, easy to lick

Would definitely eat here again! 😉

Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

🍦Tasted ice cream from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory today! Flavors tried were vanilla, and vanilla chocolate chunk. (FYI: Other flavors on the menu were chocolate, chocolate chocolate chunk, strawberry, peaches & cream & coffee)

📝 B+

💭 The vanilla flavoring was subtle, and I would have liked it to stand out more - to be more 'vanilla-y'. Chocolate chunks added a nice crunchy texture to the overall ice cream experience. I liked the generous ice cream scoops (big +!), and the ice cream itself was very creamy, but also proceeded to melt quite quickly and ran all over my hand due to the heat today ;P I would give this place another  try by tasting other flavors.

MELT with the Highline

🍦 Found MELT Bakery while visiting the High Line yesterday evening! Very excited as they sell ice cream sandwiches and locally source their ingredients.

What I got: the Lovelet - Cream cheese ice cream sandwiched between soft red velvet meltcakes.

💭 Size is decent - one could finish in 4-5 bites. Cream cheese ice cream is perfectly complemented by the soft (think cakey-like) red velvet cookies. Would recommend for red velvet lovers. As last night was fairly warm, it was great to walk the Highline with ice cream to cool you down :)

📝 A-