Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

I eat a lot of ice cream.  I eat it daily.  At least once a day, often twice, frequently as a topping on a warm dessert.  And when I'm in New York, in the summer, I eat even more ice cream/gelato/froyo than usual (although I have a strong bias towards soft serve during the summer weather, something about a soft serve cone in the sun just brings me such joy).  And yet I somehow never tried Van Leeuwen Ice Cream until now (even though I've heard of it, seen their pints in grocery stores, and walked by a location right next to my NY office a zillion times).

Spoiler: I was missing nothing.  But if you do want to try it, they have a slew of stores around New York (and other states), and sell pints nationwide in generic grocery stores.  It isn't hard to find.  They have been around since 2008 (started in Brooklyn) and offer up a good mix of generic crowd pleasing "safe" flavors, and some more interesting seasonal ones.  The regular ice cream is "French" style, which means more yolk than some other brands.  They also have vegan options.

I tried 4 flavors when I visited the shop in Chelsea.  I found the base ice cream for all flavors to be fairly average.  To be clear, I mean average for premium ice cream, I'm not saying it was like a generic cheapo base, but, it didn't stand out in any way compared to other local ice cream shops.  Even with abundant locations that seem convenient to wherever I am, and rarely any lines, I have no reason to return.  I also find it pricey, even compared to its (far better tasting) peers.

Mint Chip / Praline Butter Cake.

I sampled 4 flavors first, and was kinda let down by all of them, but settled for 2 since I was there and did want ice cream.

Mint Chip

This is a very simple flavor, but one I generally enjoy.  Classic minty base that wasn't too strong nor too artificial.  Loaded with lots of high quality dark chocolate flecks.  A simple basic flavor done well.  I like even more with fudge or chocolate sprinkles to accent it (and, ideally, whipped cream and strawberries!).  Higher 3.5/5.

Praline Butter Cake

"Nothing makes us happier than this Praline Butter Cake Ice Cream. We can thank Louisiana for the praline and Mardi Gras. But you don’t have to throw beads to get your hands on this creation; sweet cream ice cream with praline and pieces of brown butter cake."

Definitely an interesting and fun flavor.  It was certainly sweet, but not too sweet.  It was loaded with reasonable size hunks of the gooey, sweet, buttery butter cake.  An enjoyable flavor, unique, and my favorite by far of the four flavors I tried.  That said, it still wasn't exceptional, the base ice cream just fairly average premium ice cream.  Low 4/5 if I was stranded in a small town, but 3.5/5 for NY really.

Sweet Corn & Blueberry Jam

"Nothing makes us happier than this Buttermilk Berry Cornbread Ice Cream. We mix in pieces of honey cornbread with buttermilk ice cream. Then we add in swirls of sweet and tart raspberry. You add your spoon. Before you know it we have a mouth band."

I thought I'd love this!  But I didn't really taste the corn, and the fruity swirls just overwhelmed.  Very sweet in a fruity way.  The swirl also seemed a bit icy.  It was fine, but not what I was looking for. Low 3/5.

Brown Sugar Cookie Dough Brownie

"Nothing makes us happier than this Brown Sugar Cookie Dough Brownie Ice Cream. Dark brown sugar ice cream. Cookie dough. Brownies. It’s a collection of all the best stuff. Like an ice cream platypus whose den is your mouth."

I found this one very boring.  Yeah, it was a slightly interesting sweet base from the brown sugar, and yeah, it had hunks of cookie dough and brownie, but I didn't really think anything stood out, and the mix-ins were overly chewy.  Another low 3/5.