Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. Photos by Karin E. Baker for The LA Beat.
“A life without anything good is bad” is the slogan of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. I can’t disagree with the sentiment, particularly after visiting a Van Leeuwen scoop shop to try all four of their limited-edition summer flavors.
Incredibly fresh and juicy, Vegan Strawberry Sumac Sorbet was created for Pride Month in a collaboration with Gigi Gorgeous. It gets a bit of tang from sumac spice.
Coffee Affogato is sweet cream ice cream mixed with cold brew coffee ice cream. The cold brew is made with single-sourced heirloom coffee beans from Jimmy Butler‘s BIGFACE coffee.
Decadent Blueberry Shortcake consists of sweet cream ice cream, blueberry jam, and chunks of brown sugar shortcake.
Toasted marshmallow ice cream converges with chocolate chips, marshmallows, and graham crackers to create Toasted Marshmallow S’mores.
Van Leeuwen began in 2008 selling out of a truck in NYC. The city streets were full of ice cream trucks, but Van Leeuwen stood out – it was the only ice cream made with the simplest of ingredients.
Following a recipe for vanilla ice cream from a Thomas Keller cookbook, Van Leeuwen’s founders were astonished at the fresh taste and high quality. To this day, their super-premium ice cream is made with fresh milk, fresh cream, cane sugar, and a bounty of egg yolks.
The company is required to label their product “French ice cream,” as it contains double the eggs of standard ice cream.
Van Leeuwen also makes delicious vegan ice cream with a base of coconut, cashew, or oat milk. All their ice cream is made exclusively at their factory in Brooklyn.
All four summer flavors are available until September 15 (or until supplies last). While you’re there you might want to try some Van Leeuwen classics, like Earl Grey Tea, Mint Chip (made with single-origin dark chocolate) or Honeycomb.
The company has 31 scoop shops around the country, including five in LA (in Silver Lake, Downtown, Hollywood, Culver City, and El Segundo, with a sixth in Studio City coming soon). You can find more info here.
