I’ll never forget the day I had my first taste of Ice and Vice Ice Cream: July 27th, 2013 at the Queens County Market.
My first flavor was Movie Night: buttered popcorn, toasted raisins and dark chocolate. I remember the sweetness balanced with the butteriness of the popcorn and a lightly salted finish. The popcorn bits and raisins added a lovely texture. I also tried their Southern Belle (graham cracker with juniper lemon curd) and Burning Love (hickory smoked chocolate with szechuan peppers). Both flavors combined the creamy sweetness you expect from ice cream with surprises for your palate – tanginess and a deep smokiness, respectively.
I remember thinking, “These guys are doing something significant to ice cream. And I love it.”
A year later, Ice & Vice Founders Paul Kim and Ken Lo are going strong, and their flavors are more creative than ever. Their idea is to create frozen treats for a more sophisticated palate while still keeping the joy and excitement we naturally associate with ice cream. As they state on their website, they “push the boundaries of what frozen desserts can be.”
They have built up a devoted following, who pick up scoops and pints at the LIC Flea and Astoria Flea. My friend Maya and I also hung out with them at the amazing Brooklyn Night Bazaar last weekend. They participated in the Hester Street Fair’s Ice Cream Social for National Ice Cream Day.
Ice & Vice – Fridays & Saturdays at the Brooklyn Night Bazaar
They resisted creating traditional flavors like vanilla and chocolate until the demand became too great. (That’s another great thing about markets: customers will not hesitate to tell you what they like and want.) So they applied their magic and came up with The Basic B (Mexican vanilla with a subtle black lava sea salt finish) and Milk Money (toasted milk, sea salt and chocolate ganache). Yes, they are fabulous.
I need to mention Arabian Nights: Cardamom, Egyptian Mint and a ribbon of apricot (pictured above). I love cardamom in general, and you can imagine how amazing these flavors are together. They also recently introduced Orange is the New Black: mango, black sesame and white chocolate, a nod to the Astoria Flea’s location in the Kaufman Astoria Studios lot, where the hit TV show is filmed.
Ken and Paul are clearly having a really great time of it too. Paul is a chef, and Ken has a background in financial services. Together they’ve created a beautiful and sustainable business making ice creams and sherbets for adults. They launched their line of ice cream sandwiches in mid-July. Thinking they had made enough for their events on Friday through Sunday, they sold out on the first evening. So we’ll be seeing more sandwiches in the markets!
Milk Money Ice Cream from Ice & VIce
One of the things that I love most about the NYC markets is the collaborations that come about among fellow market vendors. As I wrote last week, Ice & Vice created an ice cream float with Frittering Away Lemonade, their neighbor at the Astoria Flea. They have another secret collaboration coming soon that should prove to be innovative and mouthwatering. I’ll keep you posted!
It’s summertime, so go get yourself some Ice & Vice ice cream in these markets:
Astoria Flea: Sundays
Brooklyn Night Bazaar: Fridays & Saturdays
Hester Street Fair: Saturdays & Sundays
LIC Flea: Saturdays. They’re having their First Annual Favorite Food Festival this weekend!
BREAKING NEWS: Ice & Vice is a finalist for the 2014 Vendy Awards!
Ken Lo and Paul Kim, Founders of Ice and Vice
Brilliant and talented Maya Z. K. knows good ice cream when she sees it — at the Brooklyn Night Bazzar
Ice & Vice Flavors at the Astoria Flea
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