Food & Drink

We need your ice cream advice

Picture 13For all the buzz about Cortelyou Road being the new Smith Street, Ditmas Park—a Brokelyn mini-hub—remains an underserved neighborhood in some key ways. There’s no decent diner, there are too few coffee shops and there’s not a single ice cream parlor. The Flatbush Development Corp is trying to rustle one up, so they’re trying to get people to fill out this ice cream survey. Our problem: It asks you to name a favorite place, but we don’t know what to say, because we don’t have any of these newfangled ice cream joints—all we know is that those 25-cent ice-cream sandwiches from the corner place taste like little bricks of freezer burn. Since this is a question of critical importance—what should we write? Please help us out by taking our one-nanosecond survey:

Don’t like these? Put your own in the comments, but no trucks or carts because this is for a STORE.

19 Comments

  1. NYC ICY is AWESOME for Italian Ice-style treats…and it’s in Flatbush! It’s on Church Ave. @ Coney Island Ave. I think they just don’t advertise it very well. The sign’s still lit, but I haven’t seen them open since summer. They might do better on Cortelyou.

    George’s Diner is a slightly questionable diner on the corner of CIA and Cortelyou, and it definitely does the job at 2 AM. There’s also 24 hr Indian food at Madina on CIA and Beverly – not a diner, but always open. I think operating a business on CIA is a good way to be totally invisible to Ditmas Park pedestrians, but CIA is fantastic for brokesters.

  2. Stephanie

    As I remember from last year, NYC Icy opened fairly late in the spring. There’s not been any sort of “for rent/sale” sign, so I’m figuring it’s the same?

    Also, it’s in Kensington.

  3. I’m not sure what’s going on with NYC Icy…the sign is still lit up, so I’m keeping the hope alive.

    Not sure where the line is drawn between Flatbush/Kensington, but I thought that East of CIA was Flatbush. Ditmas is part of Flatbush, and I’m even hazier on where that starts.

  4. I’d go with Blue Marble for highest quality and that boutique sort of vibe. Also, it’s opened at least two more shops (one in Prospect Heights, one in Cobble Hill) since the original on Atlantic.

    Then again, I’ve had no complaints about Uncle Louie G (the man, the myth, the Microsoft clip art), and they’ve certainly got more flavors of ice cream, and the ices and, it seems, the ability to expand without hurting the business model.

  5. James

    I grew up on “those 25-cent ice-cream sandwiches from the corner place (that) taste like little bricks of freezer burn.” How about the little Italian ices that turn your tongue red and have to be eaten with a little piece of wood? Sounds like someone might be little too high class for B’klyn?

  6. Larry Littlefield

    One word: Gelato.

    Over in Italy, they have these “bars.” In the morning they serve cappuccino and cornettos (like a donut) or pastries for breakfast. You sit at the bar and drink from a real cup, not a paper cup.

    In the afternoon they serve sandwiches.

    And in the evening, they serve Gelato.

    I don’t understand why Starbucks ice cream is in supermarkets but not in Starbucks, but anybody who can get people to pay that much for coffee must know something I don’t.

  7. Patricia Young

    The General Green near Fort Green Park has the best ice cream in the summer. They have a cart outside the restaurant.

    *Caramel icecream with freshly crushed salty pretzel (great cause the pretzel isn’t frozen into the ice cream)
    *Pistachio green tea
    *Vanilla honey -simple yet the most exquisite flavor!

    I live in Williamsburg and it’s worth the trip.

    http://www.thegeneralgreene.com/

  8. NYC ICY usually closes for the winter and spring. I’ve noticed this for the past 2 years. I wish they would give us better notice about opening.

    George’s (the diner) has wonderful staff. If you live nearish George’s you may want to try Connies on Church and Ocean Pkwy, but again that’s Kensington.

    I had the ice cream at General Green and it was crunchy with ice crystals, yuck.

  9. Sarah

    George’s is gross. NYC Icy is great, but also an ice cream parlor (and really, Blue Marble, Uncle Louie G’s, whatevah…) on Cortelyou would be SWEET (pun intended)!!

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