My spouse and I visited the Big Gay Ice Cream (BGIC) shop in
the East Village on a Saturday afternoon in mid-February 2017. The shop began
as a mobile ice cream truck in the summer of 2009, but its owners now operate
two brick-and-mortar locations in the East Village (which opened in late 2011)
and the West Village (which opened in late 2012), and a location in
Philadelphia (which opened in 2015). In addition, the company begins selling
pre-packaged pints in select cities soon. The company’s name refers not only to
the orientation of its owners but also to the traditional meaning of the word
as “happy”.
The East Village storefront is small, with space for a few
customers to wait in line until they can approach the tiny counter and place
their order. While staff creates your delicious concoction, you wait near the
front window. On busy days, the shop sets up a line outdoors to queue its
patrons. This is not an ice cream shop where you can sit indoors to enjoy your
cone or sundae; however, on nice days, the East Village location is just yards
away from the numerous park benches in the expansive Tompkins Square Park.
Obviously ice cream is the star of the show, and this shop’s
ice cream is soft-serve only offered in just a few flavors. Most patrons combine
the ice cream with interesting ingredients and toppings either of their own
choosing or as suggested by the shop, but you can also choose a plain cone or
bowl, or one of their creative milkshakes (like ginger-curry, chai, or creamsicle).
We shared the tasty “Gobbler”, which contained vanilla ice cream, pumpkin butter,
maple syrup, graham cracker crumbles, and whipped cream. Combinations are cheekily
and cleverly titled, such as the “Salty Pimp” (vanilla ice cream, dulce de
leche, sea salt, and dipped in chocolate), the “Mermaid” (with key lime curd,
graham crackers, and ice cream), and the “Cocone” (with vanilla ice cream and
toasted curried coconut).
Our sundae was delicious - now we understand what all the
fuss is about!
