Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

Been eyeing the Van Leeuwen truck all around town for the entire week. 

Instead, I caught their station, no truck.  

Yellow Rose Bourbon Pecan Pie.  I did not went inside to throw in a shot of bourbon, since I was driving, but it was a neat idea!

The day of the Grand Opening, they even invited DonkeeBoy to do a mural for auction.  He made a special design just for the occasion.  It totally reflects the ice cream and Houston. 

When I got there, I was 2nd in line.  The girl that was 1st in line was there 2 hours before me.  She was even pitching in to help the team get ready.  Not to mention, we got to talk to both Ben & Pete Van Leeuwen quite a bit.

So, what did I get?  I got their Earl Grey tea flavor.  It's one of the originals and one of my favorite from them.  It was totally worth waiting for 45 mins in line.  Because the rest of the day, the line did not die down.  It was crazy.

Friend of mine was asking, so what's the big deal.  Well, they are an ice cream institution in NY/NJ area.  I've been to a shop near my office and it is very classic NY feel.  

In talking with Pete, we were just asking, why did you guys think to open in Texas.  Since most of their shops are Northeast, and their expansion was going out West Coast.  He said out of the blue, he was thinking Dallas and Houston.  And they were talking about different metrics and realized for as big of a city Houston is, there's not a lot of artisan ice cream.  That is true.  Houstonian are loyal to Blue Bell just for a sentimental reason.  But Van Leeuwen is offering artisan flavor that are Vegan friendly, ingredients going back to the basics and just making good ice creams.  You don't get too many of those here in Houston.  That is true.  We have gelato around town, we have Amy's which is from Austin.  And you can forget trying to get Underground, you have to set a timer and get the riddle, which is like if you don't have a certain IQ, you cannot obtain.  If I have to try so hard to get a pint of ice cream, it's seems like too much work (yes, totally sour grape there).  But here you have Van Leeuwen, easily accessible in the Rice Village. The new locations will be coming to Uptown & Montrose.  I'm looking forward to more yummy goodness.

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream 

Rice Village

2565A Amherst

Houston, TX 77005

https://vanleeuwenicecream.com