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A lot of things ring old-fashioned about Irvington’s new Penny Lick Ice Cream Company—which as of this month shares a space with Good-Life Gourmet on Main Street—like a fleet of pink-on-white refrigerated pushcarts from which owner Ellen Sledge sells made-from-scratch ice cream, ice pops, and ice cream sandwiches at local farmers’ markets. For another, there is the antiquity that is custard-based, all-natural, filler- and stabilizer-free ice cream. And then there’s the rotating menu of flavors that changes with the stocks of the farmers’ markets (Irvington, Piermont, Chappaqua, Hastings-on-Hudson, and others) where she sources her ingredients. Nostalgia aside, ice cream remains as cool as ever in the county, Penny Lick being one of three try-worthy new options this summer.
The Village Creamery & Sweet Shop in Valhalla, open since May, is another homespun/all-natural refuge of frozen treats, offering 25 varieties of made-in-house ice cream, in addition to shakes, banana splits, smoothies, root beer floats, egg creams, and bulk candy. Look for out-there flavors concocted by owner John Caldarola, like Cap’n Crunch Berry (vanilla ice cream base, ground Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries, and cereal chunks for crunch) and Cookie Monster Meets Peanut Butter Cup (vanilla base, Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, waffle cone, cookie dough, and peanut butter cups).
Finally, the Croton Creamery fills the void left by the Purple Monkey in the Croton Commons shopping center. It shares a space with Bagels on Hudson and sells Gifford’s Ice Cream from Maine, which Creamery owner Evan Liaskos likens to “Ben & Jerry’s back in the mid-to-late ’80s, where everyone in Vermont knew them, but no one outside [did].” The menu is littered with novelties like a Boston Shake—a milk shake with an ice cream sundae on top—and then there are the word-of-mouth non-menu items that pop up every now and again, like ice cream pizza, featuring a double-chocolate brownie crust and ice cream center, with toppings.
