How Soft Serve Ice Cream Got Fancy
It’s easy to take for granted now, but gourmet soft serve didn’t exist before 2008, when then pastry chef (now household name) Christina Tosi opened the first Milk Bar bakery and introduced us all to her just-swirled cereal milk-flavored ice cream.
“I never understood why soft serve wasn’t a thing in the big city,” she says now. Like most of us, she associated soft serve ice xream with roadside custard stands, carnivals, fairs, fast-food chains, or the Mister Softee truck we ran down the street after; she never thought of it as upscale. But why shouldn’t it be a little fancy? “It’s operationally a light lift," Tosi adds. "Emotionally and creatively a nostalgic delight with infinite flavor possibility.”
Just as Milk Bar has expanded beyond New York City to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Los Vegas, and Toronto, other outfits in metropolises across the U.S. are taking the swirly swoops to new culinary heights. While many of them have dedicated storefronts, some of the best examples are found at restaurants. As Tosi points out, “literally spun à la minute right in front of diners, fresh ice cream is always the best!” And 15 years in, something even she couldn’t have predicted, “it’s still hot—er, cool?”
Where to get the best of it? Use our guide, below.
In Boston: At PAGU, Tracy Chang does Japanese tapas and her dessert menu’s reads matcha, maple, or swirl; it never changes because it doesn’t need to. And at BUTTERMILK & BOURBON, the daily pick at Jason Santos’ love letter to NOLA could be anything from bananas foster to strawberry shortcake (pretzel cone optional), with soft serve mimosas on deck.
In New York City: Come to LEO in Brooklyn for the fancy sourdough pizza and stay for the ice cream; fig leaf and melon are two of the best-loved flavors. Or head to SHUKETTE, where the entire menu of Middle Eastern-leaning plates is aces, including the (incidentally vegan) tahini-oatmilk swirl topped with halvah floss and crunchy toasted hazelnuts. At RULE OF THIRDS, options rotate regularly at this izakaya-inspired spot, cranberry and white chocolate being two of them. And at MILU, Chinese regional dishes are the starting point and egg tart soft serve is always on tap along with a seasonal special.
In Philadelphia: LASER WOLF has a winning formula: salatim + kebabs + ice cream, which is brown sugar-infused and it gets sprinkled with hazelnut shortbread crumble and drizzled with rhubarb syrup.
In Washington, D.C.: At DOI MOI, an homage to Vietnamese street food, there are always two flavors on tap; banana cocoa and cucumber basil are part of the repertoire.
In Chicago: Don’t get so distracted by the hypnotic frosé machine at SAINT LOU’S that you miss out on the duo of monthly changing soft serve options that can be boosted with booze to become dessert cocktails.
In Minneapolis: Ask for the daily flavors at James Beard Award winning Ann Kim’s wood fire-powered hotspot YOUNG JONI and you might get Thai tea or butter pecan.
In Portland: If you're talking Maine, it's all about THE HONEY PAW, where honey soft serve is the standard, but for every season, there’s a new alternative, too. In Oregon, head to CANARD; don’t skimp on the foie gras dumplings or sliders but save room for a non-dairy orange Dole whip sundae with coconut yogurt, kumquat honey and a whipped pandan topping.
In San Francisco: The daily sundae at the end of your omakase meal at ROBIN might feature coconut milk soft serve with caramelized banana, candied walnuts, and dark chocolate
In Cleveland: Try a fancy slushie at CORDELIA, the brand new modern Midwestern eatery with basil mint soft serve as its base, blueberry jam, rosé granita and crispy meringue.
This story appears in the Summer 2023 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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