Food Craze: Rolled Ice Cream

So last summer, Thai-style rolled ice cream made it’s way to NYC. And last weekend, yours truly finally got her hands on some.

If you haven’t tried rolled ice cream yet, allow me to make a friendly introduction.

On Saturday, Jordan, Jameson and I made our way to the Hester Street Festival on the Lower East Side. The vendors were out selling jewelry and scented shea butters, the DJ had us swaying to a killer reggae playlist (complete with this classic song, written by my Uncle Bob), and then we came across the Rock ‘n Chill rolled ice cream stand. These were the makings of a good day.
So this is how this whole thing goes: To make rolled ice cream, they start with a super cold surface.Then they pour an ice cream base onto the surface, along with the add-ins of your choosing. The cream starts to harden immediately as it hits the cold surface.After much deliberation (balsamic strawberry? coffee loaded? decisions, decisions), we opted for their Elvis Presley, which we were told was their most popular. It came with peanut butter, bananas, caramel, bacon, pretzel sticks, and a roasted marshmallow. Oh yes. And then they start to mix those goodies up, and smooth it out, and add some more goodness. Once it’s nice and smooth, we come to the moment of truth — the rolling. And each roll has a nice distribution of all those tasty ingredients worked in.When it’s all said and done, this is the goodness you end up with.And this is the smile you end up with.
Is the whole thing a bit gimmicky, like Cold Stone Creamery? Absolutely. But is the result delicious? Absolutely.

Listen, it’s gonna be hot as Hades in NYC for the next few days, so if you ask me, there’s no better time to take a little field trip and get yourself some rolled ice cream. You can find Roll ‘n Chill at the Hester Street Festival (which happens every Saturday in the summer), or you can hit up one of the other spots below.

I-CE NY – 101 Macdougal Street
10Below – 10 Mott Street (of Buzzfeed fame)
Penguin Ice Cream – 143B Hester Street

Have you tried rolled ice cream? Would love to know what you think! :-)