NYC’s Big Gay Ice Cream Truck!

In 2009, The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck entered New York City's food truck scene and became a quick favorite of ice cream fans and food bloggers alike.

The concept is great; a Mister Softee style truck offering tricked out toppings including Sea Salt, Olive Oil, Wasabi Pea Powder, and Dulce de Leche, as well as other perks such as the option to have your cone lined with Key Lime Curd or Nutella. It makes Mister Softee look pretty vanilla! More significantly, the truck’s signature specials such as “The Salty Pimp” – a vanilla cone topped with sea salt, dulce de leche, and chocolate dip, and the “Bea Arthur” – a vanilla cone topped with dulce de leche and crushed Nilla Wafers have developed loyal followings.

With their cheerful theme and signage, obviously this is an out and proud operation. Collaborators like Jane Weidlin (of the Go-Go’s) who composed their catchy theme song, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is all about fun and originality!

I made my way over to 17^th Street and Broadway (one of the truck’s regular haunts) on the first hot and sunny day of the year. It also happened to be the day Ottavia Bourdain was assisting at the truck especially with all of her trips going to Doctors Without Borders. That’s right, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck makes a point of giving back with charity events like this. How can you not love that?

Just as I arrived Ottavia’s husband; Travel Channel superstar Anthony Bourdain had stopped by to help out and he was cheerfully making change, helping her take orders, and posing for pictures. In addition to that, he matched the truck's takings of the day for charity. Love him! The line was long but I heard regulars saying it was actually not bad -- so it’s obvious this truck gets lots of action. The truck’s signage got lots of second looks and I heard comments from passersby such as “Ooh! let’s get some gay ice cream!” I have a feeling Andy Warhol would nod in approval (the truck is parked within eyeshot of Union Square’s new Andy Warhol Statue).

But, how was the ice cream? I ordered  a Salty Pimp, and asked for a chocolate ice cream inside instead of vanilla. They happily obliged and I watched as truck proprietor Doug Quint swirled the ice cream, streaked it with stripes of Dulche de Leche, ground the sea salt on top, and Ottavia gave it a nice chocolate dip. The result was magnificently sweet with a touch of salty and I even hit a surprise payload of dulche de leche as I got down to eating the cone. Until now I’ve usually avoided Mister Softee trucks, but now I’ll be jonesing for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck whenever I see one!

I’m eager to try out some of the other creations as well as customize some of my own. A few flavor combination that pique my interest is chocolate ice cream with cayenne pepper and olive oil. Or vanilla topped with elderflower syrup with a key lime curd lined cone.The choices boggles the mind.

It was also recently announced that this summer The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck will be opening a brick and mortar store on East 7^th Street In Manhattan. They’ll have their usual specialties as well as including other local treats they want to sell, like goodies from Danny Macaroons, and coffee. It's exciting, but don’t worry, the truck will still be on the streets, helping New Yorkers proudly enjoy their Salty Pimps all summer long!

The truck often parks from 2-7pm on Broadway & 17th Street, but check their site and Twitter feed for their whereabouts!

Website: @biggayicecream