Emack & Bolio’s
Aug. 23, 2024 By Amanda Salazar and Jessica Militello
In celebration of National Banana Split Day on August 25th, we’ve gathered a list of Western Queens ice cream shops that are serving up cool treats—banana split or not.
Whether you prefer your ice cream in a cup or cone, as a banana split, soft serve, hard scoop, float, or milkshake, these local spots have a sweet treat for every New Yorker.
From fresh-made gelato to ice cream sundaes, we have quite the list of ice cream shops to stop by and enjoy a piece of ice-cold heaven on a hot day.
Aida’s Parkside
Aida’s Parkside
18-59 Ditmars Boulevard, Astoria
Right next to Astoria Park, as the name implies, sits Aida’s Parkside, a gelato and coffee shop. With brightly colored outdoor and cozy indoor seating, Aida’s Parkside is a small local business that serves a rotating array of gelato flavors, including vegan options. Their unique flavors include rainbow cookies, espresso martini, and carrot cake. Aida’s also serves coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and some pastries. These include crepes, croissants, macarons and brownies.
Figo il Gelato
Figo il Gelato
2902 23rd Avenue, Astoria
For gelato “made as in Italy,” check out Figo il Gelato. With more than 20 flavors of ice cream — including Ferrero Rocher, caramelized fig, cannoli and fresh passion fruit — there’s plenty of options to choose from. Figo il Gelato also sells specialty gelato, such as in a warm brioche bun, in frappe and in affogato. For those wanting something a little more solid to go along with their gelato, they also sell a range of cannolis, torts, cookies and cakes.
Ample Hills Creamery
Ample Hills Creamery
34-02 30th Avenue, Astoria
A local chain, Ample Hills Creamery, first opened in Brooklyn in 2011. It now has five locations across Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Ample Hills makes all of its ice cream in its Brooklyn kitchen, offering nearly 20 flavors, such as oatmeal lace, peppermint pattie and cotton candy — plus three vegan flavors. They even have a collaboration flavor with Baked by Melissa. Pick any of 13 toppings choices to make your scoop your own, or choose from one of six different kinds of cones offered. Want to go over the top with your snack? Make it a sundae by throwing it on top of a warm, homemade brownie.
Elio’s
Elio’s Ice Cream
39-28 Queens Boulevard, Sunnyside
Elio’s Ice Cream is an ice cream and dessert shop with a vast menu and many choices. This shop has a whopping 34 ice cream flavors, including vegan options. A sampling of flavors includes peanut butter bites, peach, caramel cold brew and run raisin. You can also turn your scoop into a strawberry split, ice cream nachos, or ice cream donut — or choose one of eight kinds of cones to put it in. They also sell 12 kinds of cookies, which can be turned into a variety of ice cream sandwiches.
Arcobaleno Gelateria
Arcobaleno Gelateria NYC
44-09 Queens Boulevard, Sunnyside
Gelato, sorbet, crepes and dessert waffles can all be found at Arcobaleno Gelateria NYC. The business was opened in 2022 by the owners of local Italian restaurants Sotto Le Stelle Pizzeria and Sole Luna, making it the first gelato shop in Sunnyside. Arcobaleno shares a backyard with Sotto Le Stelle so that customers can hop from one to the other. They offer flavors like lemon kiwi, turron, mascarpone and cookie monster.
Emack & Bolio’s
Emack & Bolio’s
5-36 50th Avenue, Long Island City
Emack & Bolio’s was established in Boston in 1975 by a music lawyer who wanted to create a place musicians could go after work. The business, which now has locations across America and Asia, is still heavily influenced by rock music and culture today. E&B sells 23 flavors of ice cream, six flavors of vegan ice cream, three flavors of sorbet, two flavors of yogurt and two flavors of no-sugar-added ice cream — including bananas foster, maple walnut, toasted coconut and cappuccino fudge swirl.
Spot Dessert Bar
Spot Dessert Bar
2843 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City
Spot Dessert Bar is a fusion of Western desserts and Eastern flavors. Owned by two Thai cousins and with the help of an Asian pastry chef, Spot is a unique dessert restaurant with locations in New York City and New Jersey, plus a new location coming to Astoria. Spot sells eight flavors of ice cream, including condensed milk, Vietnamese coffee, taro milk tea and matcha, but there’s so much more to enjoy than ice cream. There are cookies, pastries, dessert tapas, specialty drinks and bubble tea. Spot Dessert Bar even caters for events.
Van Leeuwen
Van Leeuwen
33-01 Ditmars Boulevard, Astoria
While not a small chain, Van Leeuwen is a popular NYC-born ice cream chain with 30 locations in New York City alone, plus one more coming to Brooklyn and another opening on Long Island. It started out in 2008 as a single ice cream truck and has grown into a national business. Some fun flavors offered are malted cookie dough shake, peanut butter brownie honeycomb, marionberry cheesecake and Earl Grey tea. They also make three kinds of ice cream bars and four kinds of ice cream sandwiches. There’s also a more limited vegan menu with choices of hard scoop, bars and sandwiches.
Bianco Nero Gelato
Bianco Nero Gelato
3320 Ditmars Blvd., Astoria
Bianco Nero recently expanded to the Astoria community in May, offering artisanal and authentic gelato, including gelato shakes, freshly made Belgian waffles, and even dog-friendly gelato for your pup. Try some of their delicious flavors, like baklava, Roche chocolate hazelnut, crunchy Amalfi Limone, and more.
Tipsy Scoop
Tipsy Scoop
38-15 23rd Ave., Astoria
Tipsy Scoop is another recent addition to Astoria. It offers unique boozy ice cream treats, including sandwiches, sundaes, cocktails, and cakes. Some of its fun flavors are cake-battered vodka martini ice cream, mango margarita sorbet, and dark chocolate whiskey salted caramel ice cream.
Comfortland
Comfortland
4009 30th Ave., Astoria
This neighborhood staple has tasty ice cream treats, including their rainbow ice cream pie, made with Comfortland classic vanilla ice cream pies and Donut Diva rainbow cake, their dole whip, made with vegan pineapple soft serve and pineapple soda, and an array of decadent milkshakes.
Mango Mango
Mango Mango Desserts
47-43 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City
Mango Mango is a dessert shop that offers frozen treats, such as mochi ice cream, mango shaved ice, a triple ice cream delight, and a waffle ice cream sandwich. Their treats are refreshing and tasty on a hot day, and they have lots of unique options to choose from.
Snow Show
Snow Show LIC
4215 Crescent St., Long Island City
Snow Show offers ice cream treats like Bingsu, a Korean dish made from milk shaved ice. It also offers sweet toppings in flavors like bubble tea, strawberry, mango, and matcha. They also serve Taiwan shaved ice and soft-serve ice cream with handmade boba.
Chip City
Chip City
45-05 40th St., Sunnyside
Chip City is known for its fresh-baked cookies, but summer is the perfect time to combine the best of both worlds by adding an ice cream treat. Choose from an array of delicious cookie flavors and a scoop of ice cream, such as strawberry shortcake, cookies’ n’ cream, and more.
*This story first published in the August issue of BORO Magazine.
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