I read in Brownstoner that Ample Hills Creamery is coming to Vanderbilt Avenue. They are a locally made ice cream producer that was selling out of Lucas Food on Union. When the food shop closed this week, a sign on the door announced that the ice cream makers were setting up shop in Prospect Heights. But where?
First Blue Marble opens around the corner from me, then Shake Shack announces they will be opening up near my kid's school. This must stop!
According to Ample Hills Creamery's Facebook status updates, it will be located "At the corner of Vanderbilt & St. Marks" and is "Scheduled to open this Spring."
Based on the above, I predict the NE corner:
They were out there this weekend celebrating signing the lease on the corner seen above. I had the Caramel Cracked Salt, and it was fantastic. My wife had the spicy chocolate and it was good as well. They also had a maple bacon ice cream.
Yum! Can't wait!
Anyone have a report? I've tried the peppermint pattie and the salted caramel. Delicious.
I just got back -- the line was loooooong but the ice cream was really good.
I got a small cup of a Stout/Pretzel ice cream made with Guinness and had chocolate covered pretzels in it. My husband got a small cup of Black Cow ice cream which was root beer ice cream with chocolate chunks in it. I hate root beer, but he liked it a lot.
The flavors they also had were interesting.
The only "fruit" one was banana with 'nilla waffers and cinnamon (I'm usually a strawberry or blackberry type of ice cream person) -- as my husband said, "these flavors seem to be designed by a pregnant woman" -- they were full of pretzels, saltines, nuts, and cereals.
This includes one called Breakfast Trash that was a cream ice cream with smashed up Cap'n Crunch, Frosted Flakes, and 3 other cereals.
The cost for 2 small cups was $8.60 -- they had run out of cones, but if we had gotten cones, the total would have been $11.60 for two small cones. I thought the ice cream was really delicious and I love the whole super-local-natural-thing, but that's a lot of money for ice cream to someone like me.
Hope Blue Marble stays strong while people flock to this place to check it out.
$5.80 for a small cone?
yeah -- it's an extra $1.50 for a cone instead of a dish. steep!
3.95 for a single scoop, that is insane. better be taken from a cow in the back.
Those prices are obnoxious. Thanks for the heads up.
That's a lot of money for ice cream. The only way they're going to gain over Blue Marble is if they're open late on weekend nights. Maybe things are different this summer, but last year Blue Marble was closing at 10pm on Saturday nights.
week days they're open until 10 and on weekends they're open until 11.
I'm not sure when they opened but by 8:00 Saturday night they had run out of 15 of their flavors. In the time it took me to get to the front of the line (about 3 minutes) they had run out of another two (one being chocolate. Ice cream parlors should never run out of chocolate).
That's pretty steep. I think I'll give them a try one time and then stick with Louie G's or just buy my own supply from the store. Do they serve coffee? If so, how is it?
It seems many are willing to pay the prices. ...too many.
As reported by the Prospect Heights Patch:
Flooded With Customers, Ample Hills Creamery Runs out of Ice Cream and Closes Doors
Artisan ice cream shop owner hopes to re-open in about a week.By Amy Sara Clark | 2:13pm
Four days after opening, Ample Hills Creamery has run out of ice cream and has closed its doors until the shop can make more.
“It’s a nice validation, but I planned for a lot more moderation,” said owner Brian Smith.
The store – the first in Brooklyn to make ice cream completely from scratch in the shop, instead of from a “dairy mix” of pre-pasteurized milk, cream, sugar and eggs – built up an eager foodie fan base in the months before it opened.
And since fans decended on the shop on opening day Wednesday, the shop has gone through 125 gallons of ice cream, about twice as much as Smith expected. (See photos of opening day here.)
Despite making more during the week, by last night, the shop was down to four flavors: breakfast trash, the root beer-flavored black cow float, sunshine on my chocolate, an orange cheesecake flavor with a chocolate swirl, and bubblegum. He sold them at half price until all that was left was bubblegum, which he gave away. By 10 p.m. it was all gone.
Smith has hired more staff to up the ice cream production, and plans to reopen soon with the full 24 flavors at the counter, and “multiple, multiple tubs” in the back, he said.
Before re-opening, Smith also wants to have the ice cream cakes and frozen ice cream drinks ready (salted caramel and fudge, yum!) and the outdoor seating in place.
“We’re going to make sure that we have everything that we should have had,” the first time, he said.
There will also be a few innovations, including smaller-sized kids cones, and several dairy and egg free flavors including a lemon-ginger sorbet and “something coconut-milk based,” Smith said.
He’ll also be rolling out maple bacon and cinnamon flavors and retiring poor bubblegum after its lackluster showing.
So when will the shop re-open? Weeks? Months? After missing several opening date deadlines the first time around, Smith would prefer to keep it vague.
“I’m hoping it’s more like a week, but I’m not going to commit to a day,” he said.
As for why he ran out of ice cream the first time, Smith said he just didn't expect so many customers. "It's overwhelming, the support," he said.
“I planned for failure, for moving back in with mom and dad, but I didn’t plan for this degree of response,” he said.
In the meantime, don't forget about Blue Marble Ice Cream, just a few blocks away on Underhill and Sterling.
That banana flavor sounds awesome to me. Perhaps their pricing is to aid in keeping us thin? 
What? That's bunk. After days 1 and 2, don't you think that a light should go on in your head? You know, the one that indicates that you should bust ass making more product? Sadly, this guy is now probably going to have his doors shut too long (one day is too long, IMO), making too much in anticipation of the same brisk pace, when the reality may be that, curiosity sated, the number of people willing to drop $6 on a cone will dip.
Dude - don't get fancy, churn out 6 flavors, keep your doors open (holiday weekend for chrissake!) and regroup during the slower times that will come Tues, Wed, Thurs.
Friggin' ninny.
Nerd Alert
$5 in 1994 has the same buying power as $7.59 in 2011
stewart said:
I'm not sure when they opened but by 8:00 Saturday night they had run out of 15 of their flavors. In the time it took me to get to the front of the line (about 3 minutes) they had run out of another two.
It is a bad idea to run out of ice cream on a hot Saturday night, especially during a holiday weekend, especially when you are charging $3 a scoop.
WhyFi said:
What? That's bunk. After days 1 and 2, don't you think that a light should go on in your head? ... Friggin' ninny.
ideas: worth considering
hostility and arrogance: priceless
So Successful, a New Ice Cream Shop Closes After 4 Days
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/so-successful-a-new-ice-cream-shop-closes-after-4-days/
I have got to say it....have been trying not to.....but I can't hold back any more....I was one of the people who came by in its first couple of days and I found it totally disappointing! Nice to have a new biz on Vandy, but this place is just so precious. The ice cream was not particularly tasty, it was too expensive and the serving was quite modest.....take me back to Uncle Louie G's! Half the price, twice the ices and a fraction of the calories and fat....not to mention 10 times the flavor.
Bricktop said: this place is just so precious.
excellent word choice.
Thank you, Sweet Tea.
One year later: Still thriving.
People seem willing and able to pay premium prices for premium ice cream.
I don't see these guys losing business anytime soon. Not unless Steve's decides to open a store nearby. I do wish Ample Hill would use a richer butterfat as their base.
I have only praise for Ample Hills. It may be the best ice cream in the world.
Their chocolate sorbet is amazing too. And completely vegan for those who care about such things.
ICE CREAM WAR!!!
NY Daily News
I scream, you scream: Prospect Heights’ pricey ice cream battle
Waits up to 30 minutes for $4.49 ice cream cone attracting nabe newcomers
Ample Hills Creamery has been named No. 1 for ice cream in Zagat's (owned by Google) jnew 2012/13 guide.
http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/ample-hills-rated-best-ice-cream-by-zagat
inpixels said:
ICE CREAM WAR!!!
NY Daily News
I scream, you scream: Prospect Heights’ pricey ice cream battleWaits up to 30 minutes for $4.49 ice cream cone attracting nabe newcomers
Yeah, gonna be that guy. Candy Rush is on Franklin Ave. Franklin Ave is in Crown Heights, not Propsect Heights.
You missed the important part, which is that the same ice cream is cheaper at Candy Rush than at the Blue Marble store. Huh?
I imagine the rent is also cheaper, right?
Ample Hills' ice cream also has more fufu/fancy ingredients.
I think of this being part of the trend wherein the neigh[quote]borhood moves beyond getting one of everything, and now becomes an environment of more refined, distinct nitches that serve different preferences.
"moves beyond getting one of everything"
Actually, I would like a Pinkberry thank you very much!
Maybe a Cheesecake Factory in one of the big retail venues coming on line?
Welcome! Please log in to post, or register a new account!
now : lox
most recent : lox, opossumqueen, eastbloc, bropook, ehgee, amber d., newguy88, threecee, landlord, epiclylaterd, xlizellx, oscarin0, housebroken, brownie, roux42, hurricanekate, stewart, brit princess, bricktop, howncreights, mishaps, jarvis, patsy miele kirk, brooklynite03, turtle95, mynameisnotnorman, terekete, ninja, armchair_warrior, sytse, freehope36, cool the kid, dac545, mr. met, admin, cb123, crownheightsnewbie, veets, saintmarky, ben
Get Brooklynian.com by Email! 
Grab the Feed (RSS)
