New ice cream parlor on Vanderbilt?

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."

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.

Anyone have a report? I've tried the peppermint pattie and the salted caramel. Delicious.

$5.80 for a small cone?

3.95 for a single scoop, that is insane. better be taken from a cow in the back.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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/

Bricktop said: this place is just so precious.

excellent word choice.

One year later: Still thriving.

People seem willing and able to pay premium prices for premium ice cream.

Story:

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120524/prospect-heights/ample-hills-creamery-marks-year-of-dishing-out-salted-crack-caramel

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.

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

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