In case you haven’t noticed yet, New York City is boiling, and these past few weeks have been a scorcher. With temperatures in the high 80s (or 90s), everyone’s favorite cold treat, ice cream, has been our only solace.
If we’re talking the best ice cream places in this city’s best borough, then the number one Queens neighborhood for the soft, frozen delicacies has to be Forest Hills. A short walk on Austin Street and Metropolitan Avenue will bring you to new cool spots as well as classic favorite shops. From old-school joints like Eddie’s Sweet Shop, to new shaved ice creameries like Snowdays, you’re bound to find the icey treat of your sweet dreams.
1. Eddie’s Sweet Shop
105-29 Metropolitan Ave.
Eddie’s has been serving the Forest Hills/Metropolitan Avenue community for more than 100 years, and whenever you step inside, it’s like you’ve instantly gone back to the 1950s soda shops your grandmom and grandpop have described. The ice cream is not too sweet, and their vat of whipped cream is freshly stored in a cute little icebox. At Eddie’s, pick and choose from a variety of classic ice cream favorites, like egg creams, malted milk shakes, and banana splits, and they even have an old-time candy bar available for you to sink you sweet tooth into. Menu prices range from $2.25 and go all the way up to $35 for ice cream cakes. But always remember: Eddie’s is cash only!
2. Twist It Top It
103-09 Metropolitan Ave.
Twist It Top It has a great selection of frozen yogurt, as well as Uncle Louie G’s ices and ice cream. The brightly lit, orange and white scheme of Twist It Top It creates a happy, friendly, family environment, making it a perfect place to grab a snack with the kids, or to grab a quick dessert after dinner. You can choose from non-fat, low-fat, all-kosher frozen yogurts, sorbets, 50+ Uncle Louie G ices and ice creams, and endless toppings. Ices range from $2.50, and ice creams start at $3 for smalls, and both can go up to $25 for their party bucket size. For your froyo, you’re paying by weight, so be cautious with how many toppings you splurge on! If you can’t make it to their Forest Hills shop, they also have locations in Howard Beach and Ridgewood.
3. Snowdays
72-24 Austin St., Forest Hills
Snowdays is a personal favorite of mine, and once you taste it, I’m sure it’ll be yours, too. What’s different about Snowdays is that their frozen treat is shaved cream, which originated in Taiwan and Korea, and quickly made its way west. The combo of shaved ice and cream is one of an icey fluffiness, and hits your tongue with a creamy, cooling texture. And Snowdays has all the right options; we recommend trying the Yetitracks, a concoction of Oreo pieces and blueberry puree, and to jazz it up with some mochi, pocky sticks, red bean and whipped cream. Cup sizes range from regular ($6), large ($7), and the extra huge, yeti ($10). Be sure to snap a pic of your cute yeti cup with their awesome temperature-changing spoons! If you can’t make it to their Forest Hills shop, be sure to check out their Flushing location!
4. Snow Story Ice Cream
72-38 Austin St.
Thai ice cream roll shops have popped up in Manhattan’s Chinatown earlier this year, and luckily for us, Queens residents can taste the sought-after treat in our own borough. Enter Snow Story Ice Cream, a brand-new ice cream shop on Austin Street, that brings these Thai rolls to the awesome community. At Snow Story, the menu consists of unique ice cream combinations, like Rose of Joy (vanilla ice cream and strawberries), Lit-Chee (lychee ice cream and strawberries), or Purple Galazy (taro ice cream and blueberries). But the cool factor of this place? The ice cream rolls are made on a freezing cold flat top that is -10 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the ice cream base is poured and spread, the staff chops up the mixed toppings and waits until the ice cream hardens, which they then scrape and mold into rolls. Once they’re all put together in a cup, you add unlimited toppings, where you can choose from strawberry crème cookie sticks, sprinkles, gummy bears, crushed cookies and a variety of sauces. The best part about Snow Story? This all comes at the low price of $7.
5. Shake Shack
7126 Austin St.
Queens “Shake Shackers,” rejoice! Now we don’t have to go into Manhattan, or have an excuse to go to Citi Field or the Queens Center Mall! With the new Shake Shack that’s opened on Austin Street, we now can enjoy our favorite burgers, fries and shakes just a hop and a skip away. At the Forest Hills Shake Shack, the standard vanilla custard and strawberry shakes are available, but this location has some super special concretes on deck. If you want to dedicate your concrete to Queens, try the Queens Bee, a mix of vanilla custard, strawberry puree, marshmallow sauce and honeycomb candy from Brooklyn’s sweet team, Liddabit Sweets. Or, if you’re like us and want to try something that’s a shoutout to Austin Street, order the Austin Street Treat, a mix of chocolate custard, bananas, sugar cone cookies and peanut butter sauce. Both concretes are available as singles ($4.59), or as doubles ($6.79). When you order the Austin Street Treat, 5 percent of your purchase supports the Queens Community House, a nonprofit organization that helps Queens youths with school, assists senior citizens, and helps families make healthy life choices.
6. Håagen-Dazs Ice Cream
7040 Austin St.
Sometimes when you don’t want to go too far out of the box and want just one scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, you instantly find yourself going to your favorite, name-brand ice cream. And out of all the shops on Austin Street, Håagen-Dazs has our heart. This Forest Hills location has 32 flavors of ice cream and sorbet, including a new favorite ice cream that we loved, vanilla tangerine and shortbread. Along with the options of smoothies, shakes, sundaes, ice cream cakes, toppings and the variety of sprinkle-coated waffle cones, you can’t go wrong with your frozen dessert. Prices range from $3.22 to $6.89, and the shop is pretty tiny and narrow, so get there early on a cool summer night to beat the line!
7. Vanilla Sky
7035 Austin St., Forest Hills
For our final destination, we hit up Vanilla Sky, a frozen yogurt, self-serve shop with endless toppings. The clean, blue-and-white scheme of the shop imitates clouds in the sky, hence the name of the catchy store! In terms of frozen delights, you’re in for a treat. Not only do they have 10 frozen yogurt flavors, they also have two flavors of Chloe’s soft serve fruit, a fruit-based, soft-serve froyo. There are also 33 different toppings that you get to pile onto your froyo, and just like Twist It Top It, this shop is pay-by-weight. If you’re like me and like the pleasures of simplicity, try the Euro Tart yogurt, which is pretty thick, consistent, and doesn’t melt easily. But be advised, this flavor packs quite the tart punch, so even it out with some strawberry bobas and white chocolate chips.
