Getting Personal with Ice and Vice

Paul and Ken – We’re originally from California. Although originally from LA, we lived in the Bay Area prior to moving to NYC. When we moved to NYC, we were encouraged by everyone we met to explore New York’s diversity, especially the food. Queens was no exception. And so we went food chasing from Flushing, to Jackson Heights, to Astoria. Even today we continue to be amazed by Queens’ evolving food culture.

P&K – Well, we really love ice cream. I mean, who doesn’t? It’s one of those American pastimes that you get to enjoy as a child all the way to adulthood. When we first began making our crazy flavors at home, we really wanted to put a fine dining element to our ice cream. We wanted to push the boundaries of flavor and create the sense of eating a plated dessert that you would normally see at a Michelin-starred restaurant. It was our goal to share our inventions with the rest of the world and we’ve always had a dream of starting our own business. Why not a business based off of our eating passion?! And so, Ice & Vice was born. The name of our little ice cream pop-up is a nod to cold indulgence, and also a reflection of our personalities. Our vices are typically what drive the inspiration for our flavors, as you can probably guess from our flavor names.

P&K – Southern Belle (graham crust ice cream folded with a juniper lemon curd) has been the summer chart topper. Pork Your Melons (honeydew ice cream folded with prosciutto chips and a white balsamic vinegar reduction) and Figgin’ Toasted (toasted baguette ice cream folded with a fig & goat cheese jam) have also been seasonal favorites. Aside from the fact that we use 16% butterfat and very little air in our ice cream, our flavors are not typical.  Each flavor is also meant to evoke feelings of a certain place that’s often nostalgic and meaningful for people.  For example, the Southern Belle flavor, inspired by the South – lemon bars, gin – evokes thoughts and memories people have of this particular region. You definitely won’t find the typical vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry in our flavor repertoire.

P&K – We have a lot of exciting things in the works! We are currently working on several collaborations with local restaurants and vendors and plan to expand in to restaurant wholesale. Working with local restaurants adds another dimension to our creative process when designing ice cream flavors. One of our collaborations thus far has been with Coffeed in Long Island City. We created a special dark roast coffee ice cream using their coffee beans they roast on-site.Winter is approaching, but that won’t stop us, and we have a few secrets up our sleeves! We’ll be making warmer desserts based off of our ice cream, and that’s as much as we’ll say!

P&K – We heart Astoria and Queens for its diversity and its pride in diversity. In no other borough can you experience so many different cultures and be so inspired. It’s definitely in a class of its own. Queens is also an emerging food hub and so ready for food to be taken to the next level. Queens is tomorrow, Brooklyn is yesterday. Did we also mention that Queens have overhead trains?