Food Truck of the Week: Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

On a day when I failed to make ginger ice cream, twice, how fitting to write about the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream truck.

I see this truck almost daily on my walk home from school. Long before I stopped, I noticed it. The Van Leeuwen truck is the color of a French vanilla ice cream cone. The menu features botanical drawings alongside its list of flavors. Is the name Dutch? Is it Belgian? I don't know, but the European charm of it all drew me in one afternoon.

Ice cream on a hot summer day is never a bad idea. And a cone from the Van Leeuwen truck is a downright excellent notion. Peter (my constant street food sampling companion) and I tried the Earl Grey and Ginger ice creams. Earl Grey tasted like a strong, but milky, cup of tea. The sugar was minimal, so I could really taste the hints of orange and spice from the bergamot tea leaves. In between licks, I couldn't help myself, I kept reaching for Peter's Ginger cone. Creamy white with a clean, bright pop of ginger, his ice cream was sweeter than mine. This Ginger was a gentler kind than I'm used to, soft rather than sassy.  

Ice cream, as I learned today, is not so easy to make (separated cream does not a smooth ice cream make; I'll spare you the details). All the better reason to be on the look out for the vanilla yelllow ice cream truck.

Like so many food trucks, you can find Van Leeuwen's latest location on Twitter: @VLAIC