Diamond Dish: OddFellows Ice Cream Co.

Address: 4 New York City Locations: Williamsburg | DUMBO | Nolita | East Village

Signature Dish: Unique Ice Cream Flavors

At OddFellows you can feed both your sweet tooth and your curiosity. With an archive of over 400 ice cream flavors amassed during five years in business – including prosciutto melon, foie gras and chorizo caramel swirl – OddFellows is known to get a bit funky.

But you don’t always have to go bold. The signature scoops, the whimsical and inventive creations of chef Sam Mason, are as delicious as they are different. Peanut butter and jelly, extra-virgin olive oil, banana puddin’, matcha passionfruit and sprinkles are a few of the most popular flavors.

Although, as the name implies, it’s a bit quirky, OddFellows does not create weird flavors just to be weird. Led by a chef’s perspective, the shops open their patron’s palates to possibilities that go beyond vanilla. And they make an awesome vanilla, too.

OddFellows produces its ice cream from scratch – all the way from scratch – starting with pasteurizing its own base. This allows “ultimate control over their flavors,” according to owner Mohan Kumar, and lends the best texture. Because it is made in small batches, the flavors rotate so often that store selections are never predictable.

Each location offers something a little different. There’s the classic parlor in Williamsburg, where it all began; the sandwich shop in the East Village, specializing in ice cream sandwiches; and the coffee and cream shop in Nolita, which features a menu of coffee and ice cream concoctions that takes caffeine cravings to the next level.

Its latest location opened in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood in fall 2018. In addition to the usual rotating ice cream flavors, soft serve and sundaes, it’s the first to have a happy hour. In true OddFellows fashion, that means beer and wine floats, slushies (freisling, anyone?) boozy milkshakes and a new carousel sundae featuring three scoops of ice cream and fixins on a spinning tray.

Pro Tip: Most of us don’t have the right tools or resources to attempt to recreate OddFellows ice cream, but you can easily make a spiked float, a la its DUMBO location. It’s a great pick-me-up, perfect for parties and barely boozy. Lambrusco (a sparkling red wine) and grape sorbet complement each other perfectly. Or look for beers with sweeter notes such as raspberry and pair them with a sorbet that matches.

For more AAA-approved signature dishes, visit AAA.com/DiamondDish.