So this is a new one.
The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck:
Bet that got your attention, didn't it?
Love it or leave it, the inviting and peaceful Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, among the bustling crowds, frazzled commuters, and punky Union Square skater kids, will undoubtedly catch your eye. Walk by the rainbow-swirled ice cream-adorned banner on this happy ice cream truck parked on 17th and Broadway/Union Square West, and it'll surely bring a big gay smile to your big gay face.
The brains behind this joy ride is Doug Quint. Professionally, he's a classically trained bassoonist. But since his day job is mostly seasonal (orchestras are on break during the summer), he decided to start the truck, his pride and joy, not only as a way to perhaps supplement his income, but just to have a gay 'ole time during his spare summer time. Not surprisingly, it's attracted scoops of attention, from passersby, ice cream lovers, foodies (see: toppings), the gay community, and the press. In fact, people have been so swiftly sweetening up to this treasure trove--err, truck--that it recently received a Vendy Dessert Award nomination!
Doug calls his menu "metrosexual" because it's the toppings that really blur the line between dessert-appropriate and not. You should know by now from my posts that I'm very much into the savory invading the sweet, so I'm checking the box of dessert-appropriate.
Toppings change daily and are available on the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck's twitter page. When I recently visited, the toppings were: olive oil and sea salt, crushed espresso malt balls, dulce de leche, nilla wafers, and wasabi pea dust (below). Their "cartwheel special", i.e. ice cream sandwich, was nutella.
Because it's essentially a regular ice cream truck (but with gay fixins'), it serves the usual chocolate and vanilla flavors and other dippings as bases for Doug's creative toppings. I'm not very excited by plain chocolate soft serve, and I'm not a fan of vanilla, so I picked the topping first. Of course, I opted for the olive oil and sea salt (I'm a big, big fan of the sea salt + whatever-sweet-dessert-you-think-will-compliment-it combination). Doug told me, as I unfortunately assumed, that vanilla would be the only flavor that would be palatable with olive oil and sea salt. AND, to top it off, I was denied a crunchy compliment to the smooth soft serve - aka a cone (you know me and textures) because Doug warned me that the olive oil would drip if served on a cone.
So, I got vanilla ice cream with olive oil and sea salt in a cup (tempting picture below). The vanilla soft serve, as I already knew, wasn't anything special: I didn't even like it that much, really: too sweet. (That's how I feel about vanilla fro yo: it tastes sweet to me and nothing else. No flavor to the sweetness; just sweet--it's like BLAND sweetness). BUT, I did enjoy the olive oil and sea salt toppings. It was a fun way to balance out the extreme sweetness. A lot of people will not enjoy/appreciate this, but I'm already a fan of the sea salt and dessert combo because I have a savory tooth, so I was a fan of this. The picture looks like there are meager drippings of olive oil, but, as you should know, a little bit of olive oil goes a long way -- especially with something thin and not-so-solid like fro yo. It was just enough sea salt and olive oil to compliment the sweet soft serve without making it overpowering.
All in all, it was a fun experience. Would I go again? Maybe. I mean, quality eats isn't why you go here. But if I do go back, it will not be because I left thinking longingly about my ice cream. I wasn't eating gourmet treats à la olive oil gelato at Batali's Otto. Admittedly, there are so many great ice cream places around the Union Square area (Sundaes and Cones, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck, Stogo, and 16 Handles for a similar fro yo crave-satisfier) that serve higher quality ice cream than Doug's. Rather, if I do go back, I will revisit because it's something new, fun, and unique and because I appreciate Doug, a very friendly and outgoing man, for doing something different and really embracing (taking pride in!) the concept (he even has t-shirts for sale!). It's things like the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck that keep the beats of Union Square going and constantly progressing.
Go eat your big gay heart out. You know you want to.
Be happy and Carpe Diem!
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