Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream was founded in 2008 in Brooklyn by Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen and Laura O’Neill, who started the company with yellow ice cream trucks in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Van Leeuwen formula, which uses egg yolks, cream, milk, and cane sugar in proportions that produce an exceptionally rich and dense ice cream, and which sources the flavorings from quality producers rather than artificial concentrations, established the brand in the American artisan ice cream category at a moment when the market was beginning to distinguish between the premium commercial brands and the genuinely craft approach.

The vegan ice cream program that Van Leeuwen has developed alongside its dairy program is among the most technically accomplished in the American market: the cashew milk base, which provides the fat content and the neutral flavor platform that the dairy program achieves with cream and egg yolk, allows the vegan ice cream to achieve a richness and a density that the coconut milk base that most vegan ice creams use cannot replicate. The result is a vegan ice cream that can be compared directly to the dairy product rather than evaluated on a separate scale for non-dairy alternatives.

The Prospect Street Georgetown location at 3245 is on the block between Brasserie Liberte and Cafe Milano, in the Georgetown fine dining cluster that has made Prospect Street one of the most concentrated restaurant addresses in the neighborhood. The ice cream shop at this address provides the dessert option that the Prospect Street dining customer can visit after dinner at one of the surrounding restaurants.

Hours run from noon most days and 11am on weekends. The Van Leeuwen expansion from Brooklyn street trucks to national retail stores has maintained the quality commitment that the company established with the original product: the ice cream is still made with the egg yolk custard base and the quality flavorings that the founders chose in 2008, which means the Georgetown Prospect Street customer is eating the same ice cream that the Brooklyn original customer ate from a yellow truck fifteen years ago. The vegan ice cream program that Van Leeuwen has developed is significant in the Georgetown market, where the demand for high-quality vegan food options has grown as the plant-based diet has moved from a niche choice to a mainstream dietary preference. The cashew milk vegan ice cream at Van Leeuwen that meets the same quality standard as the dairy product provides the Georgetown vegan customer with an option that does not require the compromise that most vegan ice cream demands. The Prospect Street address at 3245 gives Van Leeuwen access to the Prospect Street fine dining customer as a post-dinner dessert destination: the Georgetown customer who has finished dinner at Brasserie Liberte or Cafe Milano and wants a dessert from a dedicated dessert address finds Van Leeuwen in the same block. The seasonal and novelty flavors that Van Leeuwen produces, including the much-discussed macaroni and cheese ice cream that the brand introduced, demonstrate the creative range that the ice cream format allows. Hours run from noon most days and 11am weekends.