Who doesn’t love to eat food in a random house? No, seriously, Van Dyk’s is literally a little house off a busy avenue that they clearly did very little to in order to turn it into an ice cream counter. With one of the dinkiest and most awkwardly spaced parking lots I’ve experienced at an actual business in quite a while. All owing to its homemade qualities, I suppose. Though I imagine on a crowded day that this place is an absolute nightmare to get into and out of. How could it not be? But when your family wants ice cream, you give them ice cream. Lucky for us, they’d just opened for the season and the crowd just came down to one giant family milling around out front. It kind of makes me wonder how we basically got the last wonky-ass spot in the lot if there were no other customers?
The experience here can only be described as no-frills. The inside matches the outside. On this, our first visit, we kind of wandered in and were immediately a little confused by the setup. Again, it’s like they kind of jammed this business into a space rather than building a space to house a business. Which is fine, but there’s definitely that lsnack shack at the summer pool feel about the whole endeavor. Not the least of which is the teenage help, the general lack of fit and finish just about everywhere, the cash-only policy and the down-home, hand-created ice cream signs. It’s cute, but a little overwhelming if you’re not used to it. It was also a bit warm in there for a joint that depends on serving frozen desserts. Luckily, we were there alone (along with a couple flies), so we had the opportunity to take in the chaos of their ice cream menu.
Once we settled our senses and could focus on the flavors, it became evident that Van Dyk’s deal is on creating some fun and cool ice cream combos. But first we must talk about portion sizing. Something that has become an almost industry-wide thing. The ice cream industry, that is. I think it all revolved around the steep pricing increases over the past several years and their attempts to not seem like they’re completely fleecing their customers. So, a small (here a single scoop) is way bigger than it used to be. It’s like going to a Five Guys, ordering a regular fries and then they throw like another half-order in the bag just for the hell of it. Basically the old double scoop has become the new small / single scoop. And we wonder why America has an obesity problem. Though it is kind of the bizarro inverse of shrinkflation. It would be like the Coca-Cola Company telling consumers that they’re going to charge you triple for that can of Coke, but now the cans are 20 oz. instead of 12 oz. Or something.
Okay, putting aside my economics lesson and state-of-ice-cream 2026 lecture, Van Dyk’s ice cream is just fine. I got some cappuccino Oreo, which represents my oscillation between mint-flavored ice cream and coffee-flavored frozen dessert. I also enjoy anything with peanut butter, which they have several versions of. But on this day coffee seemed the thing. I got a single scoop for $6, which was plenty for a normal human man. Coffee can be tough. It can be overly bitter or weirdly sweet or oddly synthetic. I have no clue how they make this stuff — despite owning one of those ice cream machines that we used a lot when Hipster Jr. Jr. first got it, but have fallen off in the past couple years — but Van Dyk’s managed the flavor subtlety. It wasn’t overly coffee, nor was it devoid of that richness you want. The Oreos helped bolster some of the flavor with pops of sweet and chocolate. The ice cream itself doesn’t have a ton of personality in terms of its texture: neither overly creamy nor Bryers icy. Overall, a really decent scoop of ice cream, but not terribly memorable. The only thing I really recall is the sheer amount of ice cream in Hipster Jr. Jr.’s waffle cone. It looked like one of those cornucopia things, but instead of fruits and veggies, there was mint ice cream flowing out of it. It was kind of bonkers. But she wolfed it all down and reported that it was “good, but not the best.” Accurate, very accurate.
145 Ackerman Ave. – Ridgewood
201/444-1429
vandyksicecream.com
