NYC Desserts: Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

As the thermometer rose ever closer to 100 degrees during New York City's recent heat wave, my thoughts turned toward ice cream.

Specifically, my mouth started watering for the many flavors of soft serve offered in Japan. OK, I didn't much miss the black sesame, but I easily could've downed a vat of either green tea or purple yam soft serve. But a trip to Japan isn't in the works anytime soon, so what's a girl to do?

That's when I remembered the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. During my last week in New York, the gods had come together and deemed me worthy of a green tea ice cream cone.

By the time Edith and I arrived in Chinatown on my birthday, the sun had started to set. That was excellent timing: While the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is air conditioned, it has no seating and the aisle was only a bit wider than the stroller in which Edith sat.

Of course, I knew which flavor I wanted, but I also knew there were many others I wanted to try. Red bean! Lychee! But I limited myself to one sample: taro, a kind of root vegetable. Delicious, and if I hadn't already made up my mind, I might have gone for the full serving.

But green tea it was. I ordered one scoop for $3.99. Bonus: The one-scoop servings are actually two scoops. No complaints here.

I gingerly made my way outside, doing my best not to drip the quickly melting ice cream on the stroller. I'm normally the slowest eater in the world -- hey, I like to enjoy my food! -- but this went down the hatch fast so it wouldn't end up on the sidewalk. Better it enters my stomach at record speed than not at all.

Although the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory may be a tourist haven, it's one I highly recommend. Not everywhere in New York can you get such unusual (or what they call "regular"!) flavors of ice cream. Perfect for a hot day. Or really any day.