Revisiting Big Gay Ice Cream

About a year ago, I visited Big Gay Ice Cream in Philadelphia. Maybe you remember that I wrote a review about it in a post called "Overrated?" I believe that I said something about this soft serve famous ice creamery was slightly better than McDonald's or some other standard soft serve chain. Well, I do still like soft serve. And the store front is one of the most adorable that I have ever seen. So, I went back, and I think I need to give my updated opinions and thoughts. So, review 2, here we go.

First off, I got the "Burnt." A somewhat questionable name just because you sound kinda stupid going up the cashier asking for "a burnt." Obviously I put my awkwardness aside and ordered a burnt in the middle of a technicolored, unicorn emblazoned store. I was intrigued by an ice cream sandwich with chocolate ice cream sandwiched between two cakey cookies, brushed with Sriracha and rolled in orange and red sprinkles. It was both sweet and savory. Confusing in the best way possible.

Now, I wish that I could say that I stopped there, but I needed to take advantage of a night out--I'm a bit of a recluse. Let me set the scene. There was a rainbow Golden Girls theme in the shop. Imagine an Andy Warhol style print of Estelle Getty and another on the opposite wall of Betty White. But we all know who the fearless Golden Girls leader was: Dorothy. Clearly, I had to order a soft serve cone called the Dorothy. It was vanilla soft serve cone injected with dulce de leche, coated in crushed vanilla wafers. It was delightful. It was sweet, but I did not feel overwhelmed, which is saying something since this was my second ice cream in a matter of minutes. It's no surprise that it tasted great, but the thing that set this ice cream apart from your standard McDonald's soft serve (which is what I think I likened this ice cream to last time), was the texture. I think I misjudged this ice cream because the heat of summer affected the texture. This soft serve was thicker and had more integrity than your standard machine mixed ice cream. This is going to sound silly, but my test was that when I licked the ice cream, it held its shape in large swoops, not melting and turning slightly milky like a standard soft serve.

I would also like to mention that I tried a bite of my friend's ice cream cone, the famed cheeto ice cream. It was the perfect combination of salty and sweet. Though it was covered in crushed cheetos and had cheetos blended into the ice cream base, it did not taste cheesy. It really was amazing!

I think I was a little too harsh on this famous NYC creamery the first time around. Now that I dispelled any preconceived notions, I was able to really taste the ice cream. And you know what? It really was the best soft serve I have ever had. The ambiance of the shop, the quality of the ice cream, and the creativity of the flavors made this spot well worth the price (and ride on public transportation to get there). And honestly, $5 is a steal for this ice cream.

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