HungryHamptons: Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe (Riverhead, NY)

The Gluttoness — July 17, 2009

There are several hidden gems on Eastern Long Island worth bragging about, one prime example being Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe, a roadside ice cream shop in Riverhead, NY, which has been open for business since the 1950s. It’s a great pit-stop en route to the Hamptons and a fantastic rainy day destination if you’re out there already.

Restaurant: Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe (view site)
Address: 1148 West Main Street (Route 25) (view map)
AlwaysHungry Grade: A
AlwaysHungry Recommends: Peconic Swamp Thing, Sorbets

Snowflake is everything you’d expect from a mom and pop roadside ice cream parlor that first opened in 1953. The small space on Route 25 with the giant swirled cone atop it, was purchased in 1987 by Carolyn and Stewart Feldschuh from its original owners, Herb and Joan Kunitz. The ice cream is homemade, and the soft sorbet may be the closest thing to authentic water ice you can find in New York.

 

Creamsicle and Black Raspberry Sorbet

As for the ice cream, it’s rich and creamy, and comes in about 30 fabulous different flavors. Aside from standard favorites like Mint Chocolate Chip, Strawberry, Cookies and Cream, and Maple Walnut, there are more interesting flavors like: Banana Split and Peanut Butter Cup. The owners’ favorites are Carolyn’s Peconic Swamp Thing: chocolate ice cream, raspberry fudge and brownies, and the Cherry Pistachio, which Stewart Feldschuh is responsible for. It’s a lime green pistachio ice cream riddled with black cherries, an homage to Mr. Feldschuh’s favorite childhood dessert at a local Chinese restaurant in Long Beach, NY, where he grew up. The perfect bite is at the bottom of the cup where the pistachio and cherry flavors eventually meld together.

 

Cherry Pistachio and Peconic Swamp Thing Ice Cream

Snowflake also offers a flavor of the week. For example, on the Fourth of July it was Red, White & Blueberry. You can send ice cream flavor suggestions to Snowflake by e-mail if you hope to have them turn your dream dessert into a reality. If there were to be a “The Gluttoness” flavor it would include: strawberry ice cream with real strawberries, crushed Butterfinger and a butterscotch swirl.