Everyone screams for ice cream! And for beer!
The owners of Brooklyn ice cream shop Oddfellows launched a new store in Dumbo last month that will soon serve wine and beer along with its vegan rum-raisin and malted-peanut ice cream. For now, the cold weather has not turned away any fans of the non-alcoholic frozen dessert, said one co-owner, and the spot has been busy scooping the oddball flavors the shop is known for.
“We’re taking a cue from where we are located,” said Mohan Kumar. “Opening an ice cream shop in the fall is always challenging, but there’s tons of tourists, the neighborhood response is great.”
The Water Street store’s menu features a Dumbo-inspired sundae named “The Carousel” after the neighborhood’s iconic landmark Jane’s Carousel: three scoops of ice cream served alongside colorful toppings, including sprinkles, cornflakes, chocolate fudge, caramel sauce, and maraschino cherries, all on a gold spinning tray as a nod to the merry-go-round just steps away, said Kumar.
“It’s a stone’s throw away from our new shop — the perfect concept,” he said.
The shop will soon offer a brand new boozy menu, with beer, wine, and innovative concoctions that mix both — or other low-proof beverages — with ice cream, said Kumar.
“We’re coming up with a lot of new and exciting things,” he said. “We’re sourcing wine from all over, natural wines. We’re just really excited to have beer and wine at as high of a standard as we do our ice cream — and pretty cool milkshakes too, White Russian milkshakes.”
The Dumbo location is still waiting for its license from the state liquor authority, but Kumar anticipates pouring boozy shakes within the next two weeks.
Oddfellows also plans to move production from its Kent Avenue storefront in Williamsburg to a large in-the-works factory in Bushwick early next year, where it will open a new soda fountain that will pour a full selection of booze, said Kumar.
“In Bushwick, next door to our factory, we’ll have a soda fountain with beer, wine, and liquor,” he said. “We will do our take on the soda fountain as a general theme, but also doing a full menu with cocktails and drinks.”
Kumar and his partners say that expanding to a third storefront in Kings County and launching a brand new menu is just the beginning.
“The sky’s the limit,” said Kumar.
Oddfellows Dumbo (60 Water St. between Dock and Main streets in Dumbo, www.oddfe
