Not long after, it was followed by a Hugo Ortega-created flavor-Horchata Dulce de Leche Swirl- for the opening of the Uptown Park shop in August 2021. Van Leeuwen partnered with Houston’s Yellow Rose Distilling for a Yellow Rose Bourbon Pecan Pie ice cream when it opened its Rice Village location, and tapped local artist Donkeeboy to create a live mural at the grand opening celebration. Each time the brand opens a new shop in a city, it creates an exclusive scoop, highlighting a local producer or flavor-an easy task for Houston’s locations. To better blend into Houston’s fabric, Van Leeuwen has brought some of the city’s most famous food personalities into the fold. When Ben first visited the city in May 2020, one thing became immediately clear: “People like food here, and they have very good taste.” The Van Leeuwen team learned more about one of the biggest and most diverse cities in the U.S., and was attracted to its booming, ever-evolving energy, particularly in the food scene. Houston was an obvious choice for expansion. “We’re going into these new markets because we really, really like them.” “We want the new markets we go into to really understand that we’re not just throwing stores into a new market in an unthoughtful way,” Ben said. Houston was its first foray into Texas, starting with the Rice Village location that opened in May 2021.īut how does a New York-based brand integrate itself into a place that doesn’t really pay mind to the trends up north? It’s simple, Ben says: You spend a lot of time getting to know that place and its producers, chefs and people over weeks before opening. Now, 14 years later, the company has scoop shops in New York, New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Connecticut and Texas. It was certainly different from the strawberry shortcake bars he and Pete were slinging from Good Humor trucks during summers in Connecticut growing up. Along with co-founder Laura O’Neill, they began selling to the streets of New York, touting a product “with no unnecessary ingredients,” Ben said. And to commemorate the opening of its first location last May, Van Leeuwen offered scoops of its Yellow Rose Bourbon Pecan Pie ice cream, made with the Bayou City’s own Yellow Rose Distilling.Van Leeuwen started in 2008 in New York City with just one truck-a 1988 mail truck that co-founder and CEO Ben Van Leeuwen and his brother, Pete Van Leeuwen, found on eBay, painted yellow and converted to an ice cream truck. Xochi and Backstreet Cafe’s chef Hugo Ortega helped craft the Horchata Dulce de Leche Swirl for the Uptown Park location - a sweet and creamy combination of cinnamon sourced from Vietnam and a dulce de leche swirl. This isn’t the first time the shop has partnered with a Houston chef to create a local flavor.

The new flavor will be served at Ha’s restaurants and, for a limited time, at Van Leeuwen’s Montrose location.

Inspired by the Vietnamese chef’s favorite childhood snack of Laughing Cow cheese and banana slices, the ice cream contains a rich gouda and mascarpone cheese base blended with banana jam and loaded with milk chocolate chips - creating a flavor comparable to a banana chocolate cheesecake, according to a release. Reminiscent of a fancy chocolate chip ice cream, Van Leeuwen’s winter flavor Fior De Latte Chip uses coconut oil in its chocolate to create a quicker melt-in-your-mouth effect.

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