The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck began rolling the streets of New York City in June 2009. Described by The Village Voice as “a cross between Mister Softee and Mario Batali” their menu combines traditional soft-serve ice cream with imaginative toppings such as wasabi pea dust, Nilla Wafers, Dulce de Leche, olive oil and sea salt, and other rotating offerings. These are dispensed the way ice cream should be — with humor and good cheer.
The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is the brainchild of Douglas Quint (a professional bassoonist) and his partner, Bryan Petroff. They are thrilled that their idea of pairing “plain-old soft serve” with fun, eclectic toppings, and then selling it with a smile, has sparked both happiness and satisfied palates.
The truck has been blessed with excellent mentions from The Daily News, New York Post, Time Out NY, NBC, ABC, Logo, Change.org, and both NPR and CBC. The New York Times sums up the truck as follows: “The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is manned by the charming Doug Quint, a bassoonist who Twitters, like a latter-day Pied Piper, his daily menu [and] location. [He] gives the same information on his website. Mr. Quint’s operation doesn’t aspire to be artisanal. He celebrates the Mister Softee tradition, with a wink.
But what would Mayor Bloomberg and Michelle Obama think? There has to be a South Park episode in this somewhere.
And why isn’t Mr. Quint aspiring to be artisanal? This seems like the perfect opportunity to bring some diversity to the ever-expanding artisnal sno-cone market that’s all the rage these days, according to the New York Times.
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