Business

Ginger, Black Sesame and Other Asian Accents at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

By Azure Gao
Spectrum staff

Tourist Chrissy Carroll, 51, strayed from her Weight Watchers routine—she’s dropped 35 pounds—after seeing a stranger savor some lychee-flavored frozen goodness from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

“I’m breaking my diet for this, but it’s completely worth it. I’m totally loving it. It’s so creamy,” Carroll said of the pistachio-flavored cold stuff she was devouring in that moment. “Ice cream from other Chinese restaurants is never this good.”

That’s the kind of compliment the family behind 28-year-old Chinatown Ice Cream Factory likes to hear. The shop boasts more than 50 flavors of ice cream, from plain vanilla to the more exotic ginger, red bean, black sesame and other ingredients long used in savory and sweet Chinese dishes.

“The quality of the ice cream is really what stands out for me,” said longtime customer Klaudia Suszczynska, whose favorite flavor is lychee rose. “Other places’ ice cream can be really icy, while this is so rich and flavorful. The taste is just so intense.”

In 1977, second-generation Chinese-American Philip Seid founded the company now managed by his daughter Christina Seid, who also blogs about the brand.

From the company’s narrow storefront on Bayard Street, near the Mott Street intersection, on any given day, customers can be seen sometimes standing shoulder-to-shoulder and in lines extending out the shop’s front door. Menus, clippings of newspaper and magazine reviews of the ice cream and awards from community groups are on the wall. Paper mache ice cream cones hang from the ceiling and, as the door opens and closes, flutter above the heads of customers placing their orders in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and other accents.

“The fact that we built this place and we’ve been around for generations makes this place so much more special,” said Kenneth Choi, 17, Christina Seid’s stepbrother. “If someone else took over the store we might not know what they’d create.”

He has worked at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory since he was 12 years old.

Employee Darius Li, 23, said the shop’s workers are close-knit. “We’re mostly based around family and family friends, so almost everyone who works here, we, like, know each other, and we’re close to each other,” Li said. “It makes time pass faster, and it makes it more fun.”

“When I work, I’m always laughing and smiling,” said Choi, adding that being part of the company has helped feed his cultural pride.

“I’ve been to plenty of ice cream shops around this neighborhood and I’ve never seen lychee or black sesame or green tea and the more Chinese flavors,” he said. “This neighborhood is becoming more American with more white people, so I’m proud to be known as one of the places that actually serves Chinese ice cream.”

“This place has been one of my go-to places for a long time,” said customer William Chu, who grew up eating Chinatown Ice Cream Factory’s ice cream and prefers its Oreo flavor. “It’s a landmark that represents Chinatown.”