Luca & Bosco Ice Cream

The ice cream here is good; rich, creamy and full of flavor. They have a mix of basic and fun flavors. We ordered two scoops: honey lavender and chocolate brownie. Both very good.
This stand is inside the grocery store. They have a couple tables where you can stay and eat.
This place is stroller/​wheelchair friendly.
They sell ice cream, so obviously kid friendly.
The guy working when we visited was very friendly and welcomed us to sample flavors. Also, he was generous with the scoops.

What? How? Why? Closed? Where?! Opening up next — because they just have to be. the ice cream was THAT good!

So this location at cross section of chambers and Broadway does not exist… there is an Essex street location and also one in east Harlem. The websites are a bit vague about address but they do list it on Instagram and Twitter accounts.

What do I think? I think Luca & Bosco should be located all over the world like Haagen Daz. The honey lavender is divine… my husband really enjoyed the lemon olive oil — of course he is Greek. so predictable. It’s just rich. but not too rich or too sweet. You can tell the ice cream is made with quality.

I had the drunk and salty with bourbon, was excellent and you could taste the bourbon.

Found Luca’s on Unilocal and decided to try it out. Had the drunken salted caramel & my sister had the cinnamon ricotta and both were awesome. I actually liked that this was inside the Essex market so we were able to walk around and look at stuff. Will definitely go back!

I get why this place has a 5 out of 5 right now because it is really, really good. I don’t like ice cream with alcohol in it and so did not order any of the boozy flavors and I still found this to be easily some of the better ice cream in the entire city.
I don’t think this is the best ice cream in the city period but with the absolutely outstanding toppings and the quality of the product, it is easily on par with some of the big dogs like M’O, Morgenstern’s, Odd Fellows, and Davey’s.
These toppings include stuff like butter crunch toffee, candied pecans, walnuts, cereal marshmallows, hot fudge, and many many others that I can’t remember now.
But the star really is the ice cream and it was indeed amazing. I went with the Brown Sugar Molasses and the house Vanilla and both were exceptional. I ordered mine covered in fudge, which they warm up for each order, and candied pecans. I also like that the ice cream here doesn’t taste ridiculously fatty.
I think they actually outshine so many other current ice cream places because they hold back a bit on the milk-​fat in order to make the various flavors stand out. Speaking of flavors, I also tried the honey lavender, which was awesome.
It is too bad this place doesn’t have a brick and mortar and is instead off to the left side of the Essex Street Market. They are pretty excellent and I really do plan to come back soon.

First off to the complainers, Boozy ice cream is supposed to melt fast… it has booze in it. And if you are complaining about portion, go to baskin Robbins for manufactured alcohol free crap.
This was some of the best homemade icecream/​gelato ever. Please mix the salty caramel Boozy one with the chocolate whiskey one. Good lord. I almost dropped the cup. Delicious and oh so wrong. Plus the worker guy was super nice.

Things to know before coming: this is not an ice cream parlor — it’s an ice cream stand inside a supermarket. This may or may not matter to you; it did to my friends and me since we planned to stick around and eat our ice cream there.
The flavor options look super intriguing — I wanted to try about a dozen of them, but felt bad asking to sample them all — so I just tasted the cinnamon ricotta and called it good. It was super delicious. My friends tried the drunk and salty caramel and the vanilla and enjoyed them as well. They sell by the pint, which I was tempted by, except that it was a bazillion degrees outside and it probably would’ve turned into ice cream soup by the time I got home (and honestly, it’s probably for the best not to have this ice cream accessible to me at home.)
Guy working there was also really nice. I’d come back!

Delicious, high quality ice cream in a tiny stand in Essex market! We tried the 3 scoops for under $ 7, and the $ 5 molasses brownie ice cream sandwich.
The ice cream sandwich has been talked about in the NY Times, but was a little too syrupy for our liking. We tried 3 other flavors: blueberry cheesecake, double chocolate, and vanilla toffee. Each flavor was delicate, creamy, and exactly how small batch Ice cream should taste.
Price is a little high. Also, I may have sensitive taste buds, but the wooden spoon had its own distinct flavor that sometimes complicated the taste of the ice cream. Weird, I know. Maybe a plastic spoon would be better, or this specific wooden spoon just threw it off. Overall, would definitely return!

It’s a small cart right in front of the entrance to Essex Street Market. Got a scoop of the Vanilla Toffee for $ 3.75 and loved it. Lots of generous chunks of toffee. I also tried my boyfriend’s scoop of half Drunk & Salty Caramel and half Goat Cheese Chocolate (?). They were both really flavorful but in an appropriate for ice cream way.
But… I just think the location is really sad, so it’s not really a destination to sit down and have some ice cream. I wouldn’t go there again. Essex Street Market is not what it once was. We went on a Sunday afternoon and most of the stalls were closed. I hope they get some new digs soon!

3.5 stars…
Luca & Bosco is a simple tiny ice cream cart inside of the Essex St Market. The options for ice cream and toppings are extremely limited but do change from time to time. If the rating was up to nothing but quality I would give them 5 stars, the ice cream was perfect. The texture, temperature, and flavors were amazing. I had two scoops, a salted caramel and a chocolate/​chocolate brownie. Unfortunately when all things are considered they aren’t a 5 star business, the portions were the smallest I’ve ever had for the money (almost $ 6) and not having any outdoor seating immediately nearby was a downer. The service and easy to get to location by the subway were good enough to have me round up to a 4 star rating though I really wish they weren’t so skimpy on the portions.

The brown sugar molasses ice cream. I’ve been thinking about it since I left. Although I will say it’s better to eat it alone than in ice cream sandwich form. The brownies — though delicious — are a bit too fudgy to provide for an optimal ice cream sandwich experience.

Closing September 2015:
Not sure what they did to piss off Unilocal (or maybe it’s just the ampersand) but
this place should have more business, especially because it’s so easy to duck in without navigating through Essex Street Market (not to say the rest of the vendors don’t deserve it too, but on an ice cream day, it’s the perfect distance off the street). 4.5 rounded up to keep the hot streak going for a small business that deserves it. Dropped $ 4.99 for a superb brown sugar molasses ice cream sandwiched between two brown butter brownies (tried caramel and coffee chicory too, which were both memorable). They hit up «the city’s specialty purveyors and industry experts to inspire their unique frozen treats, many from other vendors in the Essex Street Market (Ronnie Sue’s chocolate, goat cheese from Formaggio Essex)», so you can always expect an exciting flavor or 5 here.

Located in the northern most entrance of Essex Market — right in front of the doors when you walk in, is the famed Luca & Bosco Ice Cream with it’s glowing 5-​star rating. It’s $ 3.75 for a single scoop — you can choose two flavors if you’d like — this is plenty for a single person. Toppings and sauces are 50 cents each. There’s some seating behind L&B in between their booth and the little coffee booth behind, but there’s not much space.
I decided on the drunk and salty caramel, since it’s so popular, as well as the honey lavender without any sauces or toppings because I didn’t want to mask the flavors of the ice creams, and from the samples, they had enough flavor on their own.
Loved these — fresh, simple ingredients, and you could really taste the flavor of each ice cream. I also loved the saltiness in each of the ice creams — totally a fan of the salty/​sweet combination. You could really taste the «drunk» in the drunk and salty caramel and the lavender flavor really came out in the honey/​lavender. Really loved that the flavors were so intense. Pints are only $ 7.99! As another reviewer stated, this ice cream stays in its frozen state for plenty of time and doesn’t become «ice cream soup».
Oh, and they take all credit cards.

Essex Market has some real gems, and Luca & Bosco is one of the very best of these. This isn’t a big, loud store. Rather, it is a casual stall, almost like a pushcart. The lady working there was polite and warm. The goat cheese ice cream was an absolute delight! Savory and little sweet. There is a place to sit down close by.

A small shop in the corner of Essex Market — I would have missed it if not for my friend who passed by it earlier in the morning. We wanted to try the place after seeing it on the list of Ice Cream places in NY that is a MUST TRY. Needless to say, we were NOT disappointed. The server behind the counter was really nice in that she allowed me to try almost every flavor before I decided on getting a combination of goat cheese and chocolate fudge.
There are several other exotic and fun flavors which I will return to try eventually. It was a nice way to end the day.
DO – come here if you are a foodie and love trying new things. New flavors of ice cream!
DO NOT — come here if you are with a big group, there little to no seating. You can take it to go however :]

I’ve been on an ice cream craze as of late and was so excited to check out Luca and Bosco’s, esp. since this place has garnered a perfect rating. Well, I stopped by today and I honestly don’t think it lives up to the hype.
There was no one at the booth when I arrived and the couple in front of me had no idea what was up either. We checked the hours, which are very limited btw, and they were supposedly open. We waited a bit and she ended up coming back about 5 minutes later. It wasn’t a huge deal but a brb sign would be helpful.
On this day, there was a good mix of fun flavors to choose from such as sweet corn, drunk and salty caramel, caramelized banana and honey lavender. but also the classics such as cookies and cream, mint and coffee. Sweet corn sounded interesting so I asked for a sample and was immediately provided with one. The only bummer was that it was seriously miniscule — I tasted more of the bitter popsicle stick than the actual sample. Same deal for the sample that my little (big brothers, big sisters) asked for. Ah well.
I ended up blindly opting for a scoop of the drunk and salty caramel with candied pecans (free topping with check in!). The salty caramel flavor was very distinct and the candied pecans was a nice crunchy addition. This scoop was good but not amazing. The ice cream here is also much thinner than I like (thinner than Oddfellows) and much colder too, borderline icy.
The service was friendly and the price is a tad cheaper than other ice cream spots but this place definitely fell short for me. With Morgensterns, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and Van Leeuwen’s in the near vicinity (ok maybe not so near but so amazing), I’m not sure I’ll be making a repeat visit here.

One of the few places where the food matches the hype. Beautifully made ice cream with rotating flavors and plentiful portions.
Three scoop bowl: Caramelized Banana, Blueberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Brownie Chunk with pecan toppings ($ 7ish). Amazingly rich and creamy. There are only a handful times that food has made me openly sigh with satisfaction when I wasn’t starving. The ice cream here did just that.
Server lady was excellent and let me try a few things before I ordered. My only complaint is that the hours are ridiculously complicated. Really wish it would be open later.
This stop is just as good as Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, just with weirder hours.

Got a Unilocal newsletter about ice cream & this was on the list. So, what do I do? Make a pitstop at Luca & Bosco’s of course!
For those who don’t know how to find this place, it’s a small stand by one if the entrances to the Essex Street Market. Awesome locale for food shoppers!
I’m digging the fact that they are Really intense in their flavors. Loved the honey lavender and carmelized bananas. You can taste all the components, yet they’re well blended.
Friendly staff. +1 for that.
Not gonna lie, a cup is on the costly side though.

Happened upon this little show stopper on our way out of the Essex Street Market on the lower east side. We started sampling the ice creams to determine what we wanted. Naturally, I headed right for the boozy flavors. In my mind not much is better than liquor and chocolate. They go hand in hand. We ended up getting the Boozy & Sweet sundae. A combo of both drunken flavors with a generous topping of whipped cream, caramel and walnuts.
Fantastic little dessert top cap off a long day. Nothing better than well-​made, creative homemade ice cream!