Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, the nationally beloved brand known for its made-from-scratch dairy and vegan ice creams, will open a scoop shop in Darien on Thursday, April 27.
— This article is based on an announcement from Van Leewen Ice Cream.
The store at Darien Commons will be the second location in Connecticut for the brand, whose co-founders Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen are Fairfield County natives
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, with made-from-scratch dairy and vegan ice creams, is opening its latest scoop shop location on Thursday at Darien Commons.
The Darien store is the brand’s second location in Connecticut, and follows on the heels of its Greenwich opening in October 2022, its first suburban scoop shop.
The launch also marks a return to its roots for co-founders Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen, Fairfield County natives whose ice cream journey began here 20 years ago.
Different Tastes for Limited Times
Van Leeuwen is known for creative seasonal and out-of-the-box limited-edition collaboration flavors such as Hidden Valley Ranch, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and BIGFACE Coffee Affogato in partnership with NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler.
The shop is offering quarterly seasonal specials, and its spring flavors — Malted Milkshake & Fries, All the Cookies, Vegan Planet Earth and Vegan Very Berry Sorbet — will be available until June 1.
Van Leeuwen has teamed up with local bakery Flour Water Salt Bread on a limited-edition doughnut ice cream sandwich — a first for the brand. Available exclusively at its Darien location, this is no ordinary doughnut: it’s a bomboloni (sometimes spelled “bombolini” and pronounced “bomb-bo-loni”): an Italian classic made with soft, buttery fried brioche dough. Guests can choose any scoop to complete their sandwich.
If You’re Stopping By …
Opening day hours on Thursday, April 27 are 12 noon to 10 p.m. In celebration of the opening, the shop will offer $1 scoops on opening day from 3 to 5 p.m.
Van Leeuwen’s Darien scoop shop is located at Darien Commons (114 Heights Road) and will be open daily. Guests can enjoy their treats at the scoop shop or order pints for takeout or delivery.
You can follow Van Leeuwen Ice Cream on Instagram (@vanleewenicecream) and visit its website.
Ben & Pete’s
Ben and Pete became ice cream entrepreneurs back in 2002, when they rented a Good Humor truck and drove it all around Greenwich for two summers.
With the money he made, Ben went backpacking around Asia and Europe, and found himself excited by the food he discovered — and that good food was more accessible in other parts of the world.
His travels inspired the idea for an ice cream truck serving good ice cream. Later they enlisted co-founder Laura O’Neill, and in 2008 Van Leeuwen was born in the form of a yellow scoop truck on the streets of New York City. Its French-style ice cream (made with more than double the amount of egg yolks as standard ice cream) gained a loyal following.
From the Van Leeuwen's website
Some of the flavors, clockwise from top left: Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake, Limited Edition Idaho Malted Milkshake & Fries, Black Cherry Chip, Cookies & Cream French Ice Cream, Marionberry Cheesecake French Ice Cream, and Brown Sugar Chunk with Cookie Dough, Brownies & Walnuts French Ice Cream.
The business has since expanded into storefronts in New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas, as well as grocery stores across the country, including Stop & Shop, Whole Foods and Palmer’s Market, according to the Van Leeuwen website.
Van Leeuwen has vegan options, made with simple recipes and choice ingredients. “It’s not ‘vegan ice cream,’ it’s good ice cream that happens to be vegan!” the company said in a news release.
The menu features more than 30 signature flavors including Honeycomb, Pistachio (made with Pistachios sourced from Mount Etna in Sicily), Marionberry Cheesecake (made with vine-ripened berries from Oregon farm partner Stahlbush Island Farms), Praline Butter Cake and Earl Grey Tea (made with Rishi Tea), in addition to sundaes, housemade waffle cones, ice cream sandwiches, root beer floats, milkshakes and pints to-go.
Popular vegan flavors made with oat and cashew milk, include Churros & Fudge, Peanut Butter Brownie Honeycomb, Strawberry Shortcake and more.
“We’re excited to grow our footprint in our home state with the opening of our store in Darien,” said Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder and CEO.
“It’s been so meaningful to see how warm the reception has been in Greenwich where Pete and I grew up, and we hope the community of Darien will be equally as excited for the good ice cream coming their way!”
FAQS
Selected from the FAQS page on the company website:
How do you pronounce Van Leeuwen?
Since we are in America “Van (like the car) Lou (like the name) Inn (like the hotel).” If we were in the Netherlands “Von (the Von Trapp Family) Lei (Like the Hawaiian flower necklace) Vin (Like French for wine).”
(Leeuwarden Road is pronounced “Lee-warden,” by the way.)
What sets Van Leeuwen’s vegan oat milk ice cream apart from the other ones?
As opposed to some oat milk ice creams that use diglycerides and guar gum, we believe that if it’s not in your vocabulary, it shouldn’t be in your ice cream. That’s why our vegan oat milk ice cream is made with only quality ingredients using only simple recipes. And made without any junk. No sirree. Not around here.
Does the yellow scoop truck still vend in New York City?
While we no longer vend out of a truck in NYC, you can find us at festivals and events. Our trucks are available to rent for private events, birthday parties, weddings, film sets, offices, you name it. If you’re interested in having the Van Leeuwen scoop truck at your event, please reach out to us. We still vend in Los Angeles on Abbot Kinney each week. Keep up with our instagram for the latest schedule.
Do you have gift cards?
We offer gift cards and e-gift cards, which can be purchased online or in our scoop shops, and can be redeemed in our scoop shops only.