One of the best things about spending a month in upstate New York comes in the form of a simple ice cream shop. In this case, that shop is called Holy Cow Ice Cream and it’s located at the end of a strip center in Red Hook, about 100 miles north of New York City.
The inside of the shop is very basic with a few freezer cases, a menu, and various ice cream machines, but no seating; that’s outside in the form of picnic tables. Offerings include hard ice cream, soft-serve, flavor burst (soft-serve with the gel flavor edges..), Razzles (think McFlurry or Blizzard), egg creams, floats, malts, milkshakes, and probably other things I’m forgetting.
black raspberry | mint chocolate chip | blueberry pie | coffee + fudge
99% of the time, I’ve gone with the hard ice cream. My favorite Holy Cow flavor is black raspberry, which was my first choice as I usually gravitate toward fruity flavors. Last year I discovered how awesome this one is with hot fudge! Our second visit was on a hot afternoon, so mint chocolate chip a great, refreshing choice. Probably their most unique ice cream flavor is blueberry pie: vanilla with blueberries and actual bits of pie crust. Tasty! Aside from the toppings, the odd flavor out here is coffee; it was the only one that I hadn’t tried last summer. While it was good, the coffee flavor could have been much stronger.
There are several more flavors that exceeded my number of visits this time around: Holy Cow (essentially moose tracks), chocolate peanut butter, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, butter pecan, and rainbow sherbet. Of these, I’ve only had the first!
For my last visit, I branched out from scoops and ordered a banana milkshake. It really tasted like a vanilla shake with banana bits, but I would choose that any day over a fake banana-flavored shake. (I’m looking at you, Steak and Shake.) Note: I had no problem finishing it…
Overall, if you’re not looking for artisanal ice cream with mind-blowing flavor combinations, Holy Cow is a solid choice. The best part of all is how CHEAP everything is! If you ever get the chance to go, it will likely be crowded. However, they keep the place well-staffed so even if there’s a long line, you’ll be out of there quickly!
Holy Cow Ice Cream
7270 S Broadway #1
Red Hook, NY
845-758-5959
Monday – Sunday, 11am – 10pm (open year round!)
bake me away! 
Yum! This summer has been the best for trying out the ice cream at the variety store down the street, and another place across town. Across town, hah, it’s like a mile away. But still:)
There are so many great names of things I’d like to try. Like the Dish of Dirt (it’ll be like elementary school all over again, I loved dirt pudding), and the Awful Awful (thick) milkshake. Yum yum yum!
What a lovely review of Holy Cow Ice Cream. Makes me wish that we had one around here.
These ice creams sounds amazing! I wish I would’ve known about Holy Cow when I was upstate last week.
I went to an ice cream shop in CB that had flavors that rival Lick’s, but the texture was weird. Each kind left a sort of waxy coating in your mouth. Theories?
Emma – The Awful Awful? bahaha, I want that!
Paula – Thanks! It’s kind of like an old-fashioned pharmacy/soda fountain…without the pharmacy.
Diana – If only I had posted this sooner!
Jill – Agh, I tried some Greek froyo recently with that exact same issue. (Jala, at the grocery store) Not sure why the yogurt is like that, but maybe the ice cream is super fatty?
I just remembered that the whipped cream at starbucks also coats your mouth like that. Is that really a fatty thing? Matt was wondering if it was a palm oil thing. Or something.
“Too much fat= a waxy mouthfeel.” Ah, that word. It’s from a Chowhound discussion on this very topic!
Thanks, you!
How fun! I love discovering tasty non-chain locations. The closest to that I can think of in Atlanta is Jake’s Ice Cream (with the famous flavor, “Chocolate Slap Yo Momma”), though I suppose it has multiple locations in GA. Glad you’re finding time between tickling the ivories (er, the string-instrument version thereof!) to consume delicious delicious sugar!
We had a meal with my husband’s cousin. Her husband made a homemade pie served with Holy Cow ice cream. Oh my gosh, it was the best ice cream we have ever had. O course the pie was amazing but we cannot stop thinking about the ice cream. I wish we could order it and have them sene it to us in Arizona. It was the best!