SADLY, DENNY’S DELIGHT IS NOW CLOSED.
I find myself on Coney Island so rarely (in fact, I’ve only been three times in the nine years I’ve lived in New York) that I feel I need to take full advantage of the journey and explore and taste as much as I can. No, I didn’t ride the Cyclone. I know this sounds like an excuse, but I had a stiff neck the evening we were there and based on all the painful stories I’ve heard about the old wooden roller coaster, I decided to sit that one out.
We did go to Totonno’s for some classic coal-oven pizza and we walked along the Boardwalk, boarded the Wonder Wheel, and watched some summertime fireworks. And since I was out here, I figured I should try to find some New York ice cream. The only place that had a rating on yelp and sounded mildly interesting was Denny’s Delight.
We left the newly designed (yet still with that old scuzzy Coney Island feeling) Luna Park for a moment to find the soft serve. It was crammed among hot dog shops and bumper cars. And it sold everything from funnel cakes to candy apples. As soon as I spotted it, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. This is over-priced typical carnival style soft serve. But it’s exactly what I wanted to wash down the smell of popcorn and cotton candy.
The cone was $3 and a tiny portion at that. I chose a mix of vanilla and chocolate, even though they offered banana and pistachio. I just wasn’t feeling that exotic today (not that those are exotic flavors). This is Coney Island. It made me feel young and a bit naive. It harkened back to a time before I knew of corn ice cream or bacon bit toppings. When ice cream was chocolate and vanilla and strawberry if you were lucky.
The ice cream was successful at being soft and creamy. I was a bit disappointed they didn’t offer the swirl option. To me, there’s nothing better than eating the two flavors and trying to figure out how they’re perfectly swirled and seeing if you can eat one flavor without the other. Does anybody have any idea what the hell I’m talking about?
Regardless, this was just vanilla on top of chocolate. The chocolate was rich and sweet, while the vanilla tasted a bit generic. I imagine they were from a mix, but that’s what I expect from soft serve. It’s fun to eat and the flavors are familiar and the texture is what this stuff is all about. It really is a perfect cap to a night at Coney Island. It fits the prices of everything else and is just as strangely satisfying.
Is Denny’s Delight the best ice cream in NY? It’s fine for what it is, so a 6 out of 10 because I wouldn’t want anything more after a Nathan’s hot dog and a painful roller coaster ride.
