The Chinatown Ice Cream Factory has been serving the area for decades

After sampling the lip-smacking range of culinary possibilities in Chinatown -- from trays of barbecue spare ribs to platters of dim sum delicacies -- New Yorkers looking for a refreshing conclusion to their meal head to a decades-old ice cream shop, a local destination spot specializing in scoops of creamy, homemade tastiness.

For more than 20 years, the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory on Bayard Street has served New York natives and tourists alike with melt-in-your-mouth ice creams and fruit-filled sorbets. The family-owned business, featured in the New York Times, the New York Post, the Discovery Channel, and Food Network, among others, serves cones and cups of American standbys like chocolate, coffee, Oreo cookie, and pistachio as well as more exotic, Asian-flavored creations -- red bean, green tea, and lychee -- all made right on the premises, gallon by sugary gallon.

Dessert lovers visiting the store enter a smallish room with white-tiled walls. On the right-hand side of the shop there are three refrigerated counters containing about 40 different types of cold, tempting ice creams -- like mint chip, butter pecan, and cherry vanilla -- and sorbets -- such as lemon, pineapple, and blueberry.

But it's the distinctive, Chinese-flavored ice creams offered on the menu -- ginger, taro, and almond cookie, for instance -- that attract most customers, according to owner Philip Seid.

Philip Seid, along with daughter Christina, serves scoops of frozen tastiness

Seid, along with his four brothers, started the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory in 1978. Raised in nearby Little Italy, the Seids -- children of Chinese immigrants -- believed that the lack of ice cream shops in the neighborhood offered a unique business opportunity.

"At that time, there was just one ice cream shop in Chinatown," says Seid, a spectacled, 54-year-old wearing a yellow T-shirt illustrated with the shop's logo: a grinning green dragon enjoying a scoop of the store's famous product. "We chose ice cream because we thought it was an operation we could handle. We felt we could do something like ice cream, and make a living from it."

The Seids decided to build their new venture downtown, just two blocks from where they grew up. Chinatown, with its cramped streets of mom-and-pop shops still appeals to Philip Seid today.

"It's not some Disney-like place, all planned by corporations," he says. "Like with Times Square, you have the Disney store and Planet Hollywood. It's like a big shopping mall. In Chinatown, you have more interchange of small little businesses, putting their two cents in. Maybe it's not so planned, maybe it's a little disorganized, but it's original."

After gutting and building the store themselves, the Seid brothers began experimenting with making ice cream, learning how to perfect batches of the frozen, sweet dessert.

"It was trial and error," says Seid. "We learned how to make the basic American flavors first. We improvised, looked at what flavors were popular. From there, we tried different flavors and kept the ones that worked."      

The Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is located on Bayard Street

"People like the real thing," he says. "If you ask for lychee, you want lychee, not just the flavor of lychee."

Still another reason for the ice cream shop's continued success, according to Seid, is that it's family owned. A new generation of Seids now also works at the store, pitching in to help serve cones ($2.50), milkshakes ($4), and ice-cream pies (about $25).         

"There are always one or two family members at the store, keeping an eye on what's going on," Seid says. "When you're directly involved, it's like the business is part of the family. You're so attached. You really do look after it."

In time for this summer, the Seids plan to unveil new flavors on their menu of ice creams, including sesame -- a recent request from patrons of the store.

"Customers make suggestions," Seid says. "If it seems like there is a market for it, we'll try it."

The Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Friday through Sunday. The store is located at 65 Bayard Street between Elizabeth and Mott Streets.

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