Ice Cream Social Of Commack Brings 'Chef's Touch' To 'Unique Flavors'

COMMACK, NY — Ice Cream Social has been open in Commack for more than five years. Since then, chef Rob McCue has designed approximately 140 flavors of ice cream — not counting dozens of vegan counterparts — while displaying 45 of them at once.

McCue and his wife, Christine, are constantly coming up with new flavor ideas, as well.

"I feel like sometimes they come to me in my sleep," McCue told Patch. "It’s a sad life. Sometimes, my best ideas for flavors come in that way."

While McCue "unfortunately" still has to make the basics like vanilla, chocolate, and cookie dough, that hasn't stopped him from experimenting.

It's no secret that fall is pumpkin flavor season. McCue's foray into the pumpkin fad includes a few flavors: pumpkin Oreo, pumpkin sticky bun and pumpkin pie, which the chef said tastes "like you're literally eating a pumpkin pie." His other fall seasonal flavors include apple cider donut and Coco Almond Joy.

He's also veered into the territory of savory ice creams — a flavor profile one does not normally associate with the frozen delight.

McCue designed a pecan maple bacon ice cream, where he candies bacon and pecan and swirls it into a maple-flavored ice cream. He has a brunch flavor with French toast and bacon. And over the summer, he made "Prosciutto e Melone," an ice cream with melon and prosciutto.

McCue said it's "great" being creative with ice cream while still doing a lot of "chef work."

"Ice cream is a great vessel to deliver sweet and savory. I sometimes do some unique flavors that are chef-driven from my experience in the kitchen. I’ll say, 'Oh, I wonder how that would work in ice cream.' It definitely comes to me. I’m definitely able to craft unique flavors and come up with some different stuff."

McCue cooks most of his own ice cream mix-ins. He bakes his own crumb cake or donuts and creates his own wild Maine blueberry purees.

He said most ice cream places "just buy that stuff," which is what he feels elevates Ice Cream Social over other ice creameries.

"It’s the touch of a chef that I think elevates our ice cream," he said. "It’s all the unique flavor combinations we put together. All the baking of the ingredients we put into the ice creams. I use a really high-quality cream. I put a chef’s touch on it, and I think it comes through in what we do."

McCue draws a lot of influence from his wife, Christine, who is a master cake designer and art teacher. He called her creativity "amazing." Christine helped design the logo and name of the store. The couple creates roughly 60 cakes a month with Christine leading the charge. Her artistic touch led to the layout and design of Ice Cream Social.

"You should’ve seen it when I first bought it," McCue said. "It was horrible. It was one of those kinds of places that was run into the ground for a long time. It took me a few years to get to the point where we could renovate it. [Christine's] artistic capabilities are insane ... It definitely holds me to a high standard with the ice cream we put out."

Christine influences the color combinations and swirls of the ice creams.

"Her influence is amazing with that," McCue said.

The McCues took over Granny's Ice Cream in July 2018. The 1153 Jericho Turnpike space has since been theirs.

The customers who come in, McCue said, are his favorite part of owning Ice Cream Social.

"Everyone really appreciates what we do," he said. "It’s a lot of work. A lot of people don’t realize that with homemade ice cream. They think of Hershey’s or all these other companies that just mass produce their ice cream. When you get a homemade shop like we have and you’re actually making every individual flavor, it’s a lot of work. It’s rewarding when people come in and react to that. They recognize how hard it is, and they recognize the flavors that come out of what we do in this little place, and they’re really appreciative of it."