The third East Coast outpost of the long-running, family-owned soft serve shop, Astoria’s Marvel Frozen Dairy is the Long Island-founded answer to Carvel. Known for their wide range of cream, yogurt, and vegan soft serves, Marvel’s rendition is pitch-perfect American boardwalk soft serve. It is light and marshmallowey, designed to be eaten quickly with their signature “bonnet” shell, heaped with sprinkles, chocolate chips, or — my favorite — a classic hot fudge sundae.

Soft serve and bubble tea are a match made in heaven. Creamy and chewy, this combination can be found in a number of boba shops across the city, but one of the best interpretations can be found at Xing Fu Tang. The warm, caramelized, brown sugar boba — made fresh daily — is Xing Fu Tang’s secret weapon. The shop creates an inverted hot fudge sundae in each cup, with the cool and very lightly sweetened cream soft serve giving way to the molasses-rich boba on the bottom.

Once the only place in NYC to get Victory Garden’s legendary goat milk soft serve, Chelsea Market’s Seed + Mill knows good frozen desserts. After Victory Garden’s owner retired and closed her business, Seed + Mill transitioned from goat milk to a vegan oat milk recipe for their signature tahini soft serve sundae. Topped with Seed + Mill’s imported halva and tahini drizzle, the sundae is a wonder: nutty, gooey, and yet not overwhelmingly sweet. Seed + Mill should be the first stop for Chelsea Market visitors looking for an irresistible treat.

An Alphabet City landmark since 1974, Ray’s Candy Store is a must-visit not only for its place in New York history and celebrity sightings (Kim! Kendall!) but for its wide array of desserts from egg creams to deep fried oreos. Chief among the sweets is Ray’s ice cream truck-style soft serve, with classic flavors ranging from chocolate vanilla twist to strawberry and pistachio. Each is great with a side of Belgian fries or beignets, and it’s worth the price of admission just to have a moment with owner Ray Alvarez.

Soho slice shop Upside serves soft serve at a separate kiosk, Soft Side, as well as with a machine inside of its Brooklyn pizzeria. Load up on pies and then cool down with something sweet.

Subtle is not an option at this shop, where the joy is in choosing from the staggering menu of cereals, toppings, and mix-in’s to blend in with vanilla or cookie dough soft serve flavors. The Chinatown-based Milk & Cream is also worth visiting for its off-the-wall collaborations and experiments, like a green Reptar ice cream bar in conjunction with Rugrats or an ice cream nugget with First We Feast. For the uninitiated, try the Apple Jacks Avalanche, a perfect homage to childhood memories.

Known for their soft serve menu studded with classic Asian ingredients like ube and matcha, as well as their eye-catching red waffle cones, Soft Swerve consistently delivers on their East and Southeast Asian flavors — not easy given the subtle ingredients, like purple yam, that are featured. Highlights from their rotation include a range of tea flavors, from Hong Kong milk tea to Thai iced tea, and their almond cookie. Order it with a shell and sprinkles to get the full soft serve experience. To date, they have four Manhattan locations with a first in Brooklyn coming soon.

Well known for its sourdough pizza, Williamsburg’s Leo is also home to some of the more interesting soft serves in the city. Not one to go the conventional route, in the past Leo’s has churned out melon sorbet, kabocha squash, and a salted caramel coconut swirl with sesame topping and olive oil drizzle.

A South Asian-rooted ice cream shop in Cobble Hill, Malai offers two rotating soft serve options —both dairy-free — that draw on regional flavors like pistachio, masala chai, and saffron. Malai’s soft serve offerings provide a wholly original spin on the classic American treat and are a great companion to their excellent ice cream menu.