NYT names best ice cream in NYC

The New York Times added a new entry to its 2026 New York dining coverage on August 4 with a citywide ice cream guide by Mahira Rivers. The article was published under the headline “The 18 Best Ice Cream Shops in New York City Right Now,” according to the Times listing. Rivers is identified there as a New York Times contributing restaurant critic and the writer of the dessert-focused “Sweet City” newsletter. ### What exactly did The Times publish? The August 4 piece was a standalone service guide focused on ice cream in New York City rather than a restaurant ranking or a summer trend story. The Times preview line described the framing in simple terms: “Fro-yo comes and goes, but ice cream is forever,” and the article was presented as a current list of the city’s best shops. (nytimes.com) Mahira Rivers’ byline matters because the Times listing identifies her specifically as a contributing restaurant critic with a dessert beat. That positions the guide as part of the paper’s broader dining coverage, but with a narrower focus on sweets and neighborhood-specific destination picks. ### Why is this showing up now in the middle of summer? (nytimes.com) August 4 is also when New York food lists are circulating more broadly across outlets, with editors packaging seasonal dining recommendations for late-summer readers. Time Out, for example, updated its own New York ice cream guide in late July, underscoring how dessert coverage is competing for attention during peak warm-weather demand. (nytimes.com) The Times’ guide lands alongside other 2026 New York dining list-making. Brooklyn Bridge Parents on August 4 published a separate item summarizing the Times’ Top 100 New York City restaurants list and noted that no Brooklyn restaurant made that ranking’s top 10. ### How does this fit into the Times’ broader New York dining coverage? (timeout.com) Brooklyn Bridge Parents said the Times’ Top 100 restaurants list was presented as a survey of the city’s “culinary greatness, across boroughs, cuisines, price points and styles.” That description, while referring to the restaurant ranking rather than the ice cream story, shows the Times continuing to publish borough-spanning dining guides in 2026. (brooklynbridgeparents.com) The ice cream guide appears to follow that same citywide service model, but applied to dessert. The available Times listing confirms the piece is framed as a “right now” guide, suggesting a current snapshot rather than a permanent canon. ### What do we know about Mahira Rivers’ role here? The New York Times listing names Mahira Rivers as both a contributing restaurant critic and the writer of “Sweet City,” a dessert-focused newsletter. (brooklynbridgeparents.com) That is the clearest indicator that the paper assigned the story through a writer with a specific sweets brief rather than a general restaurant critic. (nytimes.com) That specialization is notable because New York’s ice cream market spans legacy parlors, newer gelato counters and multi-location brands. Other current guides from Time Out and The Infatuation also treat the category as a distinct editorial lane rather than a small part of restaurant coverage. ### Where can readers find the guide, and what comes next? (nytimes.com) The New York Times guide is live on NYTimes.com under the dining section and was published on August 4, 2026. The article’s headline and byline were visible in Times search results on Wednesday, August 5. August 16 is the scheduled end date for NYC Restaurant Week 2026, according to Brooklyn Bridge Parents, giving New York diners another active food-calendar marker as summer dining coverage continues across the city. (timeout.com) (brooklynbridgeparents.com) (nytimes.com)