By Robin Moyer Chung

WESTPORT — Perhaps you saw Anne Hathaway and her lover indulging on a pastel pint of Van Leeuwen, or VL,  in “The Idea of You” (rumor has it, she insisted it be VL). 

Perhaps you love Real Housewives and can’t wait to dig into the Salt Lake City franchise’s VL violet-hued collab, featuring salt, lavender and caramel flavors.

Not since Ben & Jerry’s has an ice cream been so hot.

Starting at noon Thursday, you can experience the “cashmere of ice creams” when Van Leeuwen opens its latest scoop shop at 31 Church Lane.

Always made with natural ingredients sourced from all over the world, with charm, wit and cold, hard creativity. 

Despite the “Wait, what?” line-up of fabulous flavors, their most popular remains their first: vanilla.

But there’s so much more to choose from VL’s bountiful menu of flavors, which includes ice cream bars and sandwiches.

Consider, for instance, a blue-and-white whimsical swirl of ice cream cake (again, all natural), a rich dip of brown sugar cookie dough brownie and seasonal scoops such as the gorgeous strawberry matcha latte. 

This doesn’t include mentions of “Wait, this is vegan?” options that range from chocolate chip cookie dough to vanilla wildberry swirl bars.

The point of VL is great ice cream, yes, but more important: Happiness. The devil-may-care attitude of eating a fabulous frozen treat, even in February. The excitement of a thrill distilled into a cone or paper bowl of decadence.  

Which is what Ben Van Leeuwen and his brother, Pete, felt 20 years ago when they hawked frozen desserts from a Good Humor truck. The truck was successful. The ice cream was good. So how successful would it be if the ice cream was really, really good?

With a stash of cash earned from the truck, Ben backpacked around Asia and Europe and realized that — holy cow — good food is accessible everywhere! 

Then paused, and thought, “I’m good at selling ice cream,” so why not sell the best ice cream possible? 

He asked Pete and his then-girlfriend Laura O’Neill if they’d ride along for a great ice-cream-sold-in-a-yellow-truck adventure.

They said, “Sure.”

Fast forward to today to their newest spot in their ice cream empire in downtown Westport, Ben is distracted. He’s been perfecting VL for years now. The counter isn’t perfect, the seats aren’t perfect. “Not everything’s perfect,” he admits. 

Ben, the ice cream is. Everything else is just sprinkles.

As an opening day treat, the new Van Leeuwen shop will offer $1 scoops from 3-5 p.m. Thursday and free totes to the first 100 customers beginning at 3 p.m.

Van Leeuwen, 31 Church Lane, will be open daily; opening day hours are noon to 11 p.m. Thursday. Orders also can be placed for takeout or delivery. Call 718-701-1630.

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Robin Moyer Chung is a freelance writer.