At Arlington’s New City Microcreamery, maximum flavor on a walkable block – The Boston

The backstory: Co-owner Michael Kasseris grew up in Belmont in a restaurant family. His dad owned Theo’s Pizzeria, with locations sprinkled throughout the suburbs. He grew up eating ice cream at the late, great Bailey’s ice cream parlor on Leonard Street. He also has fond memories of going to the library on Arlington’s Mass Avenue strip, a few blocks from his newest business.

Kasseris first opened New City in Hudson, as a companion shop to his successful Rail Trail Flatbread Company. But, despite his family pizza chain, his parents weren’t eager for him to carry on the legacy.

“Often, with family businesses, you’re told: ‘This is your future.’ But, in my case, my parents were telling me to get an education and not do the food business, but I really loved it,” he says.

He did both, earning an MBA from Babson College and cementing a business plan: pizza and ice cream shops. Now, there are New City storefronts in Cambridge, Chestnut Hill, and Sudbury, along with the Hudson flagship and the brand-new Arlington location.

Kasseris chose the locations with a communal philosophy in mind.

“We’d like to be a third space for communities and families. Although it’d be cool to be in some hip, trendy neighborhoods someday, I think we consider places that have families, a neighborhood, dining, and walkability. They have some sort of an X factor,” he says.

What to eat: Scratch-made ice cream using dairy from Hadley’s Mapleline Farm, frozen in liquid nitrogen for extra-quick, smooth cooling. This results in a dense, almost chewy texture, which Kasseris calls “very New England.” To perfect his craft, Kasseris traveled around the world from San Francisco to Europe — “anywhere they were making interesting styles of ice cream” — for inspiration.

He also works with pastry chefs Tom Kepner and Alyssa Lieberman, both of whom experimented with liquid nitrogen and frozen emulsions at Craigie on Main.

As such, these flavors are imaginative: nutty baklava is a signature (and it really does taste like baklava, complete with flecks of phyllo dough); so are golden Dubai chocolate with a spicy caramel foundation and chunks of peppery pistachio, and my son’s personal favorite, salted cookies and cream with homemade Oreos coated in salted fudge.

There is also an array of classic flavors like chocolate and mint chip, plus a few vegan selections. Scoops are generous; a $4.75 kiddie cup weighed in like a small. Add your favorite “gravy” — “hawt” fudge, peanut butter, caramel, strawberry — for $2 more. Just one quibble: no small to-go tops for those who don’t want to linger in the teensy shop.

What to drink: There are floats and milkshakes (no frappes), plus seasonal specials like Dubai chocolate mocha and red velvet “hawt” chocolate.

The takeaway: An inventive ice cream parlor on a family-friendly block, with flavors that appeal to kids and adventurous adults.

New City Microcreamery, 311 Broadway, Arlington, www.newcitymicrocreamery.com

Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her @kcbaskin.