Sugar, not in a rush Ample Hills
Creamery, 305: Nevins St., Gowanus, and 623 Vanderbilt Ave., Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
The waiting game: The new Ample Hills flagship in Gowanus might be the biggest ice cream mecca in the city — and it also comes with some of the longest wait times. On weekday evenings, families form a line down the sidewalk.
Fast pass: During rush hours (8 to 11 pm), skip the line by grabbing a pint to go from the freezer. Try beating the dinner rush by going earlier in the evening, or get your sweet tooth on early: Both locations open at noon.
Frites for all
Home Frite french fry stand at Smorgasburg, locations vary; smorgasburg.com
The waiting game: Home Frite is the latest hit at the weekend foodie haven with Brooklynites waiting 20 minutes for a cone of hand-cut, skin-on, Belgian-style fries topped with thick salt crystals or truffle oil and served with a panoply of sauces, from curry ketchup to lemon garlic aioli.
Fast pass: The lines at the Saturday location in Williamsburg are less intense than the Sunday Smorgasburg at Brooklyn Bridge Park, or you can beat the rush by showing up at 11 a.m., when the gates at both locations open. Smorgasburg ends on Nov. 23.
Loony for Koons
Jeff Koons: A Retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Ave.
The waiting game: Art students and chic tourists line up for as long as 45 minutes in a queue that snakes around 75th Street and up Madison Avenue to see art featuring basketballs floating in water and inflatable bunnies.
Fast pass: Purchasing tickets ($20) in advance at whitney.org allows you to bypass the general line and only wait on the shorter will-call line. To cut to the front, consider a museum membership, starting at $85. The exhibit ends Oct. 19.
Meat-free madness
Revenge of Superiority Burger pop-up at the Cannibal, 113 E. 29th St.
The waiting game: Foodies, industry types and vegetarians lined up 45 minutes in advance last Sunday to get a taste of the veggie burger everyone’s talking about.
Fast pass: It’s cash-only, so hit the ATM on the way. And “Get there early,” says Sarah Cooper, 25, who recommends tracking pastry chef Brooks Headley’s Instagram account (@workingpastry) to find out about future Superiority Burger pop-ups.
The shuttle shuffle
You don’t get a tasty treat at the end of it, but another defining line of the summer is the one for the G train shuttle bus on Greenpoint Avenue.
As if the G train wasn’t enough of a joke already, the MTA suspended service north of Nassau Avenue for five weeks this summer, through Sept. 2. Thousands of Greenpoint residents are stuck fighting for space on shuttle buses every morning.
“On the weekends, I basically don’t leave [the neighborhood],” says Daniel Grippi, 25. “I’m showing up late maybe half the time now because I miss a bus.”