Best Ice Cream Spots in the U.S.
Seattle: Molly Moon Ice Cream
Must have: Stumptown Coffee
Molly Moon Neitzel uses mostly local fruit to flavor her ice creams—the farthest south she goes for fruit is Napa Valley for blood oranges. And it's not just the customers who are happy here: Employees get free health care, paid leave and living wages.
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Santa Monica: Sweet Rose Creamery
Must have: Strawberry
Ingredients come from the local farmers' market, one of the best in the country.
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Santa Barbara: McConnell's
Must have: Churros con Leche
This parlor pasteurizes its own milk and cream to make a rich, thick custard base. They have a location in L.A., too!
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Seattle: Lick Pure Cream
Must have: Orchard Peach
Inventive flavors like the malty M2 (the owner won't reveal what's in it) fill the Lickwich, made with grilled doughnut halves.
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Portland, OR: Salt & Straw
Must have: Arbequina Olive Oil
Famous for its collaborations with chefs as well as sweet-savory combos like Fish Sauce Caramel with Palm Sugar.
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Bainbridge Island, WA: Mora Iced Creamery
Must have: Swiss Chocolate ice cream
A Bainbridge Island favorite owned and operated by two Argentinean expats; the superb ice cream, made in small batches, comes in flavors like Dulce de Leche and Gianduja.
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San Rafael, CA: Three Twins Organic Ice Cream
Must have: Strawberry Je Ne Sais Quoi (strawberry ice cream with a splash of balsamic vinegar)
Owner and former Peace Corps volunteer Neal Gottlieb puts a big emphasis on sustainability: The ingredients for his ice cream are local; all bowls, spoons and napkins are compostable; and the shop's emissions are offset with renewable energy certificates.
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Sebastopol, CA: Screamin' Mimi's
Must have: English Toffee ice cream and a handmade waffle cone
“The ice cream has great flavor and mouthfeel, and a large flavor selection that changes with the season. It always reminds me of childhood trips to the ice cream shop,” says 2012 F&W Best New Pastry Chef Devin McDavid, of San Francisco’s Quince restaurant.
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Portland, OR: Cool Moon Ice Cream
Must have: Wicked Chocolate ice cream
Among the local ingredients used at this Pearl District shop: Oregon bing cherries for its Bing Cherry Almond Chip and hazelnut butter and toasted hazelnuts from orchards 20 miles away for its Willamette Valley Hazelnut.
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Honolulu: Bubbie's Ice Cream
Must have: Green Tea mochi ice cream
One fan of Keith Robbins' bite-size mochi (ice cream wrapped in a sweetened rice confection) is superchef Nobu Matsuhisa. bubbiesicecream.com
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San Francisco: Bi-Rite Creamery
Must have: Salted Caramel or Black Sesame with Sonoma Honey
Almost everything at this excellent ice cream shop is made from scratch, including the marshmallows for the Rocky Road. Marin County's Straus Family Creamery, the first certified-organic dairy in the West, supplies all of the milk and cream for Bi-Rite's ice creams.
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Houston: Fat Cat Creamery
Must have: Milk Chocolate Stout
Nearby Barry Farm provides figs, citrus and other ingredients.
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Austin: Amy's Ice Cream
Must have: Mexican Vanilla ice cream
As well known for its scoop-throwing employees as its ice cream. Amy's offers more than 300 flavors on a rotating basis, including the Shiner Bock, made with the iconic Texan beer of the same name.
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Phoenix, AZ: Churn
Must have: Vietnamese Coffee
This shop has a retro vibe--check out the nostalgic ice cream cookie sandwiches.
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Austin: Lick Honest Ice Creams
Must have: Dewberry Corn Cobbler
Everything from the sauces to the marshmallow is made in house.
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Berkeley, CA: Ici Ice Cream
Must have: House-made ice cream cones
Mary Canales, a former pastry chef at Berkeley's illustrious Chez Panisse, is now famous in her own right for phenomenal ice creams in flavors like brandied cherry and rose.
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Ohio: Graeter's
Must have: Buckeye Chocolate Chip
Graeter's ice cream, made just two gallons at a time, is slowly swirled and folded into itself in a French Pot so no air gets whipped in. The technique makes for an extra-dense and creamy ice cream—each pint weighs almost a pound. This state icon also ships its rich, custard-style ice cream.
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Denver: Sweet Action Ice Cream
Must have: Baklava ice cream
The constantly changing, inspired flavors at this 100 percent wind-powered ice cream shop include Oatmeal Stout and Strawberry Balsamic.
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Kansas City, MO: Glacé Artisan Ice Cream
Must have: Goat Cheese and Honey ice cream
Christopher Elbow is just as boundary-pushing with his ice creams, in flavors like Salted Pretzel and Persian Spice, as he is with his stellar artisan chocolates.
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Columbus, OH: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams
Must have: Salty Caramel ice cream
Jeni Britton Bauer creates some of the country's best ice creams, sorbets and frozen yogurts in imaginative flavor combinations like Ylang Ylang and fennel.
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Minneapolis, MN: Pumphouse Creamery
Must have: Door County Cherry
The locavore spot--even the waffle cones are made with Minnesota grains--also sells great dairy-free coconut milk ice cream. Barb Zapzalka's exceptional ice cream is made with organic milk and cream from a small dairy farm in Wisconsin.
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Minneapolis: Izzy's Ice Cream
Must have: The Signature "Izzy Scoop"
“It’s a tiny top hat-like scoop of ice cream that you can order on top of any cone, giving you the joy of two flavors in a much more manageable format than a classic double scoop,” says 2012 F&W Best New Pastry Chef Stella Parks, of Table Three Ten in Lexington, Kentucky. “Plus, it looks adorably jaunty.”
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Missoula, MT: Big Dipper Ice Cream
Must have: Huckleberry ice cream (made with local berries)
The inspired flavors range from El Salvador Coffee to Honey Porter.
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Traverse City, MI: Moomers Homemade Ice Cream
Must have: Black Cherry ice cream
The hands-down favorite of locals. This family-run parlor is on a dairy farm--the deck offers views of grazing cows.
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Greenfield, WI: Kopp's Frozen Custard
Must have: Sprecher Root Beer Float
Frozen custard, like Kopp's, has less air than most ice creams, so its smoother.
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Chicago: Margie's Candies
Must have: Banana Split
“I rather enjoy a butterscotch sundae with vanilla ice cream but they have much more than that,” says Bryce Caron, a 2012 F&W Best New Pastry Chef. “The sandwiches are delicious. Margie’s is the kind of place you visit to forget the fact that you live in a major urban environment. Just grab a club sandwich and a banana split and call it a day.”
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Scottsdale, AZ: Sweet Republic
Must have: Cheese Course Duo (blue cheese with Arizona Medjool dates)
This two-year-old shop prides itself on using exceptional ingredients, from milk and cream from local dairy farms to single-origin, fair-trade coffee beans for its espresso flavor.
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St. Louis, MO: Ted Drewes Frozen Custard
Must have: Terramizzou
The "concretes" (frozen custard blended with mix-ins) inspired those at Shake Shack.
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Bar Harbor, ME: Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream
Must have: Butterscotch Miso
Ice cream artisan Linda Parker shows her local pride, as when she adds Maine sea salt to caramel ice cream.
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Brooklyn: Blue Marble
Signature Item: Strawberry ice cream
Started by two best friends, it excels at old school favorites. All the ice creams here are certified organic from the milk to the fruit blended in.
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NYC: OddFellows
Signature Item: Buttermilk Honey Blueberry
Known for over-the-top ice cream sandwiches called OddPockets, made with warm and buttery brioche bread.