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Frozen sweets date back to ancient China, when the wealthy first mixed fruit juice and snow. You won't catch anything that lo-fi at any of these ice cream shops; crafting America's favorite cold dessert has come a long way. To succeed now, you have to deliver when it comes to the standard flavors (vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) and really wow the critics with left-of-center, often savory flavors (more than one shop on this list puts bacon in their product).
From coast to coast we looked for the greatest, the shops that pull out all the stops to hit you with memorable portions, unforgettable flavors, and tastes that linger in your memory long after you've finished your waffle cone. These are the 25 Best Ice Cream Shops in the U.S.
Jaxson's Ice Cream parlor
Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor
CITY: Dania Beach, Fla.
ADDRESS: 128 South Federal Highway
WEBSITE: jaxsonsicecream.com
At any ice cream parlor you can get a large cup of ice cream; but we’re sure that’s nothing compared to the kitchen sink size at Jaxon’s. You can bring your giant sweet tooth there and have a long-lasting brain freeze after. Don’t worry, you’ll be back to normal once you get outside into that Florida heat.
Young's Jersey Dairy
Young's Jersey Dairy
CITY: Yellow Springs, Ohio
ADDRESS: 6880 Springfield Xenia Rd.
WEBSITE: youngsdairy.com
Graeter's
Graeter's Ice Cream
CITY: Stores in Ohio and Kentucky
ADDRESS: Various (see website)
WEBSITE: graeters.com
Graeter’s has been around since 1870. In over 100 years they’ve mastered the game enough to realize that some people are lazy and don’t want to leave their couch. If you fit that description, order your ice cream online, and Graeter’s will ship out your favorite flavor via UPS. It doesn’t require much energy to sign for your frozen ice cream at the door but we recommend visiting their shop if you could use the exercise.
Bubbbies
Bubbies
CITY: Stores in Hawaii
ADDRESS: Various (see website)
WEBSITE: bubbiesicecream.gourmetfoodmall.com
Usually you grab a pint-sized mochi (rice cake) to cleanse your palette after demolishing a massive amount of sushi, but what about an ice cream filled rice cake? Bubbies combines both the traditional American dessert and rice flour paste into one desert your taste buds won't forget. Try their Green Tea, Lychee, or Chocolate Mochi filled with mint, vanilla, or espresso for certain bliss.
Morelli
Morelli's Gourmet Ice Cream
CITY: Atlanta
ADDRESS: 749 Moreland Ave. Southeast
WEBSITE: morellisicecream.com
It’s no surprise that gourmet ice cream done Southern style gives you specialty flavors like Coconut Jalapeno and Maple Bacon Brittle. At Morelli’s, they definitely went into the lab and came back with some genius product. We recommend you try the Ginger Lavender and Salted Caramel flavors. If you’re not into that, it’s cool; they also have traditional flavors.
Humphry
Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream
CITY: San Francisco
ADDRESS: 2790 Harrison St.
WEBSITE: humphryslocombe.com
Have you ever had bourbon with your corn flakes? Supposedly that’s what’s in the secret breakfast flavor ice cream that’s a hit at Humphry Slocombe. Don’t tell anyone that we told you. They also have a try-before-you-buy policy, so you can have spoonfuls of heaven in your mouth before you get the real deal. The shop has a reputation for being packed, but this is worth the wait. Booze for breakfast x dessert for breakfast. Yes.
Herell's
Herell's
CITY: Stores in Massachusetts and New York
ADDRESS: Various (see website)
WEBSITE: herrells.com
Steve Herell is an ice cream O.G. He decided to open up a shop one day with 32 gallons of ice cream and his product went like hotcakes. He also invented the cookies 'n' cream ice cream. That's just something else he did.
And he didn't stop there—today, there are over 200 flavors in his shops. We invite you to try some. Please don't forget the hot fudge sauce.
Mt. Desert
Mount Desert Island Ice Cream
CITY: Bar Harbor, Maine
ADDRESS: 325 Main St.
WEBSITE: mdiic.com
If you're on a desert island in Maine, what's better than some ice cream? Mt. Desert has your favorite junk food flavored ice creams, with special Pop Tarts and Doritos varieties. They also have drink flavors and sorbets. Even President Obama came through and tried some Coconut.
Sweet Action
Sweet Action
CITY: Denver
ADDRESS: 52 Broadway
WEBSITE: sweetactionicecream.com
This ice cream spot sounds like something that should have made either our burlesque or strip clubs list. Since we've accepted that it's not, we'll tell you that Sweet Action specializes in Baklava, Oatmeal Stout, and Strawberry Balsamic ice cream. They also make vegan ice cream in case you don't fuck with ice cream milkily.
Pumphouse
Pumphouse Creamery
CITY: Minneapolis
ADDRESS: 4754 Chicago Ave.
WEBSITE: facebook.com/PumphouseCreamery
At Pumphouse Creamery they pride themselves on using organic products in their ice cream. The Sea Salt, Caramel and Praline Pecans ice cream flavor is always a crowd pleaser. They also have reasonably priced root beer floats and sundaes. Fist pump for Pumphouse.
Bi-Rite
Bi-Rite Creamery
CITY: San Francisco
ADDRESS: 3692 18th St.
WEBSITE: biritecreamery.com
No, it’s not a club, but standing in line at Bi-Rite is a given. From the ice cream to the marshmallows, almost everything in this local parlor is made from scratch. Try the local favorite, the Salted Caramel, or the newest addition to the menu, the Dainty Gentleman sundae—a layered concoction of Honey Lavender ice cream, chocolate syrup, orange olive oil and sea salt. How dainty is a gentleman supposed to be, exactly?
Creole
The Creole Creamery
CITY: New Orleans
ADDRESS: Various (see website)
WEBSITE: creolecreamery.com
Creole Creamery brings NO-styled spice to ice cream. Forget the traditional chocolate or vanilla flavors and get ballsy with a scoop of their Creole Cream made with curdled cream cheese. If you’re up for an ice cream challenge, the Tchoupitoulas is for you. Named after a street in New Orleans, Creole Creamery challenges ice cream fanatics to a finish a sundae as big as its name. If you’re able to finish a plate of eight large scoops, eight toppings, cherries, wafers, and whipped cream, you’ll be crowned a king and posted on their hall of fame plaque.
Angelo
Angelo Brocato's Italian Ice Cream
CITY: New Orleans
ADDRESS: 214 North Carrollton Ave.
WEBSITE: angelobrocatoicecream.com
Homer
Homer's Homemade Gourmet Ice Cream
CITY: Wilmette, Ill.
ADDRESS: 1237 Green Bay Rd.
WEBSITE: homersicecream.com
This spot near the shores of Lake Michigan has been serving ice cream for over 60 years, offering unique flavors like Sour Cream Cinnamon and Hawaiian Coffee. If the awards from magazines like Bon Appetit and Chicago Magazine don't thoroughly convince you of Homer's quality, we've got a name for you: Al Capone. The story goes that Capone used to stop in Wilmette on his way to and from his lake house in nearby Glencoe. Homer's didn't ship ice cream with dry ice at that time, so the notorious gangster was forced to stop in himself. He was supposedly very polite.
Grays
Gray's Ice Cream
CITY: Tiverton, R.I.
ADDRESS: 16 East Rd.
WEBSITE: graysicecream.com
Though Tiverton probably doesn't fall along the path of any upcoming road trips you might be planning, you should be ready to take a country detour for Gray's. Since 1923, when the family moved product out of their house, Gray's has been the last word on ice cream in Rhode Island. Try the Frozen Pudding. Just be prepared to wait in line.
Ici
Ici Ice Cream
CITY: Berkeley, Calif.
ADDRESS: 2948 College Ave.
WEBSITE: ici-icecream.com
Given the store's location, it's not surprising that Ici (pronounced ee see) stays locavore and organic. Pastry chef Mary Canales opened Ici in 2006, and ever since the shop has regularly been featured on Best Ice Cream Shop lists. Known for keeping things gourmet, Ici offers unusual flavors like Burn Caramel and Maple Bacon.
They're also widely recognized as having the ice cream cake game locked up, with the key nowhere in sight. Their “bombes,” as they call them, look like pieces of art and contain, typically, three flavors of ice cream on top of chiffon or chocolate cake. They also offer "Baked Alaska," a food item Ghostface Killa mentions that he never had growing up in the song "One" from his Supreme Clientele album. If only Shaolin had come to the land of Lil B.
Richardsons
Richardson's Ice Cream
CITY: Middleton, Mass.
ADDRESS: 156 South Main St.
WEBSITE: richardsonsicecream.com
It's not really fair to call Richardson's an ice cream shop. Sure, they do that really fucking well, but this place is also a full-fledged dairy farm, with 370 hormone-free cows. Their ice cream shop, which is on the grounds of the 300+ year-old farm, comes correct with the standard flavors, but we're salivating over the more imaginative offerings, like Crunch-a-saurus (blue vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered krispies). They also offer New England favorites like Frozen Pudding (rum-based ice cream with raisins, pineapples, Maraschino cherries, apples, and peaches) and Grapenut (a custard-based ice cream with Grape-Nuts). Thank you, Based God!
Toscanini
Toscanini's
CITY: Cambridge, Mass
ADDRESS: 899 Main St.
WEBSITE: tosci.com
When The New York Times dubs you the makers of "the best ice cream in the world," you can pretty much call it a day. What's left to do? Thankfully, the folks at Toscanini's did not choose to go out on top; they're still making ice cream for you. Though they step out with flavors like Bourbon Hazelnut and one treat that incorporates brown butter, brown sugar, and brownies, Toscanini's is known for making one of the greatest strawberry ice creams in the history of humans. Back in '09, Boston Magazine set out to find the finest strawberry out, and they did. At Toscanini's.
Amy
Amy's Ice Creams
CITY: Stores in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, Texas
ADDRESS: Various (see website)
WEBSITE: amysicecreams.com
This Texas-based ice cream shop does it big when it comes to options. Steadily rotating up to 300 different flavors, Amy's will encourage you to skip the basics and try one of the specialties, like Roasted Jalapeno, Maple Bacon, or Mexican Vanilla.
Booze it up and cool off by combining your love for beer and ice cream with a scoop of Shiner Bock, made with the locally brewed lager.
Sweet Republic
Sweet Republic
CITY: Scottsdale, Ariz.
ADDRESS: 9160 East Shea Blvd #105
WEBSITE: sweetrepublic.com
Right up there with acclaim from the Gray Lady is praise from the Food Network's Alton Brown, the off-kilter host of Good Eats. On the show Best Thing I Ever Ate, Brown went straight to Sweet Republic's Toffee Banofi, a special sundae with two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream topped with fresh bananas, toffee buttercrunch, salted butter caramel, and whipped cream.
They offer 24 different flavors daily, making them one of the hardest working shops out. in 2010, USA Today named them the best spot for ice cream in Arizona.
Jeni
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams
CITY: Columbus, Ohio
ADDRESS: Various (see website)
WEBSITE: jenisicecreams.com
Some fans might have trouble buying this, but ice cream is often best when it toys with less than sweet flavors. A little saltiness, a little spice, a little tang—these qualities make the palate pop in a way that cloying sweetness won't. Jeni's knows this, which explains flavors like Bangkok Peanut (an ice cream indebted to Pad Thai), Queen City Cayenne (a spicy take on chocolate), and Riesling Poached Pear (a dry, semi-sweet sorbet). To earn a top spot you've sometimes got to flip the script a little bit.
Molly
Molly Moon's Ice Cream
CITY: Seattle
ADDRESS: Various (see website)
WEBSITE: mollymoonicecream.com
If you're wondering, her parents were hippies—that's where the name comes from. Molly Moon Neitzel opened her first shop in 2008, and through a commitent to quality and ethical business practices, has expanded her business to four shops and a truck.
If you're looking to expand your horizons, check out the Balsamic Strawberry flavor. If you want to settle into a nice, deep food coma, proceed directly to the "Scout" Mint, which incorporates real Girl Scout cookies into the mix.
Leopolds
Leopold's Ice Cream
CITY: Savannah, Ga.
ADDRESS: 212 East Broughton St.
WEBSITE: leopoldsicecream.com
Not much for us to add here, really. Just a few months ago, the Toronto Sun called this shop one of the best in the world. The world.
For nearly 100 years, Leopold's has been satisfying taste buds and producing major Hollywood films. Yes, you're reading that correctly. Owner Stratton Leopold also produces big budget flicks, like Mission: Impossible III. When the ice cream is so good that it makes it hard to think, you wind up writing about strange tidbits like this.
Listen: we don't have the ability to convey how delicious Leopold's Strawberry Cheesecake is. Or any number of the flavors, really. Just get your ass to Savannah.
Chinatown
The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
CITY: New York
ADDRESS: 65 Bayard St.
WEBSITE: chinatownicecreamfactory.com
There is more than bootlegged merchandise and good Chinese food in Chinatown. There’s also good ice cream. The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory offers less than traditional options by using ingredients typically reserved for non-dessert cooking to spice up their menu. If you’re looking for out of the ordinary flavors, try their Black Sesame ice cream or Freshly Smashed Avocado. You’ll look at guacamole and sesame chicken in a different light.
Scoops
Scoops Westside
CITY: Los Angeles
ADDRESS: 3400 Overland Ave.
WEBSITE: facebook.com/pages/Scoops-Westside
Great ice cream shouldn't come this cheap. It isn't fair to the shops charging more for less that at Scoops the standard size is two scoops for $2.90. And what will you be getting for that chump change? Maybe Brown Bread (Grape-Nuts cereal, dulce de leche ice cream, and caramel). Maybe Black Sesame Banana. Maybe Yuzu Kool Aid (yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit similar to a grapefruit). Scoops is best because the shop keep things manageable, won't short you on portions, and just makes a damn good product.
They offer seven rotating flavors daily. Check their Twitter account for details.