Best ice cream you’ve ever had?

The ice cream I make at home from a cooked custard base is the best I've ever had.

Every city has a limited-ingredient, high-quality ice cream shop. Nothing to see here.

Jeni's in Columbus, OH. Roasted Peanut w/ Dark Chocolate.

But NOT the stuff you can buy in supermarkets. It tastes markedly different.

Minneapolis - Sebastian Joe's

Mashti Malone's in Hollywood has a salep based Persian ice cream that is rather amazing.

Edaleen Dairy ice cream in northwest Washington state.

When I traveled to the Midwest, I tried frozen custard, which is the best stuff

Baskin and Robbins

Italian gelato

R2, do you know any in NYC?

OP, which places in Ptown? I'm going there soon.

Pralines and Cream. I can't get it anymore. Haagen-Dazs stopped making it, and Baskin-Robbins decamped from my zip code.

“Crazy amount of places” OP? I can think of 3.

[quote]do you know any in NYC?

Emack & Bolio's, Amsterdam Ave. and W. 79th. They’re pretty good.

Starbuck's stopped producing their Coffee Almond Fudge Ice Cream. That stuff should have been illegal to produce, distribute, possess and ingest.

Coffee ice cream, of course, with ribbons of fudge and salted whole almonds enrobed in chocolate.

My arteries just hardened typing those words.

R11, in Ptown, there’s Lewis Brothers, The Nut House, Bliss, Purple Feather, Twisted

They’re ALL great

R13, see R16

There’s also that gelato place inside that food court in Ptown, Huge portions and delicious

Gelato from store vendors in Italian cities.

Smitten!!!!!!!!!!!!! Literally the creamiest ice cream you’ll ever taste, made fresh from scratch right in front of you — every single order is custom made, the menu varies daily.

Sanders Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

Trader drills double chocolate have had a lot of ice cream in my life I love it.

^^Trader-JOES

My grandmother's homemade peach ice cream

Salt and Straw in Portland, OR is a hometown favorite shop, but I've oddly enough never actually gone there—and I was raised in this town. The lines are insane. We have Tillamook brand ice cream here in stores which is made locally, and it's among the best ice creams I've had. I love their old-fashioned vanilla, and their espresso flavor. Umpqua, another Oregon brand, has the best peanut butter-chocolate ice cream I've ever had in my life.

You all type fat.

I am fat.

I type fatLY.

Or is it more like 'driving drunk'?

Beacon Drive-In in Victoria, BC. They have the best vanilla softserve ever made.

Carvel

All ice cream tastes alike to me.

The Big Gay Ice Cream Shop in the west village is fucking delicious. Ample Hills Creamerie, too.

Otherwise, some random gelato place on the amalfi coast blew my mind and tastebuds a few years ago.

Whoever said a cooked custard base.. is correct:) I love the creamy salty richness of it! We don’t add the left over whipped egg whites and it’s still delicious and a recipe from my great grandma

I have a double Cuisinart ice cream machine. The stuff I make at home is my favorite. I made "Cherry Garcia" last week,, vanilla bean with fresh cherries and chunks of dark chocolate. I still have some in the freezer.

r34 Does this recipe seem close to your Cherry Garcia recipe

Ample Hills in NYC. Insanely good.

It's close, R35, add some vanilla bean or vanilla extract and you're good to go.

The best soft serve I ever had was on the promenade adjacent to the Chateau Frontenac - texture, temperature, creaminess... It was truly amazing....

This place in Bloomfield, NJ.

Even Tony Soprano loved it.

pistacho with fudge

There used to be a place in Newport Mall over in Jersey City called Maggie Moo's. It was fucking awesome. Was surprised when it closed.

A Filipino offering called mais queso: made with cheddar cheese and corn kernels.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip from Graeter's in Cincinnati is the best there is.

[quote]Provincetown has a crazy number of amazing ice cream places, each selling home made ice cream.

It's illegal almost everywhere to sell anything that's "home made" in a restaurant. That's why you always see them use the term "house made." Most health departments required that food sold to the public be produced in commercial kitchens--never at home.

Commercial of me, I know, but Breyer's Heath.

Nothing by Breyer's can be best ice cream. A lot of their sweet chemicals can't even legally be called ice cream any more.

Luv-It Frozen Custard in Las Vegas. The neighborhood has definitely seen better days, but it's been in business for over 40 years for a reason. A single scoop of chocolate is utterly perfect and satisfying.

Richardson Farms in Massachusetts, various outlets

Giolitti Gelateria, Rome

Gelato made from ricotta with candied orange peel, Siena

Soy Creamy Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

[quote]Soy Creamy

ewwwwwwwwww

[Quote] It's illegal almost everywhere to sell anything that's "home made" in a restaurant.

We all know it’s not made in anyone’s home. The term home made now means made by the people selling it.

Clotted cream in england

Henry’s in Plano, Texas. Amazing

Leopold's in Savannah.

I’m in the camp that believes gelato is better than ice cream. That said, the New City Microcreamy in Hudson, MA is really good.

I love the

FAT WHORES REJOICE! flavor.

For commercially made, I like Chapmans. Not sure if you have it in the US.

"When I traveled to the Midwest, I tried frozen custard, which is the best stuff."

Ever try Ted Drews in St. Louis? Nothing better on a hot summer day than a dinner of BBQ pork steaks basted with Maull's BBQ sauce, home fries and corn-on-the-cob cooked on the grill, and sweet iced tea to drink. Then get into the car and head for the Chippewa Street location of Ted Drew's.

Even better was Velvet Freeze with their delicious ice cream, malts and shakes, but unfortunately they're RIP.

Any town in Italy. Great tasting gelato. I would eat it after lunch and dinner.

Trader Joe's Coffee Bean Blast is the bomb.

The ice cream we made on my grandmothers porch when I was about 10, in an old wooden and metal bucket with a crank, my job was turning the crank.

The peppermint stick ice cream at Howard Johnson's. RIP.

Anything from the ice cream truck every summer!

[quote]Whoever said a cooked custard base.. is correct:)

They would be more-so correct if they called it a Creme Anglaise.

I don't know if it was the best ever but before so much nuclear bomb testing in the 60's we had a family tradition of making snow ice cream from the first major snow fall each winter, we stopped because of the radiation but I probably ate a ton of air pollution. I don't remember what my mother put into the snow to get ice cream but the memory was great, probably better than the ice cream. The memory was the ice cream tasted great.

I've been to Richardson's in Middleton MA. My dad used to like it there because they had a flavor called Indian Pudding which was actually frozen custard. I'm going to go there next time I'm in Massachusetts and try it, it was his favorite flavor, and really an old Yankee type of thing. They may not even make it anymore.

Mitchell's in Cleveland. Terrific stuff.

OP types fat.

I had a white chocolate ice-cream in Rome years ago that I remember to this day... BUT you have to like white chocolate.

I also went to a place in London last year - some sort of salted caramel thingy, that was powerful.

R61 =>

Hmhmmmm!

A simple custard base with a chocolate ganache and shaved white truffles, artisinal caramel and pink salt, served in a simple terra cotta bowl with panna cotta and organic gooseberries. This was at an out of the way small town in Tuscany.

No, it wasn't. I was just trying to be more pretentious than the rest of you.

Taste in Nevada City, CA. Love their Bing Cherry flavor!

If I possessed an ice cream machine I would go nuts!

I love Graeter’s too R43. I prefer a pint of their cherry chocolate. But the raspberry one is good too. I’ve run across it at Ralph’s in Los Angeles. Limited flavors though.

They only send about half their flavors to supermarkets, r75. When I go to a Graeter's shop, I always get something I can't get at the store. Last night, it was Oregon Strawberry and Dutch Milk Chocolate with hot fudge.

I will never buy Tillamook ice cream ever again. It's way too thick and has an artificial taste to it. And they sure skimp on the mix-ins. I bought their caramel toffee ice cream and the toffee bits were as rare as hen's teeth.

Like r1 said, homemade. I’ve got a phenomenal recipe which I won’t share here, but nothing beats it.

There used to be a an ice cream shop on St. Marks Place called “Pravinie” and I used to like theirs a lot.

Now we have this Van Leeuwen stuff which is all artisanal and supposedly, the $7 cone is worth it. I got a pint at our Whole Foods and it sucked donkey balls. Indistinguishable in every way.

I like McConnell’s. I think they’re out of Santa Barbara. Love the Eureka Lemon and Marionberries flavor!

[quote]I like McConnell’s. I think they’re out of Santa Barbara.

No, they are IN Santa Barbara.

Thanks for suggesting to add the vanilla to the Cherry Garcia R34 I made it and it’s delicious and if anyone else makes it try to shave the dark chocolate. I used semisweet. I grew up with an old hand crank and we all had to have a turn at the crank. I am very fortunate to have many happy childhood memories

Toscanini’s in Cambridge, Ma, near MIT.

McConnell's. Made in Santa Barbara. They used to sell it in LA, but I haven't seen it in a while.

R11 My go to place in Ptwon is I Dream of Gelato on Commercial St (#205) it's really good. I've tried the other places, Ben & Jerry's meh and some of the others but it's the best one to me.

Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia

Bumpy cake ice cream by Stroh’s!

r78 Why won’t you share your homemade recipe? You remind me of the girl in junior hill who wouldn’t tell us where she bought her cool folder. If your a chef at a restaurant then I apologize ahead of time

Giapo in Auckland. As recommended by Cher. Amazing.

I saw an ice cream store advertising a flavor called "Candy Store Floor." Evocative and disgusting at the same time.

I knew a girl who ate gelato. But then she died.

My fave ever is Mitchell's in Cleveland their banana cream pie ice cream and key lime is superb.

Other contenders: ample hill the gooey butter cake, Brinkley's in Narragansett and Jeni's (from Ohio but I tried it in Charleston). A cantaloupe gelato on the promenade in Sliema Malta has been a fond memory since I had it in the 90s.

The black licorice ice cream at Morgensterns on the Lower East Side.

Best enjoyed as an “affogato” - with a shot of espresso splashed over it.

All of them.

Ben and Jerrys Half Baked or the Millionaire's Shortbread ice cream at Fugtastic in Covent Garden.

Jeni's was the most disappointing ice cream in the entire history of Me + Ice Cream 4evah (36 years). It tasted like cornstarch. And sure enough, don't you know, it has cornstarch in it.

Eddie’s Sweet Shop in Forest Hills, NY.

R87, I’m not a chef. It’s not as if everyone’s going to rush out and make it, so.

It’s an old church lady recipe, and like the commenter upthread, we used to make it with an old churn with the rock salt and ice. It’s old-fashioned and sophisticated at the same time. No one can ever guess what’s in it.

Mr Whippy. I'm easily pleased.

For the NYers asking earlier, I was dragged to one of these shops by a friend from LA, where they have also opened stores in the last few years. They are especially known for their vegan ice creams. Their branding of the containers has a lovely vintage feel and wonderful use of colors.

We started Van Leeuwen Ice Cream in the Spring of 2008 out of a buttery yellow truck on the streets of NYC. We set out to revive the classic American ice cream truck and the art of traditional ice cream making using ingredients perfected by nature, not science. Van Leeuwen Classic and Vegan ice creams are made with just a handful of fresh ingredients. Each flavor is a celebration of some of the world’s best artisan producers and farmers both local and from around the world.

We make all our ice cream from scratch in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The Classic scoops are crafted with nothing more than fresh milk and cream, cane sugar, and egg yolks. The Vegan scoops are made with housemade cashew milk, organic coconut milk, organic extra virgin coconut oil, organic cane sugar, pure cocoa butter, and organic carob bean. Both recipes result in rich, decadent, naturally perfect ice cream.

What began in the kitchen of our shared Brooklyn apartment back in 2007 has grown into a mini ice cream empire with stores and trucks in NYC and LA, and pints in grocery stores. Our dedication to quality is tireless and we are constantly developing and perfecting our recipes. In June 2015, we released “The Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Cookbook”, sharing over 100 vegan and classic recipes along with stories from the past decade.

R99, I am the one who wrote about Van Leeuwen. Maybe the pints they sell at Whole Foods are different than the batches they sell in their store. It’s great that they have vegan flavors, and it’s very smart to offer them.

But the pint I bought at WF sat in the freezer. It was chocolate chip cookie dough flavor and it was a total dud. The “cookie dough” bits were few and far between and the ice cream itself was bland and not creamy. If someone told me it was Breyers, I’d believe it. Maybe there are other flavors that are better, but I’m not wasting my money to find out. It was especially disappointing because I wanted to like it.

I’ve had Jeni’s Brambleberry Crisp. It was wonderful! But it’s pretty expensive here. I think it’s around 10 bucks a pint.

It's $10/pint anywhere.

I'll be the third one to mention Mitchell's in Cleveland - and also The Honey Hut - as the name implies, the ice cream is sweetened with honey - their butter pecan is sublime, as is the black cherry...

Where’s the honey hut? Is it in ohio?

I googled and found the honey hut.. maybe I’ll check it out in my trip back east

Hand’s down, the absolute best is Lappert’s - but it’s at Poipu, Kaua’i Hawai’i.

I’ve never had ice cream this good anywhere in the world.

[QUOTE] Clotted cream in england

Clotted cream isn't ice cream, you major spaz.

United Dairy Farmer makes the best shaved chocolate chip flavors

R12 Be sure to try Häagen-Dazs Bourbon Praline Pecan. It is amazing! I swear to G-d it tastes like there's booze in there. My new favourite that's fairly easy to come by.

Herrell's of blessed memory in Harvard Square - the best banana ice cream, bar none, in the world - with dark, dark, dark hot fudge sauce. It was a bank before it was an ice cream shop and you could sit down to eat in the vault after a long wait in line to order.

Otherwise, I make my own: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and peach in season, frozen pudding, and coffee. Fredo (BA) and Berthillon (Paris) also make great banana ice creams but I have never figured out how to get the flavors out of the fruit like they do.

McConnell's Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip ice cream is amazing. Excellent in the little container in the store, but absolutely heavenly at the store itself.

R11 Does it taste of hate and turtles?

They need to change their name, to me the name McConnell will always be reminiscent of waddles and evil.

Anywhere in Ireland of course. The best milk. Canada and Switzerland also have exceptional milk.

[quote]to me the name McConnell will always be reminiscent of waddles and evil.

And wattles, too.

R106, THANK YOU for reminding me about the wonderful Lapperts in Hawaii!! It was a memorable part of a great trip over a decade ago

Smegma cream at IML in Chicago

The ice cream in Scotland is fantastic. Any random ice cream store has better ice cream than anything I’ve ever tasted in the US. Our group of three had no expectations, just decided to get ice cream one day. We were all floored - “Why is this ice cream so GOOD?!” I ended up eating way too much ice cream that trip.

I am very partial to Carvel vanilla soft serve, but it’s almost like it’s own thing - I don’t really compare it to other ice creams.

I also enjoy the Bloomingdales-style frozen yoghurt. Not as a competitor to ice cream, but I like it.

"Every city has a limited-ingredient, high-quality ice cream shop. Nothing to see here."

R2 nailed it.

This thread is a waste of time.

No one is going to travel all over the US/world for ice cream.

Strawberry ice cream in the USSR and black walnut ice cream in the US south. I can't even eat strawberry ice cream in the US and I haven't found black walnut ice cream since I first had it.

[quote] Anywhere in Ireland of course. The best milk. Canada and Switzerland also have exceptional milk.

My Irish grandfather refused to use US milk. Called it "white water." Used buttermilk instead

But someone might make a point of trying the ice cream, when they might not have bothered otherwise, R119.

I’m waiting for someone with knowledge of the dairy industry to chime in about European vs. US vs UK standards and practices. That would be better interesting.

When driving back to NYC from Boston ME we stopped at a market to have lunch and see friends from college. They told us we had to try a new ice cream startup. It’s the best ice cream I have had since growing up and making it homemade at my grandparent’s summer home on Jersey shore. We picked up her card and plan to get a bunch of pints some when we head north for Thanksgiving

In MA., Peaceful Meadows in Whitman is great.

If you're on the Cape, Four Seas in Centerville is an institution.

Drive down to Craigville, eat your cone and watch the water. Heaven.

When the chair is out front, they're open.

Also, Richardsons' on the North Shore is excellent. They served it for years at the Red Rock in Swampscott.

Mitchell’s ice cream in Cleveland, OH is excellent.

Interestingly, there’s a Mitchell’s in San Francisco that sells ice cream, but it is not the same outfit and their product is average.

Lappert’s ice cream is pedestrian at best.

We used to have an outlet in Corte Madera (the Lapperts lived here) but it closed.

I think milk from grass fed cows makes the difference.

I recently had some Van Leeuwen--it's fantastic.

Also, when I went to London, I had clotted cream ice cream (which is made of clotted cream--a butter-like spread)--AMAZING

I used to like Stone Cold Creamery ice cream--it's the place that cut in various add-in in front of you. I thought it had gone out of business but recently saw one in the NYC suburbs.

The problem is that it's so creamy that it always gave me diarrhea.

Mitchell's in Cleveland.

Another vote for Mitchell's in Cleveland.

All of the cows in New Zealand are grass fed. But the supermarket ice cream is crap.

I live in Ohio and hate it. That said, I quite love Mitchell's up here in Cleveland and Graeter's and Jeni's when I'm visiting friends in Columbus.

Same, R131. If you didn't know, there are Graeter's and Jeni's in the Cleveland suburbs now too.

Coffee ice cream from Ashburn's Ice Cream Parlour when I was a child. Ever since, 'coffee' has been my favorite ice cream flavor.

Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream compares favorably with it.

I really enjoy Graeter’s black cherry chip & Raspberry chip. They sell it in Ralph’s supermarkets in Southern California. It’s awesome!

Jeni's ice cream is very good but I have hated my experiences being in one of their stores/parlors.

If you make your own ice cream, this recipe is amazing!!

Mister Softee

Herrell's in Harvard Square, now closed. It was an ice-cream shop in an old bank. You could eat in the vault. Their banana with hot fudge was amazing.

Fredo in Buenos Aires. Great banana, dulce de leche, and dark chocolate as a trio, but it's a tough choice - all their flavors are good.

The vanilla I make myself. Brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, heavy cream and half and half - no eggs. 30-35 minutes in the ice-cream maker.

R137, actually Mr Softee is really good! There was a time I was it eating it almost daily—but stopped when I started getting fat.

And then the study came out showing high fecal content

[QUOTE]I like McConnell’s. I think they’re out of Santa Barbara. Love the Eureka Lemon and Marionberries flavor!

R79 - Yes! Was going to post the same thing. They're great because I believe they use the highest dairy fat % cream in commercially produced ice cream. It's so rich and creamy. And that particular flavor you noted is my favorite, too. The combination of the creamy base with that zip of Eureka lemon and the jamminess of the marionberries? So good.

I'm in (god awful) Florida. I've started to see McConnell's in Whole Foods here, though never that wonderful flavor.

There are many good ones in Portland, OR. Salt & Straw is the best known since they use the most unusual flavors (their pear and blue cheese is delicious), but my favorites are Cool Moon in the Pearl District, Cloud City in the Woodstock district, and Staccato Gelato on 28th near Burnside).

Nothing's better than Kopp's frozen custard; it's superlative. I've never forgotten it even years and years later.

Milwaukee.

Henry’s homemade ice cream in Plano, Texas. Unbelievably good...

Best frozen custard is Leon's in Milwaukee (Kopp's comes a close second), but only for the specialty flavors--their butter pecan is perfection. For your basic vanilla frozen custard, Ted Drew's in St. Louis is the best. They sweeten it with a touch of honey which takes the flavor to a whole different level.

The single best scoop of ice cream I ever had was a scoop of sesame seed gelato from a random stand in Germany.

R140 I have yet to have a McConnells flavor I did not like. I love banana ice cream and their banana salted caramel is amazing!

I like a lot of ice cream!

Lappert's Kona Road: Coffee ice cream, fudge ripple with coconut and macadamia nuts.---first tried it in Kauai but there used to be a few places to get it here in CA---Corte Madera mall or shopping center used to have a Lappert's shop but it closed. A little no name coffee shop on Geary St in SF used to sell it too, then they stopped. I cry as I type this. Looked it up and they still have a shop in Sausalito, not terribly far away. My tears are drying.

Mitchell's in SF---Amazing tropical flavors the coconut, baby coconut and mango are stellar. You can buy by the scoop or the half gallon. They have unusual flavors like avocado and sweet potato, and they do seasonal flavors like egg nog, pumpkin and so on.

Smitten is delicious and I like the foggy science experiment when they mix and freeze it.

Salt & Straw is terrifically overpriced and the first pint I bought was gawd awful and a shock at the register ($11 for a pint, no prices posted anywhere until it was time to pay.) I was so pissed at the top dollar crappy ice cream that I wrote the company and they sent me a gift card to get another flavor, which was better, but still not worth eleven bucks.

Bi-Rite Market in SF has ice cream and they make a delicious coconut milk chocolate ice cream that was super good. The texture is different but still really tasty.

3 Twins lemon cookie (grocery store pint) is delightful.

The St Francis Ice Cream Parlor on 24th & York used to make their own ice cream and chocolates for ages. The lemon chiffon was so good, the New York cherry, not so much. They, like a lot of places, started selling Mitchell's instead of making it. They still have the olde timey soda fountain cunter and booths and midcentury illustrations of BLT sandwiches on the walls.

^^^"counter" ^^^ not "cunter" haha ^^^

Is Coolhaus any good?

R146, I had forgotten about Lapperts!! Good memories from a trip to Hawaii!!

R148- Coolhaus is overrated like Jeni's. I have never had a flavor that wowed me- The flavors are bland and tasteless. I have not tried that Mascarpone or a few others though.

That Chocolate Blackout - bland- tastesless. Midnight Snack? Bland and Tasteless.. Midnight Churro- Bland but did have the Churro-ish taste. And the Vanilla is the worst I have ever had- very weird texture-how the fuck do you get vanilla wrong?? S'mores was okay but not worth it..

My favorite of all time is McConnell's Sea Salt Cookie. Its the HOMEMADE cookies in the ice cream and the sea salt that takes it way over the top. It's really, really good.

And if you call yourself a coffee fan, and particularly like dark roast- you have to try their Turkish coffee- Its like no other coffee flavor, ever.

If you prefer a more "light" coffee flavor, Haagen Dazs is pretty damn good. but McConnells puts theirs to shame.

Herrell’s started life as Steve’s, which was amazing.

Alamogordo, New Mexico. The place by the side of the road with the World's Largest Pistachio. Touristy, but best vanilla ice cream I've ever had

Going to Lappert's in Sausalito because of this thread!

Anywhere in Italy. Best gelato flavors and taste.

Actually, R154, that isn't true. A lot of Italian gelato is just mixes thrown in a machine. When you see brightly coloured gelato, eg bright green pistacchio, you know there are artificial colours used. When you see gelato stacked up high, there are stabilisers in it. And good gelato is always covered in stainless steel tubs.

Chains like Blue Ice are terrible. However, chains like Rivareno and Grom are very good.

In NYC - Il Labortorio del Gelato, Ample Hills & Morgansterns.

Cleveland OH - Mitchell’s (amazing)

I wear it, I don’t eat it, you fat whores!

Many of the homemade ice creams I've had have been some of the best, mainly because you can play around with the flavors. Two of my favorite flavors I've attempted were buttermilk rosemary and dark chocolate lavender.

In terms of store-bought flavors, Ben & Jerry's had a limited edition flavor called Cool Britannia that was better than most of their regular line up.

I had some Coolhaus Midnight Munchies last night. Not great. Really chalky and gritty.

I have a Lappert's correction! "Kauai Pie" is the delicious flavor I love, coffee ice cream, fudge ripple, coconut & macadamia nuts. Gaaaaaah. So good.