icecream
Ice Cream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream.
This page is the suggestion of my friend Marsha, who has seen first hand just how much I love ice cream. She is the one who convinced me to send my ice cream resume to Edys/Dreyer to become their ice cream ambassador for Kansas City for a year. That was a lot of fun. Edys sent me a ice cream tasting video, a golden tasting spoon, an ice cream thermometer and an Edys lab smock. Then every few months they shipped from California four new flavors of ice cream on dry ice. Thank you Edys. That was a wonderful summer and introduced me to the marvelous taste of their Raspberry Sorbet.
Before we talk about ice cream, I must pass on a tip from Jan & Dorothy. Maps for bicyclists show the location of every ice cream parlor. Buy them at your favorite bicycle shop after getting the clerk to show you the symbols for ice cream parlors.
Although I am now officially avoiding ice cream for my self-diagnosed heart condition, I do occasionally make exceptions, especially while traveling. After all, the best way to stick to a diet is to occasionally fall off the wagon ... provided that you climb back on promptly. My newest passion in Columbia, South Carolina is for Sandy's Gigantic, Titanic banana split. It is not cheap at $5.99 and a friend became irate at small servings in the past, but I've enjoyed large servings and have been happy at one specific Sandy's location. They've downgraded from Blue Bell to Kemps brand. I'm told that the Cold Stone Creamery and Marble Slab Creamery are both excellent. They specialize in mixing various ingredients of your choice into their ice cream. Normally I consider both Creameries too expensive, especially since Sandy's is exceptional.
Fernandina's Fantastic Fudge is very good and their Working Cow brand ice cream is marvelous. At 5.50 for a 20 oz cup it is not cheap and 2 of 3 servers didn't waste any energy trying to pack it in, but they happily dropped three good sized scoops of different flavors into my cup and I ate it very happily. They are located on the main drag in Fernandina Beach, Florida on Amelia Island - a very pleasant, laid-back vacation destination just north (and east !) of Jacksonville.
Jun 2007 I was once again in northeastern Ohio and found two new places worthy of mention. A hand packed quart isn't crammed full and costs $7 at either place. While that hurts, my ice cream habit still doesn't cost much in comparison to most other addictions. Katie's Korner (www.KatiesKorner.com) has several stores, one of which is in Bainbridge at US 422 & Hwy 306. Their homemade flavors are orgasmic and are possibly the best ever.
Country Maid Ice Cream is just west of I-271 on Hwy 303. Their ice cream is also quite good and local customers come flocking in on the weekends. Country Maid stays open year 'round and is much less busy during the cold months.
Handel's homemade ice cream & yogurt is very good. The original location is in Youngstown, Ohio, and a franchise store is in ??, just off I-77 twenty miles and one thunderstorm north of Dover
In 2005 I found Knight's Ice Cream on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, specifically 596 S. Cleveland Ave; Westerville, OH 43081; 890-2353. I tried several of their many, many homemade flavors. It is a good place. Hey, while researching links on this page, I came across Amy's Ice Cream in Austin, Texas. I'll have to try their stuff one of these days.
Click here to skip to earlier Ohio ice creameries.
Perhaps the best ice cream parlor in the world is on a main drag in Princeton, New Jersey. I've finally dug up the name thanks to Google. THOMAS SWEET Ice Cream has three locations: 179 (or 183) Nassau Street bordering Princeton College (609) 683-8720; 33 Palmer Square (609) 683-1655; and now 3214 P Street, Washington, DC (202) 337-0616. Once you try their ice cream, you will be willing to travel miles and miles out of your way to go there again.
D DUTCHMEN DAIRY in Sicamous, British Columbia sells forty wonderful flavors of marvelous ice cream with high butterfat content. It has been too long since I've been there, but I think their ice cream was the best I've ever eaten. They have also collected a barnyard full of exotic animals in a "Petting Zoo." Again, once you taste their wares, you will go out of your way to enjoy their treats again and again. In 2005 their mass distributed ice cream did not measure up to my memories.
Now I have to wonder about the name of the six quart pails I bought when I was in Vernon, BC in 2005.
Now let's talk Boston, Massachusetts, my favorite college town. Toscanini's is a great purveyor of weird flavors in the MIT student center and in Central Square in Cambridge. STEVE'S and Herrell's in Harvard Square and ERICKSON'S and Kimball Farm north of Boston are ALL simply wonderful. My favorite Kimball's is just east of Jaffrey, New Hampshire on route 124 near the airport. Besides the very best ice cream in New England, Kimball's has lots of flavors and serves huge portions. There are two other Kimball's locations northwest of Boston, one in Carlisle, and one in Weston. Erickson's is also excellent; there is one in Maynard, MA. Last year I discovered Great Brook Farm at 247 North Road in Carlisle (978-371-7083). Their sign didn't get my attention, so I drove past the place three times before I found it. Their ice cream was truly worth the trouble.
My all-time college favorite was Cabot's beside the Mass Pike in Newtonville. Besides fine ice cream, Cabot's claim to fame is party-sized sundaes for ten or twenty people. Brigham's and Friendly's used to be excellent brands, but have lowered their quality to compete in the mass markets.
Other Bostonians have also posted websites to sing the praises of their favorite ice cream parlors: http://www.jordanrich.com/restaurantIceCream1.htm, http://www.visitingnewengland.com/icecream.html, http://www.bigdumptruck.com/icecream.htm, and http://bostonplus.com/icecream.html
I've spent time in Eastern Ohio and found several wonderful places there. Perhaps the best place to start is at the DEERSVILLE GENERAL STORE west from U.S. highway 250 at the southern end of Tappan Lake (or east from Ohio highway 800 - look for the little bitty sign). Besides wonderful ice cream, they have a little map showing the dozen "best" ice cream parlors in Ohio. In Canton, OH, MILK & HONEY at 34th & Cleveland (492-5884) is terrific. East of Akron, on Ohio highway 44 there is an excellent little ice cream stand in New Baltimore named (surprise) "NEW BALTIMORE ICE CREAM" (with NEW BALTIMORE WEST in Hartsville - drum roll to Steve for the names) and the VILLAGE BEAR CREAMERY on Ohio highway 43 in Hartsville, OH (330-877-9400). I no longer patronize Goshen Dairy since they arbitrarily fired a good friend who was a store manager (They've also gone out of business recently).
I've been told that I need to come to State College, Pennsylvania to determine which is better, Penn State's Creamery, or Meyer's Dairy. When I lived in Gainesville, Florida, the University of Florida Agricultural School produced a wonderful ice cream. Unfortunately I was told that they ceased that production in the years since.
In Two Rivers (pronounced Trivers), Wisconsin, the Historic Washington House Museum has restored Ed Berner's Ice Cream Parlor and sells sundaes. Can anyone out there tell me if it is worth the trip? Thanks.
Here is a surprise. The dining room at the Jelly Belly Visitor Center and Factory Tour in Fairfield, CA (One Jelly Belly Lane; 1-800-953-5592) sells premium ice cream (11am-3pm).
My brother ran the JFK 50 mile run in 2003 (in 9.5 hours). I crewed for him and found a wonderful place in Sharpsburg, Maryland, NUTTEY'S. I'm no longer conversant with Washington, D.C. ice cream, but remember Hood Dairies and Giffords. The locally famous pizza place is Ledo's - no ice cream, but nearly as good.
My friend Greg contends that Breyers vanilla is the best. (It is the only ice cream he eats!) I've yet to find a better vanilla. Occasionally I find one comparable. Their strawberry is also "premium."
I should warn you that my personal favorite flavors have mocha and nuts, so my opinions are a bit biased. Of those, Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge cannot be topped, nor can Starbucks Cafe Almond Fudge, although I've switched recently to Ben & Jerry's New York Fudge Chunk.
If you've never been south, you gotta go to Texas once to try Blue Bell ice cream. Their motto is: "We really love ice cream. We use only the finest ingredients, make it to the best of our ability, eat as much as we can, and sell the rest." In my opinion their ice cream is the best pre-packaged ice cream available in the country. They sell perhaps 30 flavors in half gallons and several flavors in pints in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, and other states. Try it, you'll like it. I've recently found Blue Bell in Nashville, TN; Columbia, SC; Lake Wales, FL; and San Angelito, TX. My favorites of their flavors are Strawberries and Homemade Vanilla, Banana Pudding, Cherry Cobbler, Dark Chocolate, and all the others. Their plants are in Brenham, TX, in Oklahoma, and near Birmingham, Mississippi. Many grocery stores will carry some of their flavors. An occasional grocery will carry most of them. Walmart supercenters and QuickTrip convenience stores usually carry a small selection of Blue Bell when it is locally available. In Jan 2007 I was privileged to visit the Brenham plant, but missed the final tour of the day (about 2:30). They served a complimentary scoop of Mocha Almond, a flavor not available in groceries. Their visitor shop sold various knick knacks that had little to do with Blue Bell or Ice Cream. Local artists are missing out on a retailing opportunity there.
While you are in Blue Bell country, look for BRAUM'S ice cream parlors in Texas & border areas of neighboring states. Yum.
Schwann's was my favorite while working in Kansas City. They deliver. I recognize their distinctively shaped and colored trucks at half a mile. I've flagged them down on mountain roads, rural roads, and city streets to buy a half gallon (my personal limit for one meal). Unfortunately a few years ago one of their suppliers delivered milk contaminated with samonilla. They recalled millions of gallons of ice cream and built new plants to prevent another such episode, and doubled their prices.
There once was an excellent local brand in KC, Fairmont-Zarda, which was bought by a competitor and turned into garbage. That also happened to Fitzgerald's in New Mexico. Whenever the packaging of your favorite brand changes, it is altogether too likely that the contents will become unappealing simultaneously.
I believe that Swensons is still in business at the Corner of Union and Hyde in San Francisco (415-775-6818). They name their "sundae" concoctions with colorful Western names like Twin Peaks. Shakey's Ice Cream & Pizza parlor loves to sing happy birthday to customers.
My personal favorites are Starbucks Cafe Almond Fudge and Ben & Jerry's New York Fudge Chunk. Oh, yes, I just remembered that Haagen dazs Dulce De Leche is orgasmic. Pardon me, I gotta go find some ice cream now.
Here are a few of the producers' URLs.
Blue Bell is the best widely-distributed brand in the country.
Kimball Farm is the second best ice cream parlor on my list.
http://www.braums.com is a fine chain of ice cream parlors in Texas.
http://www.cabots.com is a locally famous ice cream parlor in Newtonville, Massachusetts.
http://www.benandjerrys.com reneged on their hunt for a CEO.
http://www.haagendazs.com is excellent but over-rated although their Dulce de Leche induces caramel orgasms.
http://www.baskinrobbins.com has the best Jamoca Almond Fudge.
http://www.icecreamusa.com/breyers vanilla cannot be beat.
http://www.schwanns.com delivers very good ice cream and many other things.
Edy's & Dreyer's are the same company, their Sorbets and French Silk are excellent.
http://www.brighams.com used to be outstanding, is still good, and is available in Massachusetts.
http://www.friendlys.com sells good ice cream in many flavors along the East Coast.
http://www.godiva.com might appeal to chocolate lovers.
http://www.tcby.com was my niece's very favorite place.
http://www.tcby.com.hk is the oriental version.
I bet I can find web sites for Starbucks and Hersheys. I did: http://www.starbucks.com/grocery/icecream_flavors.asp and http://www.hersheyicecream.com/ (not affiliated with Hershey Foods - which suddenly explains why their strawberry is much better than their chocolate).
Dale recommends Jack & Jill Mocha Almond fudge.
Somehow this chocolate site sneaked online http://www.cadbury.co.uk
There are ice cream parlors that do tremendous business by satisfying their customers and making them happy. Those owners realize that their customers are happy to pay a premium to enjoy their ice cream. The servers in those places usually appear to be happy.
Then there are ice cream parlors where the servers look unhappy. Often those parlors have strict policies limiting portion sizes and mixes. Many times when a server says "No, we cannot do that for you" they displease the customer and lose business. I always ask for four flavors in a quart. If the parlor is not busy and I'm told, "No, we don't do that" I walk out and I don't go back.
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