Best Ice Cream in the USA..

When visiting Texas, where I lived for about 9 of my formative years (my 20's), I eat all the Blue Bell I can. Any flavor is good but I really like Pistachio. Now I live in Ohio, and UDF (United Dairy Farmers) makes a special flavor in the summer called Coconut Almond Chip. It is heavenly, like a cold, creamy Almond Joy candy bar. Yummmm. I think I better go get some.

Oh baby! There are so many "bests!"

"Chain" grocery store ice cream: Dean's Farm "Moosetracks"

Boutique ice cream: B&J's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch

On Long Island: International Cafe's Gelato (Rockville Centre) - I'm addicted to the Tiramisu variety.

In Chicago: Mitchell's Ice Cream and Candy (Homewood)

On Carvel: It's an east coast "thang," I just don't grok it.

New and upcoming here: Rita's Ices has a passable frozen custard. It's not Culver or Ritter but it's close-by.

Loving this site, thanks to one and all.

We are ice cream junkies here in New England. Just a few: Hodgies in Amesbury (heard there's one in Newburyport now, too), Richardson's in Middleton. Both are homemade. Richardson's have their own dairy, and sell great milk & cream, too, and they sell it both in their Middleton store and they also wholesale to lots of small places locally.

Twist & Shake on Revere Beach is a terrific little place that serves huge portions of Richardson's (and another dairy ice cream fr. Maine - forgot the name). They also have terrific shakes. Kell's Kreme has really good soft serve, also on Revere Beach.

Had Cold Stone Creamery ice cream a couple of times while I was living in Tucson. Out there, it's basically either Cold Stone, some other chain (like DQ), or grocery store stuff - there is nothing else. I know they are moving into the Boston market, but frankly, IMO they use lower quality ice cream & sell on PR (hey, it IS a chain...)

Having grown up on all the great little New England mom & pop ice cream places, there is NO comparison.

With Hodgie's, they used to have an almond ice cream that was my favorite (need to take a ride up there soon). Richardson's - love their watermelon sherbet & too many flavors to list; their lowfat frozen yogurt tastes as good as most higher fat ice creams... in fact, my sweetie refuses to eat either yogurt anything, or lowfat anything - when he was diagnosed with an aneurysm, & I knew we needed to make some dietary adjustments, I bought Richardson's frozen yogurt, tore off the "yogurt" label, and he was none the wiser (but healthier!).

For the Best ice cream in the SF Bay Area, you have to try Mitchell's in SF, or Silbermann's in Marin County. Both are homemade and awesome. Mtchell's has crazy flavors but all good -- cantaloupe, mango, purple yam & coconut!

C'mon guys, you haven't had the best until you've had a Whitey's malt or shake from Moline Illinois. It was just featured on Food Network's Frosty Finds episode last month. And rated Best in the Midwest.

I have lived all around the country and still travel the country each week and I have tried the rest (Kohr's, Graeter's, Ritter's, Marble Slab, Bruster's, Braum's, Ted Drewes, etc) but I still have to say that Whitey's IS THE BEST!

http://www.whiteysicecream.com/

Seems to me that this needs to be broken down into at least three catagories Hard, Soft and Novelties.
Hard: Northeast Favorite: Friendly's
Soft: Kurver Creme, Albany, NY so many different flavors and topings when you go there unless your like me who gets the same thing everywhere, it is impossible to decide what to get.
Novelty: depends on my mood probably most often a chipwhich.
Does Seltest still exist they are no longer available in NY used to love them when I was a kid.

I can't say which is best, but the ice cream I enjoyed the most has been Dave & Andys' in Pittsburgh. I lived a block away and I was very possibly their first customer in 1983... and I'm sure I bought more ice cream there from 1983 through 1987 than anyone else.


Tom

When I was living in Seattle, there was an excellent quality ice cream place called Dankens in the U-District. I remember they had a flavor called "Peanut Butter and Pearl Jam" during the height of the grunge craze, which from talking to my friends back there never actually died down. I remember when I showed one of my first signs of non chain road food loyalty back in 1993. My friends came to visit me from NY. We were in the U District and we were going to get ice cream, one of my friends looks in the other direction and sees Hagen Daz. He kept insisting we should go there. I simply told Stu, " Steve and I will go to Dankens, you can go to Hagen Daz" and then if you can find us, good luck" Well, Stu decided to join us, and I don't think he regretted it.

Best ever was my daddy's mocha chip. All I know is that there was Kahlua and shaved German Chocolate involved and like a lot of our fondest food memories, it was the result of experimentation that was never quite duplicated. This time of year, my personal favorite is to take really good vanilla (like Blue Bell) and introduce it, through my blender, to a fresh, ripe, GA or SC peach. I would eat it 3 meals a day if I weren't attempting to set an example for my boys (who are at camp this week, so guess what I had for dinner?)

Ride the 7 on out to Queens - a new Carvel just opened on Roosevelt Avenue an 58th.

quote:

Originally posted by Ballpark Roadtripper

I live in Manhattan, and I had a Carvel one block away from me since I moved in 10 years ago. It recently became yet another infernal Starbucks. I miss that velvety sweet vanilla Carvel Ice Cream. I can now look out my window and see three seperate Strabucks. The decline of western civilization is underway.

I have recently become very fond of Tillamok Ice Ceam flavor Marionberry pie. High butterfat with pie filling and crust inside the tub. Delicious. One of the best flavors I have ever tasted.

quote:

Originally posted by Tony27

Wait..

There is a place in Vernon Hills at Hawthron Mall that has the greatest ice cream of today and the future!! DIP N' DOTS!!! Now, you tell me who makes better ice cream that is colder or much cooler looking to eat than Dip N Dots!?!?!! By far it's the BEST!!

You can also find Dip N Dots at Great America.. They need to find a way to make take home paks or Dip N Dots!!

But by FAR... Dip N Dots is THE BEST!!

Tony

Wait.....
you sound like you work for them. You can find the dots at any fair, carnival or amusement park in the Western US at least, probably all over the country. After the freezer burn flavor and exorbitant price, I felt like eating anything else.
A novelty aimed at children to be sure

Niederfranks… In San Diego….
http://www.niederfranks.com/index.htm
At Niederfranks, we still make our ice cream by the most antique, inefficient, outdated, and expensive process in the world. While other companies brag about their return to natural goodness and old fashioned quality...

Goodberry's in Raleigh-Garner area, North Carolina.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!

Roadfood Fans,

I just LOVE Ice Cream. Most of the time you just indulge in what is available, but I have discovered a Great Place in Jackson, Miss. If you are traveling on Interstate 20, take 55 North headed to Memphis to the County Line exit. Take a right off the exit and travel about 1 mile and you will see Bops Custard on the right. Do stop in because you will return. Pick your favorite topping and enjoy!

Funari's Italian Creamery in Jacksonville, Fl has the best gelato (Italian ice cream) in the world. You have to try it out when in the area!!

I took the advice of bullmf off of the forum and stopped by Funari's Italian Creamery. The gelato they make there is absolutely the best that I have ever had. I have to say that I agree with this person's post.[/font=Lucida Console]

Julie Ann's Custard is great, and it is fresh every day, and my kid's favorite when we used to live in the suburbs near Chicago-Crystal Lake. I agree Culver's Custard, which has ok custard, has very good fast food.
We have looked for a good place as we recently moved to Yardley, PA. Tried Goodnoe's, and it had poor service for passable food and only adequate ice cream, at least the time we tried it. My 12 year old said not to bother to go back. We will definately try the Creamery at Penn State when we go there this summer, and will go to McCaffrey's this week for Bassetts. If any one has ice cream suggestions, or pizza for that matter, let me know. Have also tried some gelato's and ice creams in some locations here, which were very nice, but some close for the winter. One called Nicci's? in Lawrenceville, NJ area. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by BarbarainLH

Goodberry's in Raleigh-Garner area, North Carolina.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!

Carolina Concrete from Goodberry's Creameries located in The Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) of North Carolina.

http://www.goodberrys.com/index.html

Well's Blue Bunny, is the BEST! Hands down! I tried Blue Bell, tasted like sand to me..........

Best ice cream ever: Howard Johnson's chocolate chip - rich and creamy with shavings of bittersweet chocolate - not huge slivers of chocolate (Blue Bell had their chocolate chip right until they changed to slivers last year).

Worst ice cream ever: STONE COLD - Their product is a bad dream where someone who doesn't care at all about ice cream goes into business to make a buck. Their ice cream is just plain gross.

Blue Bunny is available at Walmart, HyVee, Fareway, Albertson's, Copp's, Roundy's, most Affiliated/Associated grocery stores.

Plus, many store brands are Well's, also.

Gotta try it!

Best and one of a kind ice cream place is the Cooling Station "Your Ice cream station" located in Highwood. They carry Homer's ice cream. Their moose tracks and cappucino chip is awesome! You'll want to bring home a quart all the time. They also have yogurt which is safe for diabetics and lactose intolerants. The best part is they have a party room where you can make your own stuffed animal and host parties...what a cool place!!!

m

I just tried a new ice cream in Atlanta -- Carvel Ice Cream I never heard of them before but they say the company is over 50 years old. By far the best ice cream in Atlanta. I will be going there everytime I pass thru. The are about a mile or 2 from I-285 at the South Cobb Drive exit - outside of 285. Worth a detour!

Best ice cream..20th century candlepin lanes on Hyde Park Ave. in Hyde Park, Boston, MA. It's dreamy!

quote:

Originally posted by shaynas_mom

This place used to be SO GOOD...http://www.goodnoe.com/ It's north of Philadelphia in Bucks County. Has anyone gone lately? I haven't been there in years. I remember they used to broadcast a radio show from there.

There was just a post on the egullet Pa forum that Goodnoe's will close Sept 4th (owners retiring-kids don't want to take over the business). Those that have not been should go this summer.

I went there with my son for a late breakfast after his hockey game, and we had very slow service. He also received his order done the wrong way. He had asked to have his pancakes plain, and they came with blueberries on them. We returned them to get them remade, and they came back 5 min. later, same pancakes scraped, turned over, and cold. In the meantime he had a milkshake because he was starving. He said it was not as good as other places he had had them, but ok. We have not gone back.

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

What is a Giant Killer?

quote:

Originally posted by chicagostyledog

Originally posted by lleechef

What is a Giant Killer?

The Giant Killer was a sundae with multiple scoops of ice cream. I don't remember how many, it could've been somewhere between 8 and 16. It was covered with bananas, hot fudge, carmel, pineapple, nuts marshmallow topping, cherries, and whipped cream. If you ate it by yourself and didn't die, it was free. Our family of 4 never attempted it as a group.
The Giant Killer actually had 21 scoops of ice cream and weighed a total of 6-7 pounds. As a teenager, I conquered it and vowed never to do it again. Lockwood also had "Pikes Peak" which was a sunday with 12 scoops of ice cream which I used to order. My favorite was the Skokie, a 6 scoop sundae that I usually ordered. Enought to satisfy without feeling like a pig.

Soft-Serve = Ridgefield Ice Cream Shop (CT)
Hard = Can't decide (yet)
"Chain"/Grocery-store ice cream = Ben and Jerry's

quote:

Originally posted by Beer&Snausages

C'mon guys, you haven't had the best until you've had a Whitey's malt or shake from Moline Illinois. It was just featured on Food Network's Frosty Finds episode last month. And rated Best in the Midwest.

Now there's a name I haven't heard in ages... Whitey's is sooooooo good. In college I spent most of my money on malts from Whitey's (and beer, of course!)

Has anyone tried Peterson's ice cream in Oak Park? Proper old-fashioned ice cream shop. Well worth a trip out to the Chicago suburbs!

Over the weekend, I had Double Rainbow Blueberry via Trader Joe's. Outstanding. We don''t get much DR in Massachusetts (I can only guess about the high shipping cost from San Francisco), and when we get it it is usually in very limited flavors. Making ice cream is not rocket science. Why can't 99% of the local guys make a product as good as DR?

"Best" is highly subjective, but the ice cream I enjoy most (for a variety of reasons) is Hershey's. I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't tried every different ice cream in this fair land of ours.

I agree with rr that "best" is very subjective, but we can agree to disagree on Hershey's. That ice cream is, IMO, a very average product. It is often served by ice cream stands that don't want to bother making their own, and who are too cheap to pay for a better brand like Richardsons http://66.147.238.74/index.php (I picked Richardsons because it is a local wholesale brand known to me, not because they are one of the very oldest family owned companies in the country. I didn't even know that untill I checked their web site)

Somebody who has way too much time should list the price for 3 gal tubs of foodservice ice cream. I could be wrong, but I think that Hershey's is one of the more reasonable brands.

Used to love Dr. Jazz in Evanston IL, especially peanut butter shakes. But they are long gone.

Ice cream here in WA state seems to consist entirely of chain food. Frozen custard is nonexistent.

Favorite is Handel's, originally of Youngstown, Ohio.