Bishop's Ice Cream

183 Cottage St., Littleton, NH - (603) 444-6039

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Posted By Michael Stern on July 24, 2007 9:58 PM

From April to Columbus Day, Bishop’s is frequently besieged by a long line of happy customers snaking out the door. It is quite a sight, once the patient hungries get inside, to see their eager faces study the board on which are posted about two dozen flavors. Eyes light up and eager tongues moisten lips as groups of waiting children and adults confer about the exact details of the treat that is about to be theirs.

Bishop’s is an ingenuous ice cream. Oh, there are some baroque concoctions on the menu, Bishop’s Bash in particular (chocolate chips, nuts, and brownie chunks in dark chocolate), but the best flavors here have the carefree quality of ice cream of the pre-Haagen-Dazs era. Vanilla is cream white; chocolate is only gently chocolaty and not too serious; coffee is creamy more than caffeinated. Here, too, is the old Yankee favorite, Grape-Nuts ice cream, with little nubs of cereal softened to grainy little bits of salubrious texture in the smooth ivory custard.

Congeniality is part of the Bishop’s experience, such as the way a cone is handled when you order one: the server sets an empty into a varnished wood holder on a counter where you watch it as your chosen flavor is scooped. The cone is removed, topped with ice cream, then set back into the holder so that while you pay and take a napkin or a cup of water from the fountain you needn’t worry about juggling your ice cream cone. When you do take possession of it, we suggest you head outside and find a seat on a bench in front of the big white house with its purple awnings and window boxes full of purple pansies. Here you lick away to the sound of a large American flag flapping high above.

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