The Best Ice Cream Parlor in Every State

The owners of this café and “full-service dessert shop” got their start selling Italian ices from a pushcart at street markets and other local events. Today they offer a wide range of choices in several categories — gelato, sorbet, Italian ice, “gelati” (Italian ice topped with frozen custard), and “Magic Misto” (frozen custard and Italian ice blended into a smoothie), as well as iced soda, ice shakes, and milkshakes.

Launched in 2015, using all-natural flavors with Alaskan add-ins, Wild Scoops has already created more than 100 flavors. A few examples: Jamberwocky (sweet cream and locally made mango-ghost-pepper jam), Yukon Gold (sweet cream, homemade fudge, and AK Chip Co. potato chip toffee), and Sitka Swirl (salted caramel swirl with Alaskan sea salt). Sorbets and dairy-free desserts are made as well.

Standard flavors are available at this purveyor of locally made small-batch artisanal ice cream, but so are things like Bourbon Caramel Toffee Crunch and the Fat Elvis (with peanut butter, banana, and bacon). The shop features the Dough Melt — a glazed doughnut stuffed with a scoop of ice cream and then hot-pressed to seal the edges — and the Leslie Knope, an ice cream sandwich between two European-style waffles.

This community-focused creamery works with Arkansas farms, craft food producers, and breweries to create such flavors as Barnhill Strawberry Buttermilk, Dunbar Garden Fresh Lavender, Rock Town Bourbon Pecan, and Arkansas Motley Farm Pumpkin Patch.

Classic Italian gelato flavors are always available at this casual ice cream parlor in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla — pistachio, dark chocolate, stracciatella, etc. — but there are also such innovations as Rosehoney (made with organic honey and Lebanese rosewater) and Matchatella (matcha tea with chocolate shards). There is a second location in San Diego’s Little Italy Food Hall, where popular choices include Blood Orange and Salted Caramel.

Little Man does business out of an imposing 28-foot-tall replica of a cream can, selling an ever-changing array of flavors both traditional (vanilla bean, chocolate, mint chocolate chip) and more unusual (espresso fudge, oatmeal cookie, salted maple pecan). The shop has also opened the Little Man Ice Cream Factory, and has four additional “sister locations.”

A working dairy farm in Litchfield County, Arethusa has two retail outlets, one on site and the other — this one — near Yale University. Homemade ice cream choices include chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, along with such specialties as Almond with Toasted Coconut, Sweet Cream Chocolate Chip, and (in season) Cranberry with Dark Chocolate Chunks and Pumpkin with Ginger Molasses Cookies. Arethusa also has a full-scale restaurant at the farm.

Opened in 1956 in a suburb of Wilmington, this soft-serve emporium offers a huge choice of sundaes with assorted toppings, from Apple Cobbler to Very Berry, with things like Melted Pretzel Crunch, Choco Snicker-Butter Shakedown, and Double-Stuff Reese’s Cup along the way. The choice of slushies, smoothies, gelato, and more is hardly less extensive. Note that Dairy Palace is cash-only and open seasonally (they’re closed annually between early October and mid-March).

Just north of Fort Lauderdale, this “dairy bar” makes vanilla ice cream with Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla beans and chocolate ice cream with 67% cacao dark chocolate. Then there is the real exotica, for instance Monkey Business (banana buttermilk ice cream with praline pecans and a dulce de leche swirl), “He’s Not Worth It!” (vanilla and English toffee sweet cream ice cream with bits of Oreos and Heath bar and chopped soft caramel with a swirl of sea salt caramel), and Chicha Morada (“the national drink of Peru in sweet cream ice cream,” made with purple corn, cinnamon, star anise, clove, green and red apple, brown sugar, lemon, lime, pineapple, and strawberry).

A family-run and family-friendly operation southwest of Savannah (there’s a padded play area and a three-rail model train running overhead, and free ice cream for dogs), the Ice Cream Stop offers the standard flavors along with things like Banana Pudding and Candied Salted Caramel. An array of sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, smoothies, and ice cream cakes and pies are also available. (There is a second location in nearby Pooler.)

Shave ice is a Hawaiian specialty of very thin ice shavings drenched in syrup — it’s like a snow cone, though snow cone ice is crushed, not shaved)– and that’s what Uncle Clay’s is famous for. They make their own syrups from fresh Hawaiian fruit and fruit purées with pure cane sugar. Actual ice cream is offered, too, though, including such island-made flavors as POG (passion fruit, orange, and guava), Green Tea, and Uncle Pono’s ‘Ulu (made with breadfruit). Besides the original, there’s an Uncle Clay’s at Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center.

Styling itself “Boise’s own American Gelato Bistro,” the STIL brings downtown Boise not only homemade ice creams based on Idaho dairy products but also ice creams infused with wine, beer, and liquor; suggested alcohol pairings for non-infused choices; and alcoholic floats. Specialty flavors include Dejà Vu (almond ice cream with Oreo and sugar cone pieces), Cookies with Grandma (coconut milk ice cream with vegan cookie dough), and Fresh Powder (vanilla ice cream with cream cheese). There is a second location in the planned community of Harris Ranch in east Boise.

Italian ice has more in common with sorbet than with ice cream per se, but it’s a rich Chicago tradition and the city’s own iconic form of frozen dessert. Ava’s, an Italian ice stand in the Bucktown neighborhood, is regularly hailed as one of the best purveyors of this specialty. Flavors include watermelon, mango, raspberry, banana, plum, and blood orange.

Inspired by the paletas — frozen fruit juice on a stick — popular in Mexico, the specialties here are ice pops in such flavors as frozen hot chocolate, strawberry mint, mango ginger, and avocado. There are also Nicey Pies, icebox pies made with ice pop flavors framed with crusts made by the local 4 Birds Bakery. (There is a second location in the Fletcher Place neighborhood.)

A family-run ice cream parlor just outside Des Moines, Over the Top serves some 25 regular flavors, some with fanciful names. (Happy Wife Happy Life is dark chocolate ice cream with roasted almonds, Heath Bar and fudge pieces, and a caramel swirl; Over the Moon is tutti frutti ice cream with mini gummi bears.) There’s also a flavor of the month (July’s was Tropical Breeze, made with coconut, pineapple, and mango) and a few seasonal offerings.

In this community southwest of Kansas City, Foggi makes instant ice cream with liquid nitrogen. The wide-ranging menu includes such flavors as Sweet Maple Bacon, Taro, Cookie Butter, Caramel con Leche Cheesecake, and Lemon Lavender.

This small-batch artisanal ice cream shop will make custom flavors to order. Its own creations are in constant seasonal rotation, but Royal Chocolate, Vanilla Two Ways, Bourbon Smoked Pecan, and Salted Butter Pecan are always available.

Making ice cream in small batches with real milk and sugar and an old-fashioned churn, Ice Cream 504 concentrates on classic flavors like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, coffee, and peppermint — but also offers such innovations as Almond Peach Petit Four, Toasted Coconut Almond, and Blueberry Basil.

Mariagrazia Zanardi and Donato Giovine moved to Portland from Milan, opening their authentic Italian gelato shop in 2010. They use all natural ingredients to produce a seasonally changing selection of ice cream, but always offer hazelnut, coconut, pistachio, Oreo, and chocolate (either regular, vegan, or made with rum or whiskey). Gelato cakes and gelato cannoli are also on the menu.

One of two Baltimore locations (there is also a factory outlet), the Charmery in the trendy Hampden neighborhood creates such imaginative flavors as Old Bay Caramel, Malty Vanilla Chip, Passion Fruit Ricotta, Baklava, and Cheese and Crackers (made with actual cheddar cheese and Ritz crackers). Pure Vanilla and Salty Caramel are among the offerings that are always on the menu.

This Cambridge favorite serves about 30 different flavors, made in-store, daily — from French Vanilla and Belgian Chocolate to Macaroon Brownie Fluff, Vienna Finger Cookie, Kenyan Kulfi (with saffron, cardamom, pistachio, and almonds), and B3 (brown sugar, brown butter, and brownies).

Occupying an old A&W Root Beer building in the Detroit suburb of Trenton, Elizabeth Perk serves 28 flavors of high-butterfat ice cream produced by Guernsey Farms Dairy in the community of Northville. Butter pecan is a specialty, but fans also enjoy such flavors as Sea Salt Double Chocolate, Mackinaw Fudge, and Almond Joy.

The “About” page on this shop’s menu reads, in its entirely, “We make ice cream…” Some 16 flavors are currently on offer, including Cereal Killers (orange coriander milk with candied Fruity Pebbles), Uma Thurman (Greek yogurt with a passion fruit-lychee swirl), PB vs. Everybody (peanut butter, bananas, and Oreo chunks), and the eponymous Milkjam (caramelized goat’s, cow’s, and sweetened condensed milks).

These “artisan ice pop makers” extend the definition of their wares from fruit pops (Carrot Ginger Lemonade, Pineapple Jalapeño, Watermelon Mint, etc.) through cream pops (for instance Berries & Cream, Dulce de Leche, and Madagascar Vanilla) all the way to “indulgences” (the likes of Oreo Cheesecake, Bananas Foster, and Billion Dollar Brownie).

Some 25 or more flavors are always on offer here, with the selection changing often. Some examples include Lavender Honey, S’Mores, Goat Cheese with Apricots and Candied Walnuts, Crème Brûlée Caramel, and Mint Chocolate Cookie. (Betty Rae’s also has an ice cream truck and a second location, in the River Market district.)

In addition to the usual vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry and the hardly exotic coconut and salted caramel, this Missoula institution also proposes such flavors as Cardamom, Bubblegum, Black Licorice, and Espresso Heath. In addition to the main shop, Big Dipper’s Coneboy ice cream truck plies the streets of Missoula, and there are offshoots in Helena and Billings.

This “farm to cone” operation offers ice pops, ice cream floats and sandwiches, homemade toppings and sauces, and artisanal root beer. The handmade ice cream offerings include Vanilla Bean, Dark Chocolate, Cookies and Cream, Salted Caramel, and a host of varying seasonal flavors.

The specialty here is shaved ice cream (sometimes called shaved snow — not to be confused with shaved ice), fluffy curls of frozen dessert shaved off a solid block. Choose from a wide range of toppings to complete the experience. Base flavors include mango, taro, coconut, green tea, and black sesame, as well as seasonal choices. Some 24 toppings may be added, ranging from fruit and candy chips to several kinds of cereal and red bean paste. Then sauces go on top. Ten ready-made combinations are also offered, such as Balboa Banana, with banana snow, almonds, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate sauce.

The soft-serve ice cream stand King Kone opened in Merrimack, just outside Nashua, in 1972. (Last summer, the owners launched an offshoot at the Sagamore Golf Center in North Hampton, near the New Hampshire coast.) Flavors, some of which change periodically, include chocolate, vanilla, coffee, black raspberry, and mint.

Torico started as a deli but evolved into an ice cream shop when the proprietor’s hand-cranked offerings became increasingly popular. The ice cream is no longer hand-cranked, but it’s still made in-house, with a repertoire of more than 65 flavors. More than 40 of these are always available, including many variations on chocolate, as well as things like Cherry Pistachio and Coconut and Cream. Seasonal flavors include Java Mocha Donut and Spicy Eggnog in the fall and winter and Jackfruit and Avocado in spring and summer.

Raspberry Habanero, Key Lime, Green Tea, Caramel Macchiato, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch are among the flavors offered at what one Yelp reviewer called a “cool, yummy, cute, and fun” ice cream parlor. Roswell, of course, was the site of a supposed alien spacecraft crash back in 1947, and the town has been profiting from the alleged incident ever since — so don’t be surprised to see a life-size (lifeform-size?) green alien standing in one corner of the place.

Founded in Brooklyn in 1991 and relocated to Manhattan’s East Village in 2006, Sundaes and Cones offers just what its name suggests. The house-made ice creams include the usual vanilla and chocolate and the like, along with such flavors as Corn, Wasabi, Ginger, and Black Sesame. The shop also specializes in elaborately decorated specialty ice cream cakes.

Bringing the “sweet life” (vida dulce) to the Raleigh-Durham area, this shop offers some 28 flavors. Included are Cranberry, Coffee with Almonds, Blackberry Cheese, Strawberry Butter, Vanilla Cake, and such vegan options as Tamarind, Kiwi, and Mango.

Silver Lining serves high-butterfat ice cream made in small 2.5-gallon batches at its sister property in Rapid City, South Dakota. Flavors rotate, but might include such things as Aztec Chocolate, Cotton Candy, Cookie Crisp, Pistachio Rose, Maple Candied Bacon, and Presidential Sweet (with German chocolate cake and pretzels added).

This family-owned purveyor of authentic Italian-style gelato in Westerville, just northeast of Columbus, gets creative with such flavors as Chocolate-Covered Raspberry, Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Latte, Peanut Butter Fudge, Snickerdoodle, Strawberry Tuxedo, and Turtle Sundae. There is also a selection of dairy-free sorbetto in such flavors as lemon, mango, pineapple, and strawberry-banana.

Hand-crafting its ice creams in 2.5-gallon batches, Rose Rock showcases locally produced fruit, honey, and other ingredients. Standard flavors include Midnight Chocolate, Lavender Honey, Madagascar Vanilla, and Rose Rock (strawberry with candied pecans). More unusual offerings are available seasonally — for instance, Roasted Cherry Chocolate with Marshmallows, Banana Pudding with Nilla Wafers, and Ooey Gooey Butter Cake.

Former brewer Chad Draizin started selling ice cream out of a food truck before opening two brick-and-mortar shops in the City of Roses. His unusual creations include Blood Orange Creamsicle, Thai Rice (jasmine rice pudding infused with pandan leaf), Soy Sauce Caramel, French Toast (challah French toast with dark maple syrup and cinnamon), and such vegan variations as Coconut Lemon Saffron and Ancho Mango.

Sundaes, milkshakes, floats, ice cream pies, and cookie ice cream sandwiches are all on offer at this ice cream parlor in a Bucks County community north of Philadelphia. Among the two dozen flavors on the menu are Coffee Caramel Crunch, Rummy Raisin, Dandy Cotton Candy, Really Raspberry Chocolate Chip, and Tom’s Peanut Butter Brownie Blitz.

Originally a modest ice cream cart found at farmers markets and special events, Tricycle expanded into a brick-and-mortar shop (the cart is still in business, too). Ice cream sandwiches and specialty cones are the focus. Choices might include Callebaut Rocky Road Ice Cream between two double chocolate brownies; a Mango-Berry Swirl Ice Cream Sandwich; a Passion Fruit Mimosa Push Pop; a Strawberry Shortcake Drumstick; or a Peanut Butter Ice Cream Taco topped with Oreos.

This small-batch ice cream shop believes that “Boundaries need to be pushed and ice cream flavors should not be limited to those of a grocery store but rival anything found on the menu of a five star restaurant.” That said, Sweet Cream does offer Madagascar Vanilla, Dark Chocolate, and Classic Strawberry — but then there’s Date Nut Caramel, Chamomile with Honeycomb, Caramel Popcorn with Peanuts, and Black Sesame Ginger, among other attempts to live up to that mission statement.

Stensland is a family-owned farm near Larchwood, Iowa, 15 miles or so southeast of Sioux Falls, and that’s where their original farm shop is located. The Sioux Falls location sells all the farm’s dairy products, including milk, cheese, and ice cream, but adds freshly hand-dipped ice cream specialties to the menu. Fancifully named choices include Conquer the Craving (brownie batter with brownie chunks and cookie dough), Heavenly Holstein (cream swirled with black-and-white cookies), Gravel Travel (salted peanut butter ice cream with Oreo chunks and caramel swirls), and Monkey See Monkey Do (banana with walnuts, peanut butter, and chocolate flakes).

Among the more unusual flavors at this well-loved local spot are Red Velvet Cake, Blackberry Cornbread, Loaded Butterscotch, Maple Blondie Walnut, Coffee Fudge, and Fudge Covered Cookie. Another genre-bending option, which was offered for a limited time only, was Cake Soup — which had six kinds of cake blended in.

This unusual operation in a Dallas suburb specializes in Middle Eastern pastries but also stretchy Syrian-style ice cream as made famous by the Bakdash ice cream parlor in Damascus. The texture of the ice cream derives in part from the addition of sahlab, a natural gum derived from orchid roots. The basic choice here is so-called Arabic Ice Cream — milk, cream, rosewater, and sahlab, topped with pistachios. Other flavors include Bubble Gum, Salted Butter Caramel, and Oreo.

This father-and-daughter operation calls itself Salt Lake City’s oldest gelato shop. The hand-crafted choices include Pear, Milk Chocolate, Blueberry Basil, Lime-Thyme with Mint, and Strawberry Balsamic.

Run by a Vermonter who trained in Italy and a local restaurateur, Shy Guy offers such choices as pistachio, dark chocolate sorbet, and stracciatella, as well as specialty flavors like Maple Bacon and Matcha Mint Chip.

Peach Crisp, Thai Iced Tea, Ginger Lime, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Milk, and Honey Rose are among the ever-changing flavors at this ice cream parlor. Vegan ice creams — for instance, Chocolate Cookie and Cherry Limeade — are made with a proprietary mixture of cashew and coconut milk.

Small-batch gelato and sorbet is the draw at this downtown Seattle establishment. Organic milk and (when possible) local fruit are among the ingredients. In addition to standard flavors like chocolate, coconut, and stracciatella, there are seasonal innovations like Chocolate Stout and Punkuccino (made with pumpkin, coffee, and beer).

This purveyor of ice cream, gelato, sherbet, and sorbet debuted 21 years ago. In addition to the usual flavors, ice cream varieties include Mocha Almond, Espresso Oreo, and Black Raspberry, as well as such seasonal choices as peach, lavender, and tangerine.

Launched in 2011, Purple Door enhances the usual ice cream shop menu with such imaginative flavors as White Russian, Malted Chocolate Chocolate Chunk, Lemon Cardamom, and Girl Scout Thin Mint.

Sorbetto, gelato, and high-butterfat ice cream are on the menu here. Salted Caramel Gelato and Salted Southern Bourbon Butter Pecan are among the specialties.