I’ve been craving Frozen Yogurt recently so we headed over to Thomas Sweet on P St in Georgetown.  I haven’t been there in awhile and last time I was there I remember trying the Oreo Frozen Yogurt.  This time I decided on something different- Snickers.  Since it was fat-free (I’m really not sure how this is possible, but I’ll trust them on it), I went for the “blend-in.”  Guess what I choose to blend it with?  That’s right, chunks of Snickers bar.  Thomas Sweet’s blend-ins are amazing. This one in particular.  It had a lot of snickers, without being overly sweet.  It was extra creamy.  And it was gigantic.  Luckily there were two of us (though it could have easily served 3).  Next time I’m in the mood for frozen yogurt I’ll definitely be going back over to Thomas Sweet.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4.5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $5.05

Once again we were driving the car up 16th St and Georgia in Silver Spring. It’s an unwritten rule that when you’re driving past a really good ice cream store you must stop the car. And after my last experience at York Castle I knew that I had a really good ice cream shop. So, we stopped. And it was worth it. Why? Because it’s the holidays and York Castle Tropical Ice Cream has Egg Nog ice cream. Man is this stuff strong. It’s like frozen egg nog- but better. Again, they don’t make their ice cream super sweet. And they have the best cones. Seriously, I don’t know who makes their cones but they’re amazing. Next time you’re driving around the area, make sure you stop at at York Castle. In fact, even if you’re not headed that direction, it’s worth the trip. They only make their Egg Nog ice cream during this time of year. And with the weather we’ve been having you might as well bring egg nog ice cream with you when looking at lights. (It’s too warm for hot chocolate.)

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 5
• Cone: 5
• Overall: 4.5

One day, while browsing the ice cream books on Amazon.com I came across a book called East Coast Scoops. I’ll post a review of the book another day, but for today let me tell you about one of the ice cream shops in the Maryland section: York Castle Tropical Ice Cream.

York Castle Tropical Ice Cream is located in a small strip mall at the intersection of 16^th and Georgia. I’ve driven past the location many times, but would have never guessed an ice cream shop was there without the book. It is easy to miss so be sure to keep your eye out for it. They have exotic tropical flavors like soursop, lychee, and passion fruit. They are also known for the Guinness ice cream. I sampled both the soursop and Guinness before settling on a fall special: pumpkin. The soursop and Guinness were both very good tasting—the Guinness surprised me with how intensely flavored it actually was. But, the pumpkin… The pumpkin was delicious. It was a cool, crisp, fall day and no other flavor could have matched the weather more perfectly. The pumpkin ice cream was extremely spicy (as in spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, not hot peppers). It was also very strongly pumpkin flavored. I may have to try to find a recipe online and make some pumpkin or squash ice cream. According to “East Coast Scoops” Tropical Ice Cream uses as little sugar as possible in their ice cream. You wouldn’t have known by taste of the ice cream. It was very soft and smooth. A little fluffier and less dense. York Castle also carries Jamaican jerk chicken and sodas, which I was too full to try after my ice cream. But, I can definitely say that I will be going back to have a full meal—chicken and ice cream very soon.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 4.5
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 4.5

I got my butt kicked today at an Intro to Thai Kickboxing class at Results the Gym on U Street.  It was supposed to be an INTRO class, not one that left me wanting an ice bath at the end. However, afterwards I rewarded myself with a smoothie from Health Bar (next to the gym at 17^th and U NW) in hopes that the pain would subside.  Berry Berry Coconut has coconut milk, pineapple juice, blueberries, strawberries and frozen yogurt.  The pineapple juice and coconut milk were probably the strongest flavors.  It was tasty and smooth and made me feel much less hypoglycemic after my workout.  I would recommend Berry Berry Coconut for a post-workout treat; though I imagine some of Health Bar’s other smoothies aren’t bad either—just try to avoid the kickboxing class first and you might enjoy the smoothies a little more.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 3
• Cost: $4.68

I ate with my aunt and cousin tonight at Circle Bistro in the Washington Circle Hotel.  The food was incredible as was the dessert.  My dessert came with cinnamon ice cream on the side.  Wow, was this ice cream intensely sweet and cinnamony.  I think it had a few cinnamon crunchy things in it too.  I have a feeling that any of the ice creams at Circle Bistro would be equally as good.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $7

I’m a huge fan of frozen custard.  It is so much creamier and richer than regular ice cream; and it’s better for you too.  Growing up in Minnesota, we were lucky to be neighbors with the frozen custard capitol of the world (aka Wisconsin).  So, I was pleased to discover that there are a number of places to get frozen custard in the DC area.  Tonight I had the pleasure of trying out The Dairy Godmother (formally Del Ray Dreamery) in Alexandria.  After Mexican food and margaritas, a friend and I headed over to the local custard shop and tried the flavor of the day: Oatmeal Cinnamon Cookie.  For a weeknight at 9pm, I would never have expected such a long line.  Apparently the place is extremely popular.  After I tasted the custard I understood why.  It is smoother and creamier than any ice cream you can imagine.  The flavor was very cinnamony and I enjoyed the large chunks of crispy oatmeal cookie.  The cone was even amazing.  I can’t wait to go back and try more flavors, as The Diary Godmother offers a different one every few days.

As a side note, I also bought a “squirrel” for my dog.  These are homemade dog treats and my dog seemed to like it as much as I liked my frozen custard.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 5

Max’s Best Ice Cream is known to be one of the best ice cream shops in DC.  I’ve only been a few times and each time I’ve been impressed.  I’ve never been totally wowed by the ice cream; it’s the atmosphere that’s so enjoyable.  Today was no different, the ice cream was excellent and the atmosphere was even better. I had Double Dutch Chocolate ice cream, which had amazing flavor.  It was intensely rich and tasty and chocolatey.  Even the cone was good.  The only thing that struck me as bizarre was the texture.  It was very smooth, with an ice chunk here and there, but left an almost powdery after-texture.  Can you have an after-texture?  I’m not sure.  But Double Dutch chocolate did.  After each bite my mouth felt a little powdery and dry.  I’m really not sure what it was.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t anything major or terrible, just puzzling.  I’d like to know what it was.  Despite the fact that it’s a little difficult to get to (i.e., not right across the street from my house or the Metro) I will definitely make a point to go back to Max’s soon.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 2.5
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.25

Sweet cream with walnuts, cherries, and brownies.  Mmm.  I saw someone walk out the door with an ice cream cone with giant chunks of brownie I knew I had to have it.  When I looked at the flavors I knew it was Black Forest.  It has a flavor with a hint of cherry with chunks of walnut and brownie and a few pieces of cherry.  Unfortunately, there were no giant chunks of brownie like I wanted.  I guess it was just an unlucky scoop.  But, it really was amazing.  It was subtle and sweet, but not sugary.  The ice cream had a god mix of flavors and textures with none being overpower.  Very very impressive.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 4
• Cone: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.50

The dreadful heat and humidity of DC in the summer brings lines to whichever ice cream shop you go to. Tonight I went to Sweet Licks and even had to wait in a long line there. I’ve never had to wait behind more than two people! One woman in front of me ordered a cone that looked particularly good: mocha fudge brownie. I also ordered one and was quite pleased. It had a subtle hint of mocha, not overpowering at all and the brownies were amazing. They were fudgey in the severely-undercooked-brownie sort of way. Unfortunately, like my previous experiences at Sweet Licks, the cone was stale. If you ask me, ending your ice cream with bites of stale cone is not the best way to keep your store’s lines long.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Cone: 1.5
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $3.12

I remember when Isee Icy first opened.  Two summers ago I was living on R Street in Georgetown when I noticed the shop starting up.  I frequently visited Thomas Sweet and was excited to have something even closer to my house.  (Yes, it was only a block closer, but a block is a block).  When they opened I became hooked on the Sorrento Lemon.  I occasionally had the Chocolate Hazelnut.  I loved them both and never felt compelled to try anything else.  Tonight, I was really craving the Sorrento Lemon.  But when we got to Isee Icy, which has since been renamed Dolcezza, something told me I should try something new.  The Local Peach with Ginger looked like something different, so I ordered a small cone.

Local Peach with Ginger has a kick.  The ginger is strong and leaves a lasting zing in your mouth.  But it is an excellent zing.  The peach flavor is subtle, almost overpowered by the ginger, but not quite.  There is just enough peach to compliment the ginger.  Which is really what is happening in this ice cream.  It should almost be called Ginger with Local Peach.  Almost.  But, it’s peachy enough and I’m a fan.  Also, it was a sorbet.  For a sorbet it had a remarkably smooth texture.  It was still a little coarse, though I can’t remember a smoother sorbet than Dolcezza’s Local Peach with Ginger.  Finally, the cone was good.  Not stale and not burned: not bad.

As a final note, when I came home from Dolcezza I Googled them to see if they had a website.  Not only do they have a website, but they have a blog.  Normally this wouldn’t be that exciting, but yesterday they posted about the peaches.  Looks like I may have gotten one of the first batches of the season.  Here’s to trying new flavors!

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 5
• Cone: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $4.40

“Chocolate ice cream with chocolate and vanilla ribbon” is how this flavor is described at Larry’s Ice Cream in Dupont Circle. But, “Decadence” was a little bit of a disappointment. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it wasn’t what I expected. There was a very little “ribbon” of vanilla something in the ice cream, but not much at all. I’m not sure if the ribbon was supposed to be vanilla fudge, but it had a fudge consistency to it. The chocolate ice cream was really good. If it had just been chocolate ice cream I think I would have enjoyed it more because I wouldn’t have expected something extravagant. But there wasn’t any “decadence” to this ice cream. It just tasted like good chocolate ice cream.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 3.5
• Cost: $3.50

This was good ice cream. Tasted just like chai tea. I haven’t had chai tea in awhile, a least 6 months or so, but I think it tastes like this. Kinda like pumpkin pie without the pumpkin. Anyway, excellent flavor. Sweet and spicy. And the texture was smooth, but not in the thick heavy way. It was actually almost fluffy. When I was in Ireland I had “whipped ice cream” outside the Kilkenney Castle. That’s what the chai tea ice cream and Sweet Licks on R Street tastes like—whipped.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.12

My brother is in town visiting and so we all went out for a nice dinner at one of my favorite Italian Restaurants in DC- Galileo.  We ate in the “Osteria,” which is cheaper and in the bar area.  After some great sea bass, I ordered the only ice cream listed on the menu: Caramelized Banana.  I’m not a big fan of banana flavored things, but I thought I’d give it a try.  The ice cream (and it was called ice cream, not gelato) came out in a large cone shaped dish that looked like a waffle cone.  I honestly thought it was a waffle cone for a minute, but it was just colored glass.  The ice cream was also presented with a spoon shaped cookie/pastry in it.  I used the “spoon” to taste a little of the ice cream and I said, “Oh, the spoon is made of coconut.”  Then I tried the ice cream with normal silverware and realized that it was the ice cream itself that was coconut, not banana flavored as it said on the menu.  The coconut ice cream was exactly what I’d expect from nice restaurant.  It had really good and intense coconuty flavor, with small bits of coconut in every bite.  But, the texture was just a little icy.  I’m not complaining, because the flavor was excellent; but restaurants never seem to produce really smooth ice cream.  Interestingly enough, we also ordered profiteroles, which our Italian waiter described in broken English as being puff pastries with cream inside.  When he served them he jokingly told us that he hoped we didn’t like them so he could eat the leftovers.  Well, he didn’t get any leftovers.  The profiteroles turned out to be two puff pastries with ice cream sandwiched in between them—kind of like mini ice cream sandwiches.  Only better.  They too were made with the coconut ice cream and were even better than the ice cream by itself.  We never quite figured out why the Profiteroles were made with ice cream and not cream (like a cream puff), but I think they were better that way.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 3
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $5.00

Apparently it doesn’t take much to persuade me to go out for some ice cream. Despite the fact that I had been there only two days ago, when Kim suggested we go to Larry’s Homemade Ice Cream I didn’t even hesitate. As I said in my previous post about Larry’s, they serve a flavor called “Libido.” This time I couldn’t pass it up. Bailey’s Irish Cream and pistachios are the two flavors that make up “libido,” possibly the creamiest, smoothest ice cream I’ve ever had. Besides the name, the reply you might get from the scooper makes the ice cream even more fun: “I’ve been giving out my libido all day long.” While all the jokes one could make about “Libido” make getting a scoop well worth it, I’m not sure I was totally sold on the flavor. Maybe the flavor wasn’t strong enough or maybe Libido just wasn’t what I was in the mood for tonight; I’m not too sure. However, as I said before, the texture was truly amazing. If I’m ever sick with a sore throat, get my tonsils out, or just plain want the smoothest ice cream out there, I would definitely get Libido again.

• Flavor: 3.5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 5
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $3.50

So, today I ate my 21^st “scoop” of ice cream.  Granted it’s probably been more than a scoop a day, so maybe I should say today I tried my 21^st flavor of ice cream today.  I wonder if there’s a world record for longest number of consecutive days eating ice cream.  I’ll have to look it up.  I’m guessing it’s much longer than a year.  But the question is, did they try a different kind everyday?
Anyway, tonight I went to Larry’s Ice Cream on Connecticut Ave just north of Dupont Circle.  I’ve only been there once and was excited to go back.  “Key West Chocolate Decadence” was the flavor I chose.  They also had other interesting named flavors including “Libido” (which happens to be Bailey’s and pistachios.  I may have to try that next time.)  When I saw the name of the flavor I thought that it might be chocolate key lime; it turned out to be orange and chocolate.  I haven’t had anything orange and chocolate flavored in a long time.  I used to love the Toblerone orange balls I would get at Christmas.  They were the kind that you had to smash on something to get the pieces to break apart.  I’m not sure what I liked more, the smashing or the chocolate itself.  I also used to eat those chocolate covered sticks.  (I have no idea what they’re called, but they come in lime and lemon and orange and something red/pink.)   So, I have always been a fan of chocolate and orange flavored things.  “Key West Chocolate Decadence” only solidified that fondness.  It was very smooth and creamy, except for the chunks of chocolate.  In all honesty, I didn’t care much for the chocolate chunks.  They gave it an texture that was more “fun,” but I guess I’d rather have plain, boring, smooth ice cream.  Regardless, the ice cream itself was incredibly smooth.  It wasn’t too intensely flavored.  The orange was more than subtle, but it wasn’t overpowering.  Now, to what made the ice cream so incredible: THE CONE.  That’s right, it was by far the best cone I’ve had in three weeks.  It had good flavor and was CRUNCHY.  (My only complaint—the very top was ever so slightly burned tasting.)  For awhile I was starting to doubt that they even made crunchy sugar cones anymore.  I’ve had so many that were stale that I was beginning to think the cone making people were only delivering them to ice cream shops after letting them sit in a warehouse for a year.  When you have a good cone, it makes eating the ice cream that much more enjoyable.  I love the last bite of the cone, with a little bit of partially melted ice cream sitting perfectly in the bottom, and you can just shove the whole thing into your mouth.  Mmmm.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 4
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall- 4.5
• Cost: $3.50