I was in Chicago a few weeks ago visiting my grandparents, and we went to a wonderful French restaurant, Marche, for dinner one night. Several people got some sort of ice cream with or for their dessert and I tasted them all. My favorites were the chocolate-peanut butter and the mint chocolate chip. The chocolate peanut butter had swirls of rich peanut butter in it and the mint chocolate chip was very very crisp and refreshing with fresh mint. The plain chocolate was kind of bland and the butter pecan was decent. If you get a chance to visit Marche, try the chocolate peanut butter ice cream. You won’t regret it.

Ice cream just doesn’t get any better than this.  I think Sebastian Joe’s Oreo Ice Cream may be the best ice cream I’ve ever had.  Just a few weeks ago I was comparing the Oreo ice cream at Sundae School (on Cape Cod) to Sebastian Joe’s.  But, now that I’ve had Sebastian Joe’s again, I really should go back and change my review.  Nothing can be compared to this ice cream.  It’s is so intensely Oreo with an amazingly smooth, but at the same time almost chewy texture.  I don’t know what else to say in this ice cream review.  If you are ever in Minnesota you must go to Sebastian Joe’s, get a scoop of Oreo ice cream, and walk around Lake Harriet.  There’s nothing more enjoyable in the world.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 5
• Cost: around $4.50 for a pint; $2.35 for a scoop

I don’t remember the last time I had the blissful experience of eating Sebastian Joe’s Ice Cream (I went to their location on Upton Ave).  Honestly,  I don’t think this place has a bad ice cream flavor.   Today I picked up a couple of pints of old favorites to keep in the freezer and try this week, but I also tried a flavor I hadn’t seen there before: Key Lime.  This stuff was amazingly sour.  I should preface my review by saying that I love sweet and sour flavor combinations. I know not all people do, but I adore them.  Sebastian Joe’s Key Lime was a little more sour than I’m used to in a sour ice cream, but it was oh so good.  I couldn’t believe how creamy it was.  It’s hard to imagine an ice cream that’s rich and creamy and sour, but it exists.  This was better than the recipe I made last month.  This is defiantly the best key lime ice cream and possibly citrus ice cream I’ve ever had.  I also ordered a homemade cone.  I was very impressed with it.  Other homemade cones I’ve had are usually a little chewy or not sweet enough, but this one was crunchy and just the prefect sweetness.  The only thing that I wasn’t used to is that it’s thicker than a normal cone.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 5
• Cost: $2.85

Mmmmm.  That’s what I have to say about Cobie’s located on route 6A just outside of Brewster on Cape Cod.  Even though this site is about ice cream, let me tell you what I had for lunch: a fish sandwich (with lots of tartar sauce) and fried clams.  It couldn’t have tasted any better (and it was cheap!)

On to the ice cream… Cobie’s had both soft serve and hard ice cream.  I was intrigued with their soft serve since they listed 24 different flavors.  I have never seen a store with more than 4 or even 6 flavors of soft serve before.  I finally settled on cranberry (since that seemed like a Massachusetts flavor).  I watched carefully to see where they stored all of the soft serve machines (since I could only see one from where I was standing).  It turned out there was only one soft serve machine and it had chocolate and vanilla.  What they did was put some soft serve in a cup and add a few squirts of a syrup mix-in (like coffee or Italian soda syrups) and then put it all in another machine that blends it and spits it out in the typical soft serve twirl.  Very intriguing.  It tasted excellent.  The soft serve was smooth and the cranberry flavor was tasty.  The cake cone was even good (and I don’t usually like cake cones).  Moreover, it only cost $2.25.  (The hard ice cream was the same price).  I don’t know where else you can find as good of soft serve at a better price.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $2.25

I recently purchased a book called “East Coast Scoops.”   It lists all of the “best” ice cream shops on the East Coast and one of the places listed is Sundae School.  Because of the book’s outstanding recommendation I made a point to find this shop.  And it was well worth the visit.

I chose Oreo Crunch, in part because I was in the mood for Oreo and in part because I think Oreo ice cream is a good way to judge a shop.  It’s difficult to make good Oreo ice cream and I can only think of one place/brand that carries Oreo or cookies and cream ice cream that’s worth eating.  That place is called Sebastian Joe’s and it’s in Minneapolis (when I go to MN in a few weeks I will officially review the ice cream for this site).

Let me say that Sundae School’s Oreo Crunch rivals Sebastian Joe’s.  It is amazing.  It is extremely Oreo flavored, with lots of chunks of Oreo swirled throughout.  Also, the ice cream base isn’t plain vanilla (like many cookies and cream ice creams) but it is Oreo flavored.  It is smooth and rich and the cone was excellent.  If you are ever on Cape Cod be sure to go to Sundae School.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 5
• Cost: 2.70

On the way out of Provincetown today we made a stop at Turner’s Candy and Ice Cream.  I ordered the White Pistachio and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is more vanilla flavored than other pistachio ice creams I’ve tasted and has many chunks of pistachio.  I was especially impressed with the smoothness of the ice cream.  Turner’s wasn’t quite as good as the other shops in Provincetown, but it was still much better than most store bought ice cream.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Cone: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.25

Last night when I was looking for ice cream I passed up Lewis Brothers because we were trying to meet up with some people and the Lewis Brothers’ line was way too long.  Tonight the line was just as long, but I had time to wait.  I ordered White Russian.  It has a strong Kahlua flavor and is incredibly smooth.  The cone is one of the best I’ve tasted since starting this reviewing process.  I just can’t get over the number of quality ice cream shops on Cape Cod.  At this rate all of the shops are going to get outstanding ratings.

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

Twisted Sisters serves a variety of food including pretzels and pizza.  I was too full from dinner to try anything but ice cream, although it all looked wonderful.  Feeling indecisive about which ice cream to try I asked the server what she recommended.  Without pause she said “Almond Joy.”  So I went with her advice.  I know not all people like Almond Joys, bur for those who do this is an awesome treat.  Twisted Sisters’ Almond Joy ice cream tastes just like an Almond Joy.  Chocolatey, almondy, coconuty, not one flavor overwhelms the others.  Truly remarkable.  I may have to look up some recipes to try to make something like this at home.

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

Oh how I have missed Culver’s Frozen Custard.  One of the greatest things about going to the cabin has always been stopping at Culver’s in Buffalo on the way.  Culver’s is a Wisconsin based family owned chain.  The always have three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and the flavor of the day.  Today I mixed it up a little bit and got the Turtle Sundae.  This sundae has vanilla custard topped with caramelized pecans, hot fudge, caramel, and a cherry.  It is absolutely divine.  The custard by itself is unbelievably smooth and dense and rich; which the toppings it gets that much better.  This will always be one of my favorite ice cream treats.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 5
• Cost: $3.99

Sorbet doesn’t get much better than this.  Sweet and sour, smooth, fruity, and intense, Sonny’s Blood Orange Sorbet is fantastic.

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

• Overall: 5

I’m in Minneapolis this weekend for my mom’s birthday. Tonight we went to a nice restaurant in Eden Prairie called Wildfire. After stuffing myself with too much “regular” food, it came time for dessert. Among the desserts we ordered were ice cream sandwiches. These weren’t ordinary ice cream sandwiches, but sandwiches made from Ghirardelli brownies, snickers, and vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was homemade from a catering place (Diana’s?) in Bloomington. Overall, it was an excellent dessert (and restaurant) that I would highly recommend if you ever are in Minneapolis.

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

Since my hotel has internet access, I decided to use Google Maps to plot my hotel’s address and search for “ice cream” in nearby businesses. Located less than ¼ mile from the hotel, Terrace Ice Cream Parlour at 101 East Franklin Street seemed to be the best choice Google gave me.

After the previous night’s presentation given by a Richmond police Major about the exceptionally high (though dropping) homicide rate of the city, my imagination implored me to walk quickly in the growing darkness toward my destination avoiding eye contact with all potential murders. I arrived at 101 Franklin to discover a stunning hotel the midst of abandoned businesses and dilapidated buildings. Clearly the most upscale and haughty of the hotels in Richmond, the Jefferson Hotel was incredibly imposing and most certainly was home to “Terrace Parlour”. Two different bell men rushed to open what seemed to be an automatic door. Inside this classy establishment I felt severely underdressed in my Khaki pants, navy blue t-shirt, Birkenstocks and messenger bag. Nevertheless, I did my best to act as though I belonged and wandered among the bouquets of flowers, portraits of Confederates, Mahogany furniture and Old Money. (And a swarm of private schooled prom kids).

I couldn’t seem to locate any ice cream parlour, though there were at least two restaurants with mains starting at $34. I decided to approach the concierge and in my best southern drawl asked if there was an ice cream shop within walking distance. (Actually, there was no southern drawl, but that would have been fun). The concierge told me that the only place he knew of was over two miles away.

Walking back to the hotel, cursing Google Maps for the lack of Terrace Parlour (and myself for not calling first), I realized that I still had not eaten dinner. I stumbled upon “3^rd Street Diner” on the corner of 3^rd and Main. It was a fun little diner with great old signage and a jukebox (and an awesome waitress with a mohawk). I ordered apple pancakes and asked for vanilla ice cream on top instead of whipped cream. The waitress looked at me like I was a little strange, told me she would have to charge me extra, and brought back my food less than 10 minutes later. As you can see this was quite a feast. The pancakes were amazing. I think they had cinnamon in them and I’m not sure what else. The apples were perfectly cooked, a little sweet, a little sour; a little crunchy, but still mushy. The ice cream was the perfect addition. Since this website is supposed to be about the ice cream, I will write about that. It was your standard vanilla ice cream. It was fairly smooth, but not the creamiest. It was extra vanilla-y and had a pretty intense New York Vanilla type flavor. Overall, I was very satisfied. Honestly, if the ice cream was too good, I think I would have felt bad contaminating it with the pancakes. (Though, it would have been hard to imagine those amazing pancakes “contaminating” anything…). All in all, it was exactly what I had hoped for and I’m glad that Google Maps Business finder failed me.

• Flavor: 3.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 3
• Originality (on my part): 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost (of just the ice cream) : $1.25

I spent some time on the internet trying to find a good ice cream shop in Dublin. I even asked the people at the hostel. The only thing I found online was a place started by two American girls—recent graduates from Brown who moved to Dublin to open an ice cream shop. We went over to the location and it no longer existed. So, we wandered around some more and came across a Haagen Dazs. I was getting a little sick of searching for ice cream, but I didn’t come to Ireland to eat ice cream I can get in the States. We finally found Botticelli Gelateria Artigianale. I ordered Gianduia which is chocolate and hazelnut. The flavor was really good and the texture was excellent. I’m sad we never found the Brown University girls’ place since it would have been interesting to talk to them, but Botticelli was outstanding.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: €2.00

Ireland really is gorgeous. Today we took a ferry out to and then biked around the Aran Islands. Truly a quaint and stunning place. There are few shops on the Island and no ice cream shops, but they do sell ice cream at the small grocery store. I got a Classic Magnum Mar. I’ve had these before when I’ve traveled and they are good. The chocolate on the outside is richer than any chocolate coating in the US- maybe the closest comparison is a Dove ice cream bar. The inside ice cream is rich vanilla with vanilla bean specks. Honestly, this might be one of the best ice cream bars out there, but it still doesn’t compare to “real” ice cream.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 3
• Overall: 4
• Cost: €1.40

It’s a gorgeous day, the sun bright in the sky and a cool breeze piercing my sunburned face. Kennedy square, named after the former US President, is overly crowded with 20-somethings. We just arrived in Galway after a 6 hour drive from Dingle stopping along the way the magnificent Cliffs of Moher. Bailey’s Irish Cream from Relish Café fit right into the moment. It was smooth and creamy with a full flavor. While the atmosphere of Relish Café, located in “Super Mac” felt like a food court, outside the store was a delightful environment that made the early evening ice cream cone in Galway wholly satisfying.

• Flavor: 3.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 4
• Cone: 3.5
• Overall: 4
• Cost €1.50