I’ve wanted to try this brand of ice cream since I found out it is locally produced in Baltimore. Today, I finally discovered Lee’s Ice Cream at Shopper’s Food Warehouse in Alexandria. For only $2.50 for a quart this ice cream is a steal. You can’t even get a scoop at a shop for that price. I was amazed at how intensely caramel flavored this ice cream is. I was surprised to find the caramel filled chocolate truffles even richer than the ice cream, as the ice cream is (by itself) is so rich. However, I was a little disappointed in the texture. It’s a little icy and grainy. But, the strong flavor makes up for what it lacks in texture. I’m looking forward to the chance to try Lee’s at one of their shops.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 3
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $2.50 at Shoppers

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

The first time I had Ben and Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio was during public speaking class in high school. One of the girls in our class did a “demonstration speech” which involved mixing Jelly Bellys and Pistachio Pistachio. I haven’t had Jelly Bellys in my ice cream since then, but I still enjoy Pistachio Pistachio on an occasional basis. In fact, it is the standard I hold all other pistachio ice creams to. Pistachio Pistachio is pistachio flavored, without being overwhelming. It’s sweet without being intensely nutty. It’s creamy and there is always at least one whole nut in every bite. When it comes to pistachio ice cream, this is without a doubt my favorite.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $2.50 on special at Safeway

The chocolate fudge in Ben and Jerry’s Fudge Central is just like hot fudge. Except it’s not hot. But it is this awesome “core” in the middle of the ice creams that is rich and gooey and fudgey. The chocolate ice cream with white fudge chunks and the the vanilla bean with chocolate fudge chunks surround the fudge core. I preferred the chocolate ice cream to the vanilla though. The vanilla ice cream was overpowered by all the chocolate. While the vanilla may not have been the best part, it was still good. And I couldn’t have been happier with all of the textures and flavors. Honestly, I could have just eaten the fudge core; though mixing it with the ice cream made it even better.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.00 on special at Safeway

If you like your green tea “green” then you will like this ice cream. If you like to add lots of sugar to your tea (like me) then you may hate this ice cream. This ice cream tastes like green tea. It’s that simple. It doesn’t taste sugary and is incredibly strong in flavor. I had no more than 3 bites of this ice cream (and the last two were from me looking for the white chocolate). In my opinion the white chocolate chunks were the only good part of this gelato. But, as I said before, this Ciao Bella Green Tea gelato does have potential, if you like strong, pure, green tea.

• Flavor: 1
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 2
• Cost: $3.99 at Whole Foods

“The cupcake you eat with a spoon.” That’s the slogan for MaggieMoo’s new ice cream creations. The one described on their website is not the same as the one I got… The only option left at the Adam’s Morgan location tonight was “Better Batter.” At only $2.99 these things are a steal (compared to their $4.94 cones). The “cupcake” had a very thin chocolate cake layer at the bottom and whipped cream on top. In the middle there was Better Batter ice cream. I thoroughly enjoyed the flavor of the ice cream on the first bite, but by the last bite the ice cream tasted way too sweet. This is sugary ice cream. It does taste a lot like batter though. The chocolate cake on the bottom was good, as was the whipped cream. Overall, a tasty-treat that’s just too sweet. I look forward to trying the chocolate.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 4.5
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $2.99

I was expecting great things from Haagen Dazs’ new English Toffee ice cream; but I was sorely disappointed.  I never thought I’d say this, but this ice cream is too sweet.  Seriously, it is probably the sweetest ice cream I’ve ever had.  It is very intensely toffee flavored.  Maybe one bite would have been good; but a whole half cup was more than I could take.  As usual, Haagen Dazs produced an incredibly rich, dense, and smooth ice cream; but they came up short on the overall flavor.

• Flavor: 3
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 3
• Cost: $3.99 at Safeway

Another recipe modified from allrecipes.com. This one was much more complicated than the coconut, but not all the complicated. I modified this recipe by adding 1/2 cup unsweetened coco powder to make the base ice cream flavor chocolate peanut butter and not just peanut butter. I also didn’t use quite as many Reece’s peanut butter cups and instead added some chopped peanut butter chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Overall, I thought this was a good recipe, but a little too peanut buttery. I think I would cut the peanut butter by a quarter. Also, I wouldn’t add the chocolate and peanut butter chips, they didn’t add much for flavor and took away from the creamy texture.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 3.5
• Ease to Make: 3

When it rains, it pours. (And I’m not talking about the weather in DC this week.) It’s pouring mini ice cream containers. I went to a café around the corner from my office this afternoon and found out that they carry mini Haagen Dazs. These are a little bigger than Ben and Jerry’s minis (4.23 ounces v. 3.6 ounces). But, they don’t have the really cool tops/spoons that Ben and Jerry’s has– just plain old wooden spoons. The flavors that mini Haagen Dazs comes in are chocolate, vanilla, and dulce de leche (aka caramel). I chose the Dulce de Leche; even though the shop also had a Haagen Dazs brownie sandwich that looked excellent. In hindsight, I should have had that. The dulce de leche was very good, but it wasn’t great. The flavor was subtle and the smoothness was excellent. I’m just not sure I would get it in the future. The flavor just didn’t stand out as something I’ll ever want again.

• Flavor: 3.5
• Flavor Intensity: 2.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 3.5
• Cost: $1.97

Very Mediocre. That’s the way I’d describe Breyers Cookies and Cream. The cookies don’t have a very strong, or tasty, cookie flavor. I mean what we are really going for when we say “cookies” is Oreo cookies, right? All cookies and cream ice cream uses cookies that try to taste like Oreos. But they never seem to measure up. That is especially the case with the cookies in Breyers Cookies and Cream. They are almost flavorless and very mushy. But there are a lot of them in there, and the ice cream itself is pretty good. My only complaint about the ice cream itself (as opposed to the stuff in the ice cream) comes from a general feeling about Breyers ice cream: it’s kind of watery. I’m not sure what it is, but Breyers has always tasted a little less than creamy. It’s more like drinking skim milk when you’re used to 2% or maybe even whole. When it comes to ice cream, I usually prefer the 2%.

• Flavor: 3
• Flavor Intensity: 2.5
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 3
• Cost: $1.79 on sale at Safeway

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

I’m not sure why this flavor jumped out at me when I was browsing the freezer section at Safeway tonight. I actually had Breyer’s ice cream in my freezer that I was planning on eating, but we had to make an emergency run to the store since the dog was out of food and her “prescription dog food” for kidney disease doesn’t get in until Thursday. So, as I usually do when I’m at a grocery store these days, I went to the ice cream section to see if anything was on sale. Haagen Dazs wasn’t on sale, but the mint chip looked too good. And it was. I’m usually not a big fan of mint chip. When I was little both my mom and brother would usually order mint chip when we went for ice cream, while my dad and I would get some sort of chocolate. However, I’m glad I picked out mint chip tonight. It was some of the most refreshing ice cream I’ve ever had. It was almost like the middle of a York Peppermint Pattie. It was extremely cool. And it was smooth. And the chocolate chunks were high quality chocolate. And it wasn’t flavored with gross green coloring. All in all in was a perfect choice. My only complaint: because it’s not heavy tasting, I ate a lot more than I should have…

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 5
• Cost: $3.99 at Safeway

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

I promise after today I will start eating more “real” ice cream. There have been too many ice cream bars and other non-ice cream ice creams for my liking. This site is about ranking real ice cream. Not ice cream bars or Wendy’s Frosties (is that the plural of “Frosty”? I don’t know). So, I will be traveling less and eating, making and rating ice cream more. Also, since several people have asked how I plan on not gaining weight during the next year, I am going to start exercising everyday and cutting most meat and processed food out of my diet.

But, back to the Wendy’s Frosty. On the drive home from the conference today we made a stop at Wendy’s. I haven’t been there in awhile and I’ve always been a big fan of the Frosty. So, I ordered one and wasn’t disappointed. The Frosty in at the Wendy’s somewhere on I-95 in VA tasted just as I had remembered. Frosties (or is it Frosty’s?) aren’t known for their smoothness. They are textured with small grains of ice evenly spread throughout their thick mass. But, they melt quickly into runny pools. I love the bites where some of the Frosty is completely melted and some is still frozen. The flavor is good, nothing spectacular; possibly just good because it is familiar. It isn’t an intense chocolate flavor, though it isn’t subtle either. Overall, just as Wendy’s new slogan says, it “tastes right.”

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 2
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 2.5
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $1.12

I went to Union Station over lunch today and got gelato from a little Italian shop in the food court.  I hadn’t been to this shop before and found the pistachio gelato I ordered to be enjoyable.  It had a strong pistachio flavor and looked pretty with its intense green color.  The texture was a little icy and they didn’t have any cones.  As good as this pistachio was it doesn’t compare to Ben and Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 3
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $4.24