Ice Cream, Unique Flavors, Purveyors, Where to eat ice cream, United States, West Coast, San Francisco, CA, California, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Humphry Slocombe, Sweet Rose Creamery, Northwest, Portland, OR, Oregon, Salt & Straw, Salt and Straw, Southwest, Austin, TX, Texas, East Coast, Brooklyn, NY, New York, Manhattan, Ample Hills Creamery, Il Laboratorio del Gelato, Great Barrington, MA, Massachusetts, SoCo Creamery, Philadelphia, PA, Pennsylvania, Franklin Fountain, South, Charleston, SC, South Carolina, Roots Ice Cream, Nashville, TN, Tennessee, Ohio, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream
Sure chocolate, vanilla and strawberry will always be great basics, but we applaud ice cream shops who are willing to experiment with bolder, more inventive flavors. From Foie to Cheese to Jalapeno, here are ten places around the country the pros love to visit for both sweet and savory cold treats.
Unique Ice Cream Flavors | 10 Places the Pros Love
July 8, 2013
Photograph courtesy of Ample Hills Creamery
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Chocolate Smoked Sea Salt Ice Cream at Humphry Slocombe
Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.
West Coast
San Francisco, CA
Humphry Slocombe
“They push me out of my comfort zone and surprise me with the deliciousness!” says pastry chef Caitlin Freeman. Running the full gamut of unique flavors like Beet or Foie, or Elvis The Fat Years, Kim Malek of Salt & Straw says it is one of her favorite places in the country. “They’re not afraid to try something” she says. “They’ll do a prosciutto ice cream, where they actually soak the bone to get the flavor into the ice cream.”
2790 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
T: 1.415.550.6971 | www.humphryslocombe.com
Sweet Rose Creamery Bacon Sliders
Photograph courtesy of Sweet Rose Creamery
Los Angeles, CA
Sweet Rose Creamery
Small batch house-made ice cream using organic milk and cream, no stabilizers or ice cream bases. They also make their toppings, cones, sauces and ice cream sandwiches from scratch daily. Pasty chef Jamie Cantor of Plantine Cookies will go out of her way to get her favorite flavor, “I’ll make an excuse to drive here if they have Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream on the menu that day.”
225 26th Street #51, Santa Monica, CA 90402
T: 1.310.260.2663 | www.sweetrosecreamery.com
Northwest
Salt & Straw
Photograph courtesy of Salt & Straw
Portland, OR
Salt & Straw
Inventive savory and sweet farm-to-cone ice cream. They collaborate with local chefs to create bold flavors. Chocolate maker David Briggs of Xocalatl de David loves both their Olive Oil and their Red Velvet Cake ice creams, “It’s a cream cheese ice cream with red velvet cake swirls and it’s delicious.”
3345 SE Division Street, Portland, OR | T: 1.503.208.2054
2035 NE Alberta Street, Portland, OR | T: 1.503.208.3867
838 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland, OR | T: 1.971.271.8168
Pushcart | 330 1st Street, Lake Oswego, OR
Southwest
Ice Cream Sandwiches from Coolhaus
Photograph courtesy of Coolhaus
Austin, TX
Coolhaus Ice Cream
Local chef Paul Qui of Qui is a fan of their ice cream sandwiches sold from a food truck. The name pays homage to the Bauhaus modernist design movement and architect Rem Koolhouse.
East Coast
Ample Hills Creamery Flavors: Creamy Cyclone, Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, Hazelnut
Photograph courtesy of Coolhaus
Brooklyn, NY
Ample Hills Creamery
Small batch, all-natural artisanal ice cream. Candy maker Liz Gutman of Liddabit Sweets says it’s worth the hype, “All of their flavors that I’ve tried are outstanding, but the Salted Crack Caramel is really special.”
623 Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238
T: 1.347.240.3926 | www.amplehills.com
Il Laboratorio del Gelato
Photograph courtesy of Il Laboratorio del Gelato
New York, NY
Il Laboratorio del Gelato
Recommended by ice cream sandwich maker Julian Plyter of Melt Bakery and spice master Lior Lev Sercarz. Chef Sercarz likes their seasonality, “If the mangoes are ripe, there’s great mango ice cream. You come the next week, and there’s none.”
188 Ludlow Street, New York, NY 10002
T: 1.212.343.9922 | www.laboratoriodelgelato.com
SoCo Creamery
Photograph courtesy of SoCo Creamery
Great Barrington, MA
SoCo Creamery
Family-owned mico-creamery in the Berkshires. Chef Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar and Grill says it’s almost like gelato, “They make small-batch handcrafted ice cream with pure flavors and amazing texture. My favorite flavors are dirty chocolate, cider donut, and salted caramel.”
5 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230
T: 1.413.528.9420 | sococreamery.com
Franklin Fountain
Photograph courtesy of Franklin Fountain
Philadelphia, PA
Franklin Fountain
Ye olde ice cream parlor run by ye not so olde brothers Ryan and Eric Berley and pastry chef Sara May. Bartender Al Sotack of the Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company cocktail bar says, “It’s a turn of the century style soda fountain. They do for soda and ice cream what we do for cocktails, making everything from scratch.”
116 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
T: 1.215.627.1899 | www.franklinfountain.com
South
Roots Ice Cream
Photograph courtesy of Roots Ice Cream
Charleston, SC
Roots Ice Cream
Gourmet ice cream made with local and seasonal ingredients and sold at various farmers markets. Bartender Jackson Holland of The Cocktail Club gets his cool fix on Saturday mornings at the Marion Square farmers market, “They use vegetables and herbs and stuff that you wouldn’t expect in an ice cream.”
Downtown Farmers Market on Saturdays
Marion Square, 329 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29405
T: 1.919.413.5485 | www.rootsicecream.com
The many flavors of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Photograph courtesy of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Nashville, TN + Ohio
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Jeni’s Splendid is the answer to an ice cream lover’s ultimate fantasy. They combine farm fresh milk and cream from grass-eating cows with inventive flavors that range from Absinthe to Guava to Whiskey & Pecans. Kim Malek loves Jeni’s, “I think she does a phenomenal job. Her flavors are so fun and I like how she approaches developing her products.”
1892 Eastland Avenue, Nashville, TN 37206
T: 1.615.262.8611 | www.jenis.com
More Ice Cream Recs
Download the F.E.D. iPhone app and get more ice cream as well as restaurant, bar and shop recommendations around the country from other chefs, sommeliers and bartenders.
Photograph courtesy of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Photograph courtesy of SoCo Creamery
