I’ve spent the summer exploring our area’s ice cream parlors and roadside stands in search of the best ice cream. I’ve spent so much time on the ice cream trail that I’m (only half-jokingly) calling the project The Journal News Ice Cream Odyssey.While eating hundreds of spoonfuls of ice cream, I was bound to discover some great spots along the way. Some of them are featured in your local Sunday Express sections today. Most of them are featured on the Small Bites blog — with tons of photos. And some of them are featured here in Life&Style. These, I must admit, are my favorites.
So here’s the scoop on the best scoops I ate this summer:
Best Chocolate
The flavor known as Killer Chocolate, from Jane’s Ice Cream of Kingston, is a chocolate lover’s dream. It’s available at The Cupcake Kitchen and, when in rotation, at Temptation Café and the Palisades Market.
Honorable Mention: Abbott’s Frozen Custard. Don’t miss the chocolate almond, creamy custard studded with crisp whole nuts.
Best Vanilla
The Blue Pig’s vanilla is creamy with a subtle vanilla flavor that allows the taste of fresh dairy to shine.
Honorable Mention: Gifford’s vanilla ice cream, available at the Purple Monkey, makes a great canvas for chocolate sauce and other toppings.
Best Coffee Flavor
A tie between Longford’s Mud Pie, a coffee ice cream mixed with Oreos and fudge, and Jane’s cappuccino Kahlua (in rotation at the Cupcake Kitchen, Temptations Cafe and Palisades Market), a coffee ice cream studded with bits of old-fashioned coffee brittle.wow gold
Jane’s cappuccino Kahlua is in flavor rotation at The Cupcake Kitchen,
Temptations Cafe and Palisades Market.
Best Specialty Flavor
A tie between Chongos ice cream at Palateria Fernandez, based on the Mexican dessert pudding made with curdled milk, cinnamon and sugar; and maple walnut ice cream from the Blue Pig, packed with roasted walnuts and an authentic maple flavor.
Honorable mention: Palateria La Flor de Michoacan for the tequila ice cream, a (non-alcoholic) flavor so boozy in taste I worry about driving after having a scoop.