When it comes to desserts, the people of the United States have a rather high affection for ice cream. According to the trade publication Frozen Dessert Supplies, the nation is only second to New Zealand in per capita consumption. At four gallons eaten per person yearly (the nation of Kiwis consumes eight gallons per person), it’s no wonder that there is even an entire month dedicated to this love of frozen dessert – President Ronald Reagan officially declared July to be National Ice Cream Month in 1984. (Incidentally, ice cream is one of those “junk foods” that aren’t so bad for you.)
Ice cream is sold just about everywhere throughout the country – from ice cream trucks of course and at supermarkets and drugstores, highway rest stops, restaurants both plain and fancy, and ballparks (at the College World Series in Omaha, you can find this treat at Zestos) – and of course at independent ice cream shops or parlors, which are consistently some of the best places to buy everybody’s favorite frozen dessert. That’s because they’re typically small in scale, hand-crafting their wares, eschewing additives and preservatives, and offering innovative flavors. Many are also environmentally conscious and active in their communities.
To compile a list of the top ice cream parlors in America, 24/7 Tempo considered ratings and reviews on a variety of food and general interest websites, including The Daily Meal, Eater, and Yelp, as well as numerous local and regional sites. Many places listed here are family-owned, and started by individuals with a vision for producing the finest possible examples of everybody’s favorite frozen dessert. Pastry chefs or other food-business veterans launched some, while others are change-of-profession (and change of lifestyle) endeavors from those who had previously been successful in other fields.
The majority of these ice cream shops are standalone operations, though some have spawned offshoots, usually in the same town as the original. Some sell ice cream and sorbet and nothing else, while others may offer pies, macarons, or other confections. At least one is also known for its burgers and fries. (If pie’s your thing, with or without ice cream on the side, these are the best pie shops in America.)
Here are the top ice cream parlors in America:
Arkansas: Loblolly Creamery, Little Rock
- Year established: 2011
Loblolly Creamery boasts of its connections with the community and notes that it is inspired by the Arkansas seasons and the local food scene – and it has named flavors after local orchards and distilleries. The Creamery also makes its own s’mores and macarons. Reviewers have liked the ice cream flight of various flavors, with Arkansas Mud and honey green tea among their favorites.
California: The Ice Cream Bar, San Francisco
- Year established: 2012
Step back into the 1930s with this ice cream parlor complete with a working soda fountain. Among its ice cream offerings are caramelized honey, morello cherry, salted caramel turtle pecan, and blood orange passionfruit sorbet. Chocolate chip cookies (and a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich) are some of the additional offerings – and there are “boozy drinks” to boot (like a float made with that caramelized honey ice cream and Guinness stout).
California: Mother Moo Creamery, Sierra Madre
- Year established: 2011
Mother Moo Creamery, which opened near Pasadena, says its offerings are “sweets for your soul.” The shop uses dairy products from the organic Straus Family Creamery in Petaluma. One reviewer enthused, “I’m totally hooked on the [organic] triple milk.” Among the other flavors that have drawn raves include apricot crumble and corn flake.
Connecticut: Salem Valley Farms Ice Cream, Salem
- Year established: 1988
Salem Valley Farms Ice Cream, near Old Saybrook, operates under this credo: “To offer a premium product and superior service. It’s really that simple.” Besides telling its story and advertising its ice cream flavors, the shop’s website emphasizes the hiking and campsite opportunities in the region. Among its top 10 flavors are cherry vanilla, double chocolate fudge, and Purple Sable (black raspberry with large chocolate chips).
Delaware: The Ice Cream Store, Rehoboth Beach
- Year established: 1970
A seasonal ice cream shop (spring to autumn only) in this popular resort community, the Ice Cream Store proudly uses milk from Jersey cows raised at Woodside Farm Creamery in Hockessin, upstate, for its custom-made ice creams. These include such flavors as Delaware peach, pumpkin pecan, and only-if-you-dare Devil’s Breath Carolina Reaper Pepper. The store also sells a wide range of flavors from commercial producers (Turkey Hill, Hershey Creamery) and smaller independents, like Bassetts from Philadelphia (America’s oldest ice cream maker, established in 1851).
Florida: Ice Dreammm Shop, Lutz
- Year established: 2017
This locally owned and operated ice cream producer in an off-the-beaten-path strip mall in an unincorporated community just north of Tampa draws fans from all over the state for its modestly sized menu of finely crafted ice cream. Popular flavors include strawberry shortcake and chocolate bacon toffee. But proprietor Joe Schembri says, “My inspiration comes from stuff I’ve always wanted to make as well as stuff customers want me to make. Give me an ingredient, and I can make it – from carrot cake to sweet potato casserole.” (He also produces highly regarded ice cream pies in flavors such as hot fudge sundae and, for those over 21, Rum Haven.)
Florida: Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant, Dania Beach
- Year established: 1956
Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant was founded by Monroe Udell and is now owned by his daughter, Linda Udell Zakheim. The creamery’s ambiance evokes an earlier time in America, with walls lined with license plates, typewriters, and vintage record players. There are more than 50 flavors available, from the standard chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, to mocha caramel coconut crackle, piña colada, and Gator Trax (peanuts, chocolate-peanut-butter swirl, and peanut-butter-filled chocolate candies).
Georgia: Morelli’s Gourmet Ice Cream, Atlanta
- Year established: 2008
Morelli’s was opened by former pharmaceutical salesman Donald Sargent and his wife, Clarissa Morelli, and since then, it has gained notice on many “best of” ice cream shop lists in Georgia and nationwide. The shop cites its salted caramel ice cream as Atlanta’s best. Other flavors include Krispy Kreamier, with chunks of Krispy Kreme donuts; strawberry rosewater; and dark chocolate chili. The shop emphasizes its commitment to the community by supporting fundraisers for community schools, playgrounds, and childhood development centers.
Georgia: Butter and Cream, Decatur and Atlanta
- Year established: 2014
Stacy Wisniewski opened her original shop in Decatur, making her own ice cream, sorbet, sauces, toppings, cookies, and cakes. A second location, in Roswell, closed down in 2018 when its building was slated for demolition, but the same year, Wisniewski launched another one in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. Flavors include honeycomb forest, marmalade pine nut cookie, cherry pie, and two vanillas using beans sourced from Brazil and Papua New Guinea, respectively.
Hawai’i: Black Sheep Cream Co., Waipi’o and Oahu
- Year established: 2017
Tasi Reid opened her first Black Sheep when she was 21, on the site in Waipi’o where her mother had once run a smoothie shop. Flavors include banana crème brûlée, honeydew melon cream, Buttah Cakes (chunks of butter cake in a cream cheese base), and Brown and Browner (milk chocolate with brownie pieces).
Idaho: The STIL, Boise and Caldwell
- Year established: 2017
The STIL (the letters stand for Sweetest Things in Life) was opened by a couple of tech bros – Cleveland-born Dan Sell and Boise’s own Kasey Allen – and quickly became a go-to creamery in Idaho, adding three more locations nearby. “We set out to create unique flavors made from real ingredients,” they say. These include gluten-free and coconut-based vegan options and liquor-infused ice cream. Reviewers have approvingly cited such flavors as Easy Like Sunday Morning (espresso and caramel), Le Bloob (lemon blueberry pie), and carrot cake.
Kentucky: Louisville Cream, Louisville
- Year established: 2014
Louisville Cream is a small-batch ice cream company in downtown Louisville that has been locally owned and uses local milk. The creamery, founded by Darryl Goodner, Lynette Ruby, and Zach Hardin, turns out such flavors as pistachio honeycomb, bourbon baklava (this is Louisville, after all), mascarpone and strawberry, and salted butter caramel. “We make the kind of ice cream we want to eat,” they say.
CLOSED Louisiana: Ice Cream 504, New Orleans
- Year established: 2011
Self-styled “High Priest of Ice Cream” Michael Southall founded this Crescent City essential but says, “its beginnings can be traced back to a simpler time of hot summer Sundays on Aunt Ruby’s porch in Napoleonville, Louisiana,” where Ruby “taught the children to make the icy treat with fresh milk and sugar and fruits from her own backyard.” That kind of small-batch, handmade, preservative-free ice cream is what Southall makes today at 504, with such flavors as King cake with cream cheese, blueberry basil, and white chocolate mint. Sometimes, he says, he even uses fruit from Aunt Ruby’s place.
Maine: Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream, Bar Harbor and Portland
- Year established: 2005
Software developer Linda Marie Parker opened her first location in Bar Harbor “with not much of a vision except to make my favorite dessert the best way I knew how,” she says. She started out wanting to produce flavors you couldn’t find elsewhere – leading to experiments like chocolate wasabi. She still creates such uncommon flavors as Bay of Figs and coriander lemon curd, but has also gone on to perfect standards like chocolate and vanilla – and of course, blueberry, based on Maine’s most famous fruit.
Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream has since expanded and can now be found in Washington D.C., and has two locations in Japan.
Massachusetts: Christina’s Homemade Ice Cream, Cambridge
- Year established: 1983
Christina’s Homemade Ice Cream has been a Cambridge mainstay, winning kudos from publications such as Bon Appétit and Travel & Leisure. Customers indulge in about 50 flavors that include exotic offerings such as adzuki bean, ginger molasses, honey lavender, and crème fraîche – and an annual summer special of rose ice cream, made with fresh rose petals from an organic farm in Westport, Massachusetts. (Proprietor Raymond Ford also runs Christina’s Spice & Specialty Foods just next door.)
Michigan: MOO-ville Creamery, Nashville, Ionia, Zeeland, and Eaton Rapids
- Year established: 2005
Longtime dairy farmers Doug and Louisa Westendorp expanded into producing their own dairy products and opened their first outlet in Nashville. Today, the family-owned operation continues to use milk exclusively from their own Westvale-View Dairy, packaging it in both homogenized and non-homogenized form and also turning it into cheese – and ice cream. Popular flavors include peanut butter cookie dough, Almond Joy, Mackinac Island fudge, and, well, Unicorn Poo (grape ice cream with Pop Rocks and a sour swirl).
Nebraska: Coneflower Creamery, Omaha
- Year established: 2017
Coneflower Creamery was founded by Brian Langbehn, a self-described “scoopologist,” and co-owned with Katie Arant – both of whom have backgrounds as pastry chefs. Coneflower was chosen as the name because the wildflower of that name, native to Nebraska, is bright and cheery and believed to have healing properties. Classic flavors at Coneflower include vanilla bean, cookies and cream, dark chocolate, and salted caramel. Other flavors that have drawn raves from customers include brown butter almond brittle, Grandma Minnie’s lemon bar, and tart cherry crumble.
New Jersey: Torico Ice Cream, Jersey City
- Year established: 1968
Pete and Pura Berrios bought Jim’s Deli on Erie Street in Jersey City and since Pura missed the piraguas (shaved ice treats) of her native Puerto Rico, Pete started making them from tropical fruits. Soon he rebranded the deli to Tropical Delight – and then, after he had success with ice creams and sorbets made with a hand-cranked machine, he gave the place its current name. (Torico is a contraction of the Spanish “todo rico” – “all rich” or “all good.”) Today, the Berrios’ grandchildren run the operation, making flavors ranging from chocolate and vanilla to jackfruit, lychee, and avocado.
New Mexico: La Lecheria, Santa Fe
- Year established: 2016
Santa Fe native and former chef-owner of the city’s Fire & Hops gastropub, Joel Coleman left the kitchen to become an “ice creamologist,” opening this ice cream destination – where the recipe, Coleman says, is “no stabilizers, no artificial flavoring, no preservatives.” Drawing inspiration from the weekly local farmers market, he produces such flavors as butterscotch miso, green chile, red chile honey, habanero vanilla, and prickly pear margarita sorbet.
New York: Sugar Hill Creamery, New York City
- Year established: 2017
Husband-and-wife owners Nick and Petrushka Bazin Larsen did not start in the food business. He had hoped to be a comedian and she was an executive at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Their love of community, and food, propelled them to open an ice creamery in Harlem and another in 2020 (the year they began shipping their products nationwide). They then added an outpost at Brooklyn’s Time Out Market in 2021. Some of their ice cream flavor names are an homage to pop culture, like Andy Griffith (pure vanilla, what else?) and Neneh Cherry (nuts and cherries), named after the Scandinavian pop singer and stepdaughter of jazz trumpeter Don Cherry.
New York: Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream, New York City
- Year established: 2014
Pastry chef Nicholas Morgenstern opened this soda-fountain type of establishment that focuses on ice cream but offers other delicious bites like smashburgers, fries, and pies, ice cream-based and otherwise. His professed mission is “serving texture-driven small-batch ice creams with a renewed attention to flavor and palate.” Among the more unusual flavors are durian banana, chai lemon caramel, coconut cold brew, and strawberry pink peppercorn. (There’s also a spinoff location, dubbed Morgenstern’s Bananas, featuring soft serve ice cream with assorted toppings and dips.)
Oregon: Fifty Licks, Portland
- Year established: 2009
Fifty Licks owner Chad Draizin was a brewer who transitioned to running an ice cream truck – which then spawned three brick-and-mortar locations around town. Fashioning his frozen desserts with local ingredients and cage-free egg yolks, Draizin produces such flavors as Oregon strawberry, black sesame (“kinda peanut butter-y [without the peanuts]”), cornbread honey butter, meadowfoam honey (which comes from the wildflower of the same name), and several vegan choices, including coconut lemon saffron and mango sticky rice.
Texas: Amy’s Ice Creams, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston
- Year established: 1984
Amy’s Ice Creams originated in Austin and today has spread throughout the city and established outposts in San Antonio and Houston. Its website touts its celebrated Mexican vanilla ice cream – its best-seller – as well as dairy-free fruit ices and frozen yogurt. The company says it has more than 350 flavors in its rotation, though. Among them are standards like coffee, strawberry, and Belgian chocolate. Specialty flavors include white coffee crunch, roasted cherry, Rice Krispie treat, German chocolate cake, and key lime pie.
Wisconsin: Kelley Country Creamery, Fond du Lac
- Year established: 2010
Kelley Country Creamery claims it has the “best ice cream in the middle of nowhere,” but for the Kelley family, Fond du Lac is more than nowhere: It’s home. Kelleys have been part of the Irish population of the Fond du Lac region for 150 years. Today, Karen and Tim Kelley and their five children operate a 200-acre farmstead dairy here and tend to the 65 Holstein cows that provide the milk for their creamery. Among the flavors that can be found are apple raisin strudel, banana cream pie, Mexican hot chocolate, coffee toffee, and jalapeño.
Wisconsin: Purple Door Ice Cream, Milwaukee
- Year established: 2011
Owning an ice cream business had been a childhood dream of Lauren’s, and she, together with her husband Steve Schultz, started the Purple Door, initially selling wholesale only to local grocers and restaurants. They later opened a retail shop in Walker’s Point – Milwaukee’s oldest neighborhood – where they offer flavors such as strawberry sour cream, brandy old fashioned, honey and black pepper, and malted chocolate chocolate chunk. They are, they say, “passionate about creating a quality, delicious product while supporting the community and respecting the earth.” (Here’s where you can find the best ice cream in every state.)