7 editor-picked ice cream restaurants across 5 cities.
A guide to ice cream restaurants worth a trip, by city. We list operators, signature dishes, and the rooms locals book first.
Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream flagship on West 25th Street, the Ohio City kitchen and shop in a restored old movie theater, hand-crafts every batch and runs.
Signature: Homemade ice cream, Seasonal vegan scoops
Order: Two scoops of the seasonal flavour the kitchen is leading with, plus the kitchen tour on weekends.
Tip: Tours run by appointment on weekends; weekday afternoons stay quietest. Free Bridge Avenue parking lot behind the building.
Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream on West 25th Street in Ohio City, the Mitchell brothers' production-and-scoop room inside a former movie theater.
Try: House-made ice cream cone or sundae
A single Jeni's scoop at the Columbus North Market original counter runs under $7, the city's icon for cheap dessert at the founded-here brand.
Try: Single ice cream scoop
Graeter's at Easton Town Center is the Columbus-edge French-pot ice cream counter, churned in two-gallon copper kettles in Cincinnati since 1870.
Signature: Black raspberry chocolate chip, French pot ice cream
Order: A scoop of the black raspberry chocolate chip; it is the Graeter's signature for a reason.
Tip: Easton fills up on weekend evenings; the Bethel Road and Hilliard locations move faster.
Casa Mira has scooped turrón ice cream and cut nougat in central Málaga since 1890, a fifth-generation counter on the marble of Calle Larios.
Signature drink: Turrón ice cream and horchata
Founded in Santa Barbara in 1949. French pot method, organic local ingredients, no preservatives. State Street shop is the brand's original home.
Signature: Dutchman's Gold vanilla, Eureka lemon and marionberry sherbet, Seasonal small-batch flavours
Smoothie House on Yongkang Street in Taipei runs the queue mango snowflake ice in summer, mango ice cream over xue hua bing with condensed milk.
Signature: Mango snowflake ice, Strawberry shaved ice
Order: Mango snowflake ice with mango ice cream and condensed milk.
Tip: Open 10:30-22:00 daily. Walk-in; mango season runs May to October.
More cities are in research. Want ice cream covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.