6 editor-picked ice cream restaurants across 4 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.
Izzy's Ice Cream on Marshall Avenue has run a small-batch ice cream counter in Saint Paul since 2000. The Izzy scoop, a tiny extra flavour on top of any cone.
Signature: Two-scoop Izzy
Order: A two-scoop cone plus an Izzy scoop of salted caramel.
Tip: Summer line wraps around the block by 19:00. Solar-powered scoop shop and the second location in Minnehaha is faster.
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.