Best ice cream in Seattle

[22tango]

There's also the dairy off of Redmond-Woodinville road. I can't remember the name of that one either. But they also have some very good ice cream.

That would be Theno's Dairy which I mentioned above! REALLY good ice cream!! Definately worth a trip.

[kiliki]

Theno's was a major destination when I was growing up in Woodinville. I wonder where they get their milk now that the cows have been replaced by tract housing...

[richards1052]

Since going to school in Boston, I've felt spoiled for ice cream.  The seriousness around and pervasiveness of good ice cream there rivals the coffee culture here.  Nothing I've had in Seattle really compares to the best of what Boston offers.

Ah, yes I remember Steve's in its first iteration (around 1977) in Davis (or was it Kendall?) Square when it was so popular that people lined up around the block for a mere i. cream cone. That was when ice cream was a communal entertainment (sigh!).

[richards1052]

The aim was to have the most simple ingredient list possible and to go for that old-fashioned feel.  As I said, we're still working the kinks out of the process. In the next week I'll be working more on running times with our machine to try and work on the texture a bit more.

As for the extreme coldness I think we'd slipped behind on production so you probably got some that hadn't had enough time in the serving freezer to warm back up to serving tempareture.  We've got a better back-stock of the stuff now so it's getting appropriate warm-up time and should now be getting served at a more friendly temperature.  I've been in contact with Gus, the owner of Toscanini's in Boston (my very favorite ice cream since I was a wee tyke) and hope to get some advice from him on it but I suspect that as long as we remain free of gum or other non-egg stabilizers there will be crystalization issues.  Dear lord what I'd do for a cone of Toscanini's right now.

In any case, the ice cream is a late addition to the line and is still a work in progress. At this point the cheese and butter is where the action is really at. Thanks all for the input - it's always good to get feedback from knowledgable customers.

Thanks for yr. response & for not taking my earlier criticism personally (as another member seems to have done).

I'd say I have 3 main criticisms of the ice cream: besides coldness which you've addressed & texture (it's just not creamy & smooth but rather more flaky) which you also mentioned, I also found it lacking in heft (perhaps too low a butterfat content?) and flavor (just didn't have enough vanilla bean for my taste). I'm glad to hear you're listening to customers & working on improving the product.

I've never had Toscanini's ice cream, but there are two excellent ice creams right here in town which I've mentioned in this thread: Dahlia's & Fran's. If you know either Tom Douglas or Fran Bigelow you might want to talk to them. They do a pretty good job with their ice creams I think.

[Blue Heron]

I don't go out for ice cream very often (in fact don't eat it very often), so please don't konk me over the head for mentioning this... but I recently had some store bought Hagan Daaz Coconut Pineapple ice cream that I thought was truly wonderful stuff. It beat the pants off any other Hagen Daaz I recall having. Nice bits of coconut and pineapple in it. Tasted restaurant quality , infact reminded me of a delicious coconut gelato/ice cream I had had at Wild Ginger back in March 25 for $25.

[skyflyer3]

I just got some Ciao Bella Gelato when I was checking out the new Whole Foods in Bellevue. Nerd that I am, I trolled every single aisle to see if there were different products stocked, and this was one of them (or maybe I just haven't seen this stuff at the Roosevelt store yet). We picked up the Blood Orange Sorbetto flavor and now it's almost gone. I ate nearly half the pint over a bowl of ripe nectarines *swoon*.

It tastes very much like the cartons of blood orange juice you can buy in little groceries in Italy. Actually, I was hoping it would taste like the Mandarino sorbetto you can get at Giolitti's in Rome. It doesn't, but it's very very good nonetheless. And pulling it from the freezer is much better than having to drive anywhere for ice cream in this awful heat with sticky leather seats and no air conditioning.

(I brought up the Rome reference because I'm hoping someone is either going to Rome or is there or has just gotten back from there and knows what flavor I'm talking about. If you are going, please stop there and get the Mandarino. It's like biting into sunshine, it's so bright.)

[richards1052]

If you are going, please stop there and get the Mandarino. It's like biting into sunshine, it's so bright.)

How lovely!

[ScorchedPalate]

I just got some Ciao Bella Gelato when I was checking out the new Whole Foods in Bellevue.  Nerd that I am, I trolled every single aisle to see if there were different products stocked, and this was one of them (or maybe I just haven't seen this stuff at the Roosevelt store yet).

I used to work for a magazine that had offices around the corner from the Ciao Bella HQ in San Francisco. Our editor-in-chief's admin, bless her, would go down there and get cases of the stuff for us during big deadlines, and cram the freezer with it.

When I noticed that they had Ciao Bella by the scoop (alongside the made-to-order crepe station!) at the new WF, I got terribly, awfully homesick. I keep meaning to stop by for a cup on my way home...

~A