Dallas Ice Cream

I need some recomendations for great ice cream in the Dallas area.
Also, I am interested in the best ice cream available at grocery stores in the Dallas area. I think that Blue Bell is over-rated, so any other suggestions would be great.

[Al_Pal]

Even though it's a chain, I'm a huge fan of Cold Stone. The birthday cake ice cream (and the birthday cake remix) is RIDICULOUS!

[HalfBaked]

I shop at Braums for all my dairy except eggs - their skim milk taste like 2% and their products are so fresh.
I WAS buying my icecream there until recently - French Vanilla Premium was my favorite, but I also like the regular chocolate. And like I said, only till recently. The reason why is Central Market/Lovers Ln. OMG! They're gelato is the best ever. They have more flavors than the one in Plano and will make up a large 3 flavor carton in a jiffy. My favorites are the tiramisu, Belgian chocolate, pistachio, and cappuccino. I also like the bubble gum, but can't eat too much of it.
Cooks Illustrated taste tests says Edy's Dreamery came first in their vanilla taste test, and Ben and Jerry's Chocolate tied for first in chocolate along with Edy's Grand. I think Edy's goes by Dreyers here in Dallas, but I couldn't find Dreyer's Dreamery at Frankie Finger (TomThumb).

[teegee]

the Dreamery line was discontinued nearly two years ago

[janice3311]

I vote for Henry's in Plano. They created a flavor for my restaurant that is amazing...oatmeal cookie dough-chocolate chip. Over the top good. The guy that owns it (Henry) is a great guy, too.

[irodguy]

Absolutely Henry's is top quality Ice Cream.

[PeaPod]

I would highly recommend Wild About Harry's...It is the best! And you can get a killer hot dog!

[Betty]

My nephews expect me to have a freezer stocked with Braum's chocolate toffee when they visit from Ohio in the summers.

[interference]

A note on Braum's: they are vertically integrated, meaning that they own the whole process from dairy to retail. They milk the cows, process the milk, make the ice cream, and sell it. I can't think of many ice cream companies like that.

Regarding the late, great Talenti (which most would agree died when it left its Knox Street location for the Galleria). There is a Talenti freezer at Eatzi's... I just bought some awesome strawberry sorbet there the other day. So you can get Talenti's in uptown... you just have to eat it at home.

Blue Bell is VERY overrated.

[Tfilter6]

I agree, but it was about the first to offer a quality reasonably priced ice cream in grocery stores. For fans of the Blue Bell HomeMadeVanilla, I suggest you try HEB's premium 1905 Vanilla (1905 was the yeaar HEB started) found at Central Market or HEB stores. I have tried it side by side with BB HMV and the 1905 won that contest.

But, speaking of BlueBell, what ever happened to the Honey Vanilla flavor? It was very very good, so they quit making it.

Is Cabell's Dairy still doing business up in the metroplex? Cabell's used to have a pretty respectable Ice Cream, and their Egg Nog (awesome base only, you get to spice and spike to taste!) was absolutely out of this world. Unfortunately, I haven't found it the last time or two I've stopped in a store up there at Christmastime, so I'm not sure if they're still around. That'd be a shame, because with (Polar Bear) Ashburn's and Cabell's both gone, there may not be much local creamery action in the D/FW area anymore, at least on the ice cream front...

Microbrews are now a proven market in beer, how about microcreameries?

[Tfilter6]

Last I heard of Cabbell's, I found a Cabell's dairy (factory) on i-10 in Beaumont, but that was about 20 years ago. I did purchase some eggNog from them, great stuff.
As for ice Cream in Dallas, Central Market has, starting mid April every year, "Texas Seasons Poteet Strawberry", and any HEB store also has it in the same season, - just great stuff, and it's not expensive, under 5 bucks a carton, the ones that USED to be a half gallon.

My favorite ice cream in the Dallas area (without expanding the category to pick up gelato or frozen custard) is Old Town Creamery. It used to be located (as the name indicates) in the Old Town shopping center at Greenville and Lovers. They closed down and sold the operation to some new owners who reopened on Coit up in Plano. Unfortunately, they dropped my favorite flavor (chocolate hazelnut), but the quality and flavor selection are still very good. And, though they're not displayed, they make several Indian flavors of ice cream (that *are* ice cream, not kulfi).

As someone else suggested, Henry's is pretty good.

Scott

[LewisvilleHounder]

Hmm....someone making fresh Indian flavors and not kulfi?? What flavors are available (if you can remember)? I recently got a saffron and pistacio flavored ice cream at a market off George Bush in Carrollton. It was excellent!

I found the website shortly after I posted

http://www.oldtowncreamery.com/

It looks like they have some awesome international flavors!!

o Henry's, 2909 W 15th St, Plano, 972-612-9949, supplies quite a few restaurants around town
o Central Market has best supermarket variety incl. an xlent brand called stucchi's from michigan, pints only
o Whole Foods has its new super-premium 365 line in pints as well as premium ice cream line Boulder (in pints)
o walmart very bad but they do have big selection incl. wells' blue bunny which has A+ flavors and good value
Blue Bell blows

I prefer Blue Bell flavors to Blue Bunny. My personal preference only. Blue Bunny is a long way from Banana Split.

Hi, TeeGee. Nice to see you over here.

I've never tried Henry's but I agree on CM and WF. And with the exception of Chocolate Almond Marshmallow and Tin Roof Sundae, Blue Bell leaves a LOT to be desired.

Link: http://tgubbins.blogspot.com/

What about Wild About Harry's?

Two gelato places get pretty high marks. Talenti, which is in the Galeria Mall and Paciugo (multiple locations) are worth checking out. Central Market even has a Paciugo counter. Seems like last time this was discussed, Talenti was the favorite.

Paciugo was the Gelato I had at the American Airlines Center. The wedding cake flavor was outstanding. I will be in Dallas next week and will try to get some.

Bigray in Ok

My experiences with Talenti have been uneven since their relocation to the Galleria. They're not bad, but I'm not sure I'd prefer them over Paciugo anymore, if I were to do a side by side tasting. One annoying drawback of the relocation is that now they're in a smaller space, so they offer fewer (and therefore more accessible, less interesting) flavors.

Scott

Braum's is a small chain from Oklahoma that has decent ice cream. They also sell some grocery items and have a grill with hamburgers and other sandwiches. I had some Gelato at the American Airlines Center that was incredible. I can not remember the name but I think it started with a P and have seen it in other locations in Dallas.

Bigray in Ok