08/11/2026
Before I recall the Ice Cream Tour of California highlights, I want to make one thing clear: My opinion about which is “the best” ice cream is worth about as much a fallen scoop melting on the ground on a hot day. Ice cream pros have all sorts of detailed criteria for picking the best ice cream in competitions. While those criteria are refined, even those judges still have personal subjective preferences. And I’m even less professional. So I have nothing to say about “the best” and lots to say about what I really enjoyed both in terms of ice cream and in terms of the experience of visiting so many shops. (This list doesn’t include some really great stuff that I seem to have forgotten about.)
Here are my highlights in a somewhat random order:
I simply loved my visits to shops with so many different relatives – Mary, Soji, Marin, Marina, Sage, Mom, and a wide array of cousins from 0 to 75 in age-- from San Diego to Arcata. This is a family of many ice cream nuts so the tasting/testing/talking was a blast.
We had the most delightful server, Mela, at Little Fox in Encintas. She went out of her way to explain everything and talk ice cream with us for 15 minutes even though the shop was busy.
I made one of my regular pilgrimages to McConnell’s in Santa Barbara. This is widely recognized as one of America’s finest ice creams and is still my personal gold standard for super premium ice cream. This ice cream shaped my life!
Going to An’s Hatmaker in Del Mar was a unique gelato experience. They pretty much insist on giving you a tasting tour of their flavor options before you order. And this place is widely acclaimed for good reason.
There’s an ice cream shop in Hollywood that’s located in what is essentially an artificial cave. It’s called Awan. All of their ice cream is dairy-free (made with coconut milk) and yet is hard to distinguish from dairy-laden ice cream. This is not just my opinion—it was the opinion of my 7 companions (all big time ice cream consumers).
I had the most lovely conversation about ice cream and ice cream making and ice cream shops with the co-owner of Sonny’s in Sherman Oaks. Matt and I chatted for nearly a half an hour between his work scooping and making milk shakes.
There are two adorable corgi’s that are always on hand at Ecco Un Poco in LA to help their parents serve the customers and help make the gelato. Very good gelato!
Perhaps the most surprising experience was at Chinatown Scoops in LA. After tasting the Sake Kasu Bread flavor (which includes Grape Nuts cereal), I chatted with the server about their wide-ranging flavors. He informed me that the founder/owner/ice cream maker has created and served about 17,000 different flavors in his shops over 21 years in the business. Gasp!
The scoopers at the Garden Creamery in SF are trained to make the most perfectly shaped scoops I’ve ever seen.
The National Ice Cream Day celebration- with Mayor’s Proclamations- was a blast. Party hats. Four different shops in 3 hours. Much laughter with family and friends. Over consumption. A perfect day. (And the celebration was documented in three local new publications.)
The yuckiest flavor I tried was the Salted Tomato Sorbet at Ampersand in Fresno. Not my cup of tea. But that led to a vert happy visit with the shop manager, who provided me with a sample of a yet to be released new flavor: Tomato Basil Ice Cream. And I was surprised at how creamy and tasty that one was.
Speaking of interesting flavors, perhaps the most memorable very good flavor – and one that was new to me – was the Mezcal Ice Cream at Mateo’s in LA. So good I brought some home to the family. A real kick!
The video cameras rolled for interviews at both Bert and Rocky’s Ice Cream in Claremont and at Awan. Fortunately, neither interview went exactly viral (though Sarah tried!). So I am spared being labeled an “influencer.” I don’t need that level of responsibility!
I was fortunate to get to try the Miracle River flavor at Gelato 101 in Encinitas. River is a boy who was nearly killed when a car crashed into this gelato shop. After recovering, River worked with the shop owner to create a new flavor in recognition of this frightening but ultimately happy outcome. As my favorite sign in a shop says: “All you need is love … and maybe a little ice cream.”
So many ice cream people I know said I should not miss Bi Rite Creamery nor Mitchell’s. Competing legends in San Francisco. As far as I’m concerned, they’re both winners worth of their acclaim.
And then there was our visit to the iconic Fenton’s across the Bay in Oakland. The manager there was very excited about the Ice Cream Tour and gave me a Fenton’s tee shirt and insisted that we take photos together in front of their big indoor sign. (Did I mention I love ice cream tee shirts?)
Last but definitely not least: the incident at Nimble and Finn’s in Guerneville. The shop is supposed to be open till 9 pm. We arrive at 8 pm but the sign on the door says “we had to close early” because of the smoke from the nearby wildfire. (It was very smoky in Guerneville that night. Looking through the glass door, I could see some workers were still in there and I signaled to them. After some hesitation, they came to the door and I explained about the Ice Cream Tour and asked if I could just come inside for one minute to take a couple of photos. They said yes. I returned to my gang outside to ponder our next ice cream move, when suddenly appeared coming out the door one of the workers. With a huge smile, she handed me a cup of Black Sesame Brittle ice cream. Yum. In a trip with many moments of joy and kindness, this one has to be my favorite. Three cheers to Nimble and to Finn and to the lovely young woman who made my day.
PS- I learned a delicious secret while visiting the unique shop Bad Walter’s in Oakland. The secret concerns the Ice Cream at Trader Joe’s. However, I’m sworn to secrecy and will only tell with the appropriate ice cream bribe.
