This article was originally published in 2019 and most recently updated on June 25, 2026, with current information. Billie Cohen, Bailey Berg, Jessie Beck, Tim Chester, and Lucy Kehoe contributed to the reporting of this story.
Next time you’re craving a sweet scoop (or two), do yourself a favor: Skip the grocery store ice cream. At these unique U.S. ice cream shops, self-taught artisans and pastry chefs are giving America’s favorite frozen treat an irresistible makeover that you’re going to want to taste.
From out-of-the-box flavors like Red Chile Honey or Thai Rice to creative takes on classics, like an ice cream sandwich made with doughnuts instead of cookies, here are 16 unique, small ice cream shops across the nation to enjoy.
Sugar Hill Creamery, New York City
- Location: 184 Malcolm X Blvd | View on Google Maps
Petrushka Bazin Larsen and Nick Larsen opened the first Sugar Hill Creamery shop in Harlem in 2017.
Photos by Evi Abeler
Named after Sugar Hill, the legendary Harlem enclave where Black creative and intellectual life flourished in the early 20th century, this compact ice cream shop—with locations in West, Central, and East Harlem—nods to that heritage through its scoops, too. (There’s also an outpost in StuyTown.)
Flavors rotate seasonally, with selections including cream cheese ice cream with croissants and guava sauce (a tribute to guyaba y queso breakfast pastries found in East Harlem) and Cafe Touba, pairing the Senegalese coffee drink with peanut brittle, cardamom, and selim pepper brownies in celebration of Harlem’s West African culture.
Rapper and Harlem native A$AP Rocky even gets his turn in the case, with an A$AP Rocky Road flavor: milk chocolate with toasted hazelnut, marshmallow, Oreo, and graham crackers. —Katherine LaGrave
Hellenika Cultured Creamery, Seattle, Washington
- Location: 1920a Pike Place | View on Google Maps
It’s worth braving the high-season crowds of Seattle’s Pike Place Market for a stop at Hellenika Cultured Creamery, where local sibling owners Alex, Pete, and Connie Apostolopoulos churn soft-serve-like gelato from fresh local milk inoculated with Greek yogurt cultures and kefir grains.
Flavors at the blue-and-white-tiled storefront change weekly, but recent highlights have included coffee and chocolate cookie–infused Tim Tam Slam inspired by the famous Australian cookie, and Apple Pie, a spice-inflected homage to Washington’s state fruit. Go on a weekday to avoid the longest queues. —Jennifer Flowers
Cali Cream Homemade Ice Cream, San Diego, California
- Location: 425 Market St.| View on Google Maps
It’s worth lingering over the dozens of flavors at Cali Cream, where founders Juliana and Ken Schulenburg make ice cream on site daily using cream so fresh that it’s “seven days from cow to cone.” To help narrow the choices, the shop highlights its top five sellers, which include Graham Central Station, an intriguing graham cracker flavor with bits of chocolate-covered honeycomb. Other standout flavors include a deep chocolate caramel pecan, a superior butter pecan packed with hefty halves of nuts, and a unique lavender honeycomb. Depending on the season, you may also encounter Mango Watermelon Swirl (mango ice cream with watermelon, tajin, and chamoy sauce), Whatchamacallit (vanilla with extra crunchy peanut butter, caramel ripple, and chocolate-covered Rice Krispies), Oreo Caramel Latte (dark roast coffee ice cream with ribbons of caramel and Oreos), and other flavors.
Beyond sizable scoops, Cali Cream offers shakes, malts, sundaes, waffle bowls, and ice cream cakes (plus baked goods). Savor your choice at the seats outside. And if you have a canine companion, it gets a free puppy cone. You’ll find a second shop in Encinitas.—Pat Tompkins
Fortunes Ice Cream, Tivoli, New York
- Location: 55 Broadway | View on Google Maps
Pineapple Avocado ice cream at Fortunes in Tivoli, New York
Photos by Michelle Heimerman
Fortune favors the small Hudson Valley town of Tivoli—or rather, Fortunes Ice Cream does. Housed in a jolly blue former barn, this independent store is known for unexpected flavor combinations built around seasonal ingredients.
Owners Brian Ackley and Lisa Farjam traded Brooklyn for tiny Tivoli during the pandemic to open the shop, and now source dairy and fruit from nearby Hudson Valley farms to make off-beat, seasonal combinations. Recent flavors have included basil blackberry crumble, spicy mango, and celery sorbet. Even the classics get a playful twist: strawberry swirled with peanut butter and a rich vegan chocolate that holds its own against dairy-based scoops.
Humphry Slocombe, San Francisco, California
- Location: 699 22nd St. | View on Google Maps
A pint of the stuff might cost you an arm and a leg (or like, $10), but the occasional scoop of Humphry Slocombe is easily worth the indulgence. At this Bay Area ice cream shop, flavors range from dressed-up classics like Tahitian Vanilla and Vietnamese Coffee to newer innovations like dairy-free Coconut Key Lime Pie and Pink Jesus, a scoop of lavender lemon ice cream with matcha shortbread cookie pieces. Taste its creations either at the Dogpatch neighborhood store or the smaller shop within the city’s Ferry Building. There is also a store across the water in Berkeley.
Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Ice Cream, St. Louis, Missouri
- Location: 1637 S. 18th St. | View on Google Maps
Choose from naughty, nice, or vegan flavors at Clementine’s Ice Cream in St. Louis.
Courtesy of Clementine’s Ice Cream
Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Ice Cream is a micro-creamery with several locations in St. Louis whose playful flavors—which are either “naughty” (as in, boozy) or “nice” (spirit-free)—earned it a spot on Oprah’s O List in 2019. Although you’ll likely be tempted by full-dairy options like the boozy Maple Bourbon with Candied Pecans or Gooey Butter Cake (an iced take on the classic St. Louis bake), don’t sleep on its vegan flavors. Unlike other vegan options, which sometimes carry a hint of oat, coconut, or whichever milk-replacement they’ve used, these dairy-free scoops, such as the Lemon Poppyseed, could fool even the most avid ice cream lover among us.
Fifty Licks, Portland, Oregon
- Location: 2021 S.E. Clinton St. #101 | View on Google Maps
Portland is no stranger to serving up unique foods, so why would the city’s ice cream be any different? At Fifty Licks, ultra-rich custards are scooped up in flavors like Thai Rice (jasmine rice–infused cream with a hint of pandan) and Cornbread with Honey Butter. There are funky options for vegans, too. Our favorite? The fresh pineapple flavor, which is infused with Thai basil. The brand’s original shop sits on S.E. Clinton Street, but there are three other Portland locations also in operation.
Goodies Frozen Custard & Treats, Alexandria, Virginia
- Location: 200 Commerce St. | View on Google Maps
Goodies Frozen Custard & Treats sits within a renovated 1930s ice house.
Courtesy of Goodies Frozen Custard & Treats
Founder Brandon Byrd started his retro dessert business Goodies Frozen Custard and Treats by serving classic frozen custard, sundaes, and shakes from an eye-catching vintage ice cream truck throughout the Washington, D.C. area. In 2018, he found a bricks-and-mortar location: A 1930s ice house in the Old Town neighborhood of Alexandria. Today, sweet-toothed customers can order innovative concoctions like the the doughnutwich, an ice cream sandwich made with an apple cider cake doughnut and sweet potato pie custard.
Lick Honest Ice Cream, Austin, Texas
- Location: 1100 S. Lamar Blvd. #1135 | View on Google Maps
The tequila ice cream at Lick’s Honest Ice Cream is made from locally sourced Dulce Vida tequila.
Photo by Annie Ray
Since opening the doors of Lick Honest Ice Cream in 2011 on South Lamar Boulevard, cofounders Chad Palmatier and Anthony Sobotik have run a hyper-local ice cream shop inspired by their small town upbringings. Today, they operate three shops across Austin: The original South Lamar location has since relocated farther down the same street, alongside locations on Burnet Road and in Mueller (temporarily closed).
Lick draws inspiration and ingredients from within Texas to develop its seasonal menus. The dairy used in its scoops is sourced from Mill-King Market & Creamery just outside of Waco, a city 100 miles north of Austin. Funky flavors like Banana Nut Fudge and Tequila Lime Coconut also use produce (such as bananas and peanuts) and goods (Dulce Vida tequila) from the Lone Star State.
La Lecheria, Sante Fe, New Mexico
- Location: 500 Market St. | View on Google Maps
Born-and-bred Santa Fe local Joel Coleman finds inspiration for scoop flavors from his years living across the USA and farther afield as a professional chef. He’s since swapped the kitchen for the creamery, opening La Lecheria to make small-batch ice cream using organic and locally sourced ingredients.
Adventurous eaters: Keep an eye out for seasonal flavors, like Red Chile Honey, Prickly Pear Margarita Sorbet, Sweet Corn, or Avocado, which showcase Southwest flavors you wouldn’t necessarily expect to encounter in a scoop of ice cream or sorbet.
Browndog Creamery and Dessert Bar, Oak Park, Michigan
- Location: 12930 Capital St. | View on Google Maps
Bar plus ice cream parlor equals barlor, right? It does in the suburbs of Detroit at Browndog Creamery, where scoops of small-batch ice cream are mixed with booze, served flight-style, or dunked into pints of beer. There are kid-friendly treats, too, but for the over-21 set, favorite combos include the Jacked-Up Carrot Cake (infused with Jack Daniels, bits of cake, and a cream cheese swirl) and customizable floats made with Michigan draft beers.
Black Dog Gelato, Chicago, Illinois
- Location: 859 N. Damen Ave. | View on Google Maps
Sure, gelato isn’t technically ice cream—it’s a creamier, smoother, silkier dessert that incorporates less fat than American-style ice cream —but the novel offerings at Black Dog Gelato in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village easily warrant it a spot on this list.
Chef and owner Jessie Oloroso mixes up batches of the creamy Italian treat with sophisticated flavors such as Shoyu (soy sauce) Brownie and Goat Cheese Cashew Caramel. Stop by on Wednesdays for dairy-free scoops.
Franklin Fountain, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Location: 116 Market St. | View on Google Maps
At the nostalgic Franklin Fountain, workers wear old-timey outfits and serve takeaway sundaes in Chinese-food containers. Sure, the gimmicks add to the charm of the popular tin-ceilinged shop in Philadelphia’s Old City (started by two brothers in 2004), but they’re hardly necessary. The ice cream stands on its own, made with cream from local Pennsylvania farms. (All of the shop’s suppliers are listed on its website.) The menu sticks mostly to classic flavors done right—Butter Pecan, Rum Raisin, Chocolate Chip—while also offering a few modern creations, including Almond Butter Cherry, Cotton Candy, Sea Salt Caramel, and several vegan options. A second, smaller location sits just down the road.
Sebastian Joe’s, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Location: 1007 W. Franklin Ave. | View on Google Maps
Every day brings something new at Sebastian Joe’s three Minneapolis “scoop shops": the original in Lowry Hill, plus Linden Hills and Kingfield sites. That’s because the ice cream is handmade daily in small batches—and the flavors rotate. Alongside foundational flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and cookies-and-cream, the shop offers whimsical creations such as Pavarotti (vanilla ice cream with caramel, bananas, and chocolate chips) and Nicollet Avenue Pothole (a chocolate base with Heath bar, fudge truffles, caramel, and sea salt).
Wild Scoops, Anchorage, Alaska
- Location: 530 E. Benson Blvd. #7 | View on Google Maps
The sampler flight from Wild Scoops in Anchorage: Thai tea, chocolate, spruce tips, and fireweed are the flavors.
Photos by Jay Juno/Shutterstock
At Wild Scoops, many ice cream names have special meanings to Alaskans. Take for instance Redoubts Revenge—a nod to an active volcano in Alaska—that mixes chocolate ice cream with cayenne, cinnamon, and chocolate shards. Beyond the names, the ingredients are primarily locally sourced, too—from milk to add-ins like Alaska Botanical Garden herbs, Anchorage Brewing Company stout, Bridge Creek birch syrup, and even rhubarb and beets picked from customers’ gardens.
Get the homemade waffle cone (made with notes of cinnamon and star anise) topped with a scoop of fireweed—a pale purple flavor made from a local wildflower—or spruce tips, a citrusy-floral ice cream made by steeping spruce tips in cream overnight before churning. The original shop is on East Benson Boulevard, with three additional locations across the city.
Wanderlust Creamery, Torrance, California
- Location: 25404 Crenshaw Blvd. | View on Google Maps
This independent SoCal chain opened its eighth outpost in the Cali beach-town of Torrance in December 2025. True to its name, Wanderlust Creamery turns ice cream into a passport, serving globe-spanning flavors like coconut-y Sticky Mango Rice and Japanese Neapolitan, a trio of matcha, cherry blossom, and milk ice creams. Seasonal specials travel just as far: spring highlights included Taiwanese Treasure Bowl, pairing taro ice cream with boba and red bean; Lilikoi Li Hing Pineapple, a pineapple-passionfruit sorbet dusted with Hawaiian salted plum powder; and Oaxacan Dark Chocolate, enriched with toasted pepita and cinnamon in tribute to the Mexican city’s cacao traditions. Wanderlust Creamery is also in Atwater Village, Fairfax, Pasadena, Sawtelle Japantown, Venice, Irvine, and Costa Mesa.
