25 Beloved Ice Cream Shops (Boston)

[randomness]

The July 2005 Boston Magazine listed the following 25 ice cream shops. I think it'd be fun to go visit all the ones I haven't been to, and maybe collect a few which they didn't list.

Here's the list, in alphabetical order:

• Bedford Farms, 18 North Rd. Bedford and 68 Thoreau St. Concord


• Ben & Jerry's, 174 Newbury St. and 20 Park Plaza, Boston; 36 JFK St., Cambridge


• Benson's, 181 Washington St., Boxford


• Brigham's, 109 High St., Boston; 268 Washington St., Wellesley; 1328 Massachusetts Av., Arlington Heights; and other locations


• Bubbling Brook, 1652 High St. (Rt. 109), Westwood


• Cabot's, 743 Washington St., Newtonville


• Christina's,1255 Cambridge St., Cambridge


• Crescent Ridge, 407 Bay Rd., Sharon


• Emack & Bolio's, 290 Newbury St., Boston; 736 Centre St., Jamaica Plain; 2 Belgrade Ave., Roslindale; and 1663 Beacon St., Brookline


• Erikson's,12 Great Rd. (Rt. 117), Maynard


• Farfar's, 272 St. George St., Duxbury


• Herrell's, 15 Dunster St., Cambridge and 155 Brighton Av., Allston


• J.P. Licks, 659 Centre St., Jamaica Plain; 311 Harvard St., Brookline; 352 Newbury St., Boston; 46 Langley Rd., Newton Centre; 661 VFW Pkwy., Chestnut Hill; 4A College Av., Somerville; and 451 Massachusetts Av., Arlington


• Kimball Farm, 400 Littleton Rd., Westford and 343 Bedford Rd. (Rt. 225), Carlisle


• Lizzy's, 367 Moody St., Waltham


• Mad Maggie's, 327 Main St., North Reading


• Peaceful Meadows Farm, 60 Bedford St., Whitman; Rt. 28, Middleboro; and other locations


• Rancatore's, 283 Belmont St., Belmont and 1752 Massachusetts Av., Lexington


• Richardson's, 156 S. Main St. (Rt. 114), Middleton


• Ron's Gourmet, 1231 Hyde Park Av., Hyde Park


• Shaw Farm, 195 New Boston Rd., Dracut


• Soc's, 67 Lynn Fells Pkwy., Saugus


• Sunshine Farm, 41 Kendall Av., Sherborn


• Toscanini's, 899 Main St. and 1310 Massachusetts Av., Cambridge


• White Farms, 126 High St. (Rt. 133), Ipswich

Most of the ones I haven't been to are a drive, but that's no problem.

I think we could make a serious dent in that list before the end of the summer.

Comments on these shops--or on any other shops, really--welcome.

Comments

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to be. When do we start? :-)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

When do we start?

I already have! :)

[audioboy.livejournal.com]

Mmm, Christina's ... Ohhhhhh. *drool*

I want to know when they have their Cinnamon Rice Pudding ice cream again.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Oh My, Bubbling Brook is still open? That place has been around since I was a kid.

[(Anonymous)]

that was my reaction too... I haven't been there since highschool.

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

And don't forget there's an Emack & Bolio's now in Porter Square as well.

[comicoffee.livejournal.com]

Well, I live less than a mile away from Kimball Farm...

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

W00t! me too- we should meet- i need to know more cool folk up that way.

[storyjen.livejournal.com]

Wow, three of my faves are in that list.

Herrell's - chocolate pudding ice cream. Some of the most luscious concentrated chocolate sin on the planet. My college roommate had a chocolate pudding milkshake and was up all night, man. Not to be missed.

Toscanini's - MIT's consolation for not having Herrell's in their neighborhood. What did I like there...chocolate cinnamon, maybe? There was some kind of cinnamon ice cream there that was lots of fun, as I recall. I also seem to recall an orange chocolate that was fun.

Christina's - used to be the place for weird flavors. Sex on the Beach ice cream, clam chowder ice cream (never dared to try that), green tea ice cream (not at all outre for some, I know, I know) - plus their regular stuff is good too.

Granted, most of this was 5 or 6 years ago, though I've been back to Herrell's in the past year and can still vouch for their recent quality.

I never was much for Emack and Bolio's - and I'll note that the Toscanini's in Harvard Square was originally an Emack and Bolio's, then displaced by (in my opinion) the far superior competition. But another college roommate of mine was a die-hard E&B's fan, so go figure.

Have fun! In fact, have some fun for me!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Have fun! In fact, have some fun for me!

Thanks, I will! (I mean, what a generous offer! :) )

[starheptagon.livejournal.com]

Rancatore's is apparently owned by Joe Rancatore, the brother of Gus Rancatore, the owner of Toscanini's. (I was curious when I recognized the name, so I looked it up).

Prior to being bought, Denise's had a location in Arlington, too (not just Davis Square), but it's also gone now.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I'd certainly be up for sampling more.

Cool. Let's get together sometime.

[bwilder.livejournal.com]

Do you have a bike? I will bike with you to Bedford Farms if you want this weekend. It's fun! Their ice cream is wicked good!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I don't have a bike here, unfortunately. :( But I'll go with you nonetheless, and I'd bike if I had one!

[tfarrell.livejournal.com]

They just opened an Emack & Bolio's in Porter Square.

[dana325.livejournal.com]

wow. bubbling brook. Highschool memories of peppermint stick ice cream... I don't remember their ice cream being especially fabulous. Just one of only a few things to do in town. I could be wrong though.

I've been to 8 of these..not too bad.

[ceo]

Thereis also an ice crem stand on 117 in Weston. And we can't forget Bart's, in Amherst and Noho.

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

oh yes... orange dutch chocolate, i bow down to thee.

[totient]

If you've been to Arisia's Sunday Sundae you've had ice cream from Cabot's, which in turn is apparently made by Richardson's.

The mini-Arisia Sunday Sundae featured ice cream from Herrell's, Ben & Jerry's, Toscanini's, Christina's, and JP Licks.

Soc's is a social experience; the ice cream is secondary. Likewise the Arlington Brighams is not about the ice cream. Richardson's manages to be both social experience *and* excellent ice cream.

There are of course lots of ice cream stands not listed here. The Eastern Mass Bike Map has many, but by no means all of the them. But a drive along a random secondary road is likely to turn up something good.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

Lemme know if you plan on coming up to Kimball Farm- and be ready, they have quite a line on warm evenings!

My favorite is still Cristina's, esp. the green tea or Guinness flavors.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Lemme know if you plan on coming up to Kimball Farm

Will do, but I'm not sure when you'll be around...

[bloodstones.livejournal.com]

Kimball Farms has bumper boats and mini golf. I went yesterday. I intend to go again.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Thanks for calling when you decided to go; I wish I'd been able to go.

I'm going to post about mini golf soon, but I may have said that within your hearing at the party.

whee! i scream, you scream...

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

well, you know that i'm generally up for a road trip... ;) and ice cream is a favorite pastime of mine.

a few notes:

* there are a number of places on this list that i've never been to (?!!??!!) (let's go!!!).

* herrell's is open until 1am on fridays and saturdays.

* for the pure ice cream value, rancatore's is my favorite so far, with tosci's a very close second. but their prices are... well, y'know.

* soc's is very local to me. i agree with phi, it's a study in social norms of the blue collar towns along route 1 more than it is a place to get excellent ice cream, though the ice cream isn't bad (the creaminess feels more like filler than butterfat, is the way i've figured it).

* there was a place in orange, MA on route 202 that had ice cream to die for, with prices to match.

* a bit of a hike, but *VERY* worth it: the depot on UNH campus is staffed by folks in the hotel/restaurant management course. the ice cream is top notch, portions are *huge*, and the prices are amazing. but it's 1h,15m away...

* even more of a hike, the world's best peach ice cream is found in quinnipiac, CT, near quinnipiac college university. but only during summertime...

so... name the starting location and time, preferably on a friday or weekend, and let's plot out a tour. i'll wear my expandable waist shorts, and... *grin*

Re: whee! i scream, you scream...

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

let's go!!!

Sure! Also, you have to try Cones and Mary's Dairy. Both in the Village, within walking distance of each other. I've written them both up, but I need to go back and find the entries.

but it's 1h,15m away...

That's not far. New York, that's far. Montreal, that's far. An hour and fifteen minutes is not that much longer than it took us to go from the Sunset to Berkeley over the Bay Bridge after drowning our bitter disappointment at Polly Ann's being closed in fine gelato from Mondo Gelato. :)

the world's best peach ice cream is found in quinnipiac, CT

Is it at Wentworth's?

[(Anonymous)]

Bedford Farms is certainly worth a drive. The middle of a weekday is a good time to check it out, as it's often crowded and the parking lot is a pain in the ass.

One day when I was there with some coworkers (I used to work in Bedford), one of our party gave us a whole dissertation on the differences between Ice Cream Lickers and Ice Cream Chewers. You might want to do a study as part of this project!

I would be very pleased to discover an ice cream place with pleasant outdoor seating. Standing in a long line to get ice cream and then loitering on the sidewalk or leaning on my car to eat seems lame to me.

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I didn't know there was a Mad Maggies in N Reading (I've only been to the ones on Martha's Vineyard).

If you want to go to either Beford Farms in Bedford or Kimball Farm we'd be game to join you. Or the aforementioned Mad Maggies.

Also, my absolute favourite ice cream place up here in the boonies is: Sullivan Farms Homemade Ice Cream, 276 Midlesex Rd.,Tyngsboro, Mass (http://sullivanfarmshomemadeicecream.com/about_us.html). I don't like butterscotch topping and theirs is so good I steal some from Marc when he gets it. The ice cream is excellent and it's right next to the Merrimack river, which is neat.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

If you want to go to either Beford Farms in Bedford or Kimball Farm we'd be game to join you. Or the aforementioned Mad Maggies.

Yay! Cool.

[muffyjo]

That sounds like a noble adventure to me. If I may, might I suggest we do this over a period of time rather than one day? Other than that, count me in.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

If I may, might I suggest we do this over a period of time rather than one day?

Absolutely. Driving that frantically would detract from the ice cream experience. :)

[tactical-grace.livejournal.com]

Kimball Farms is my favorite ice cream, I have to admit. The fact that they're about a mile from my house is certainly not a mark against.

Their mini-golf courses are great also.

[roozle.livejournal.com]

count me in!

I am especially interested in anything that can be made a destination of a bike trip because I need less guilt more inspiration.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

count me in!

Yay!

I am especially interested in anything that can be made a destination of a bike trip

I'd love to bike this, but I have no bike. :(

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

Emack & Bolio's has the ultimate passionfruit sorbet.

(And Tosci's has the ultimate Cocoa Pudding ice cream.)

I also recommend the Ultimate Ginger Ice Cream, at the little market in amongst food stand alley at Porter Exchange.

Astonishingly, there is also an E&B's near *me*!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Astonishingly, there is also an E&B's near *me*!

I am, in fact, somewhat astonished by that. I didn't think they'd gotten that far south.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I'm no longer much of an ice cream eater, and most places look at you funny if you request that they microwave their product for a little bit to turn it into soup...

But I confess to a definite liking for Toscanini's Hot Vanillas. Those are yummy.

[evilbunnymayhem.livejournal.com]

Worked at the JP Licks in JP... VERY tasty, still an all time favorite place for delights- banana ice cream and any of the fruitattas (slushy like drinks) is yum, mint oreo delish and the random flavors are always worth a try.

Christina's was the first place I'd ever had green tea ice cream- and it's still one of the only places I'll get it. They've got great herb-random flavors.

BUT.. I live literally 2 MILES away from Cresent Ridge. Grew up on the stuff. Lil pricy but DAMN good and the sized are huge. Cows right there and to boot.. I'm really close by!!!! *hint hint*

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I'm really close by!!!! *hint hint*

Stop hinting and pick a time! :)

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

Oh, and here's another one, since I realize it's not on your list:
http://www.microcreamery.com/ England's MicroCreamery, in Haverhill, MA. They do make their own. England is their last name. A friend of mine is the sister of the owners.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thanks!

[barbados-girl.livejournal.com]

This is an old, old post but I just found it . . .

Crescent Ridge is near where I used to live many years ago and made excellent strawberry shortcakes. Mmmm.

Not a Boston place, but of course I have to put in a plug for Ripples in Montreal--on St. Laurent across from Coco-Rico and Schwartz's. Homemade ice cream and sorbet, the grapefruit guava sorbet is the best.