My personal favorites, Part I

I think that a blog entry dedicated to the the great ice cream makers of the world is in order.  I'd like to pay homage to those doing great things, big and small, and maybe give a shout-out to my all time favorite ice cream treats.  


Ben & Jerry's:  
In my book, they take the cake when it comes to creative mix-ins.  Not only can they take credit for being the first to do cookie dough ice cream, but they offer over 50 creative and unique flavors, and those are just the ones that are still in circulation.  If you check out their website, you can see all the flavors that RIP in the flavor graveyard.  Besides the fact they make amazingly delicious ice cream, they've been striving to run a green company well before it was the cool thing to do.  Also, they make my favorite ice cream, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and that makes them #1 in my book.  

Häagen-Dazs: 

So maybe they don't get points for creativity, but I would argue that they have perfected the art of vanilla.  For those of you who haven't made vanilla ice cream, it's a lot more difficult than you may think.  A good vanilla ice cream is a delicate balancing act, often times swayed one way or another in the wrong direction. Too sweet, too rich, too icy, too eggy?  I'm not sure eggy is a word but you get where I'm going with that.  At any rate, Haagen-Dazs has it down and I don't know many people who would disagree with me.  


It's It: 

As a Bay Area native, I grew up enjoying these delicious San Francisco treats. After some historical research, I discovered that these babies were created in 1928 for exclusive sale at Playland-at-the-Beach, a long demolished theme park of sorts on the Great Highway.  


After Playland closed, the treats disappeared briefly, only to resurface years later on a much larger scale.  
Currently, you can enjoy five different It's It brand treats, although my favorite still remains the classic vanilla It's It.  A scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two soft oatmeal cookies blanketed in a thin coat of dark chocolate.  Each flavor in harmony with the other.  Sure you could go crazy and enjoy an It's It with mint, chocolate or coffee ice cream but I think classic vanilla is the way to go.


Nestle Drumstick:

Honestly, what's not to love about a Drumstick? It's essentially a portable sundae but instead of some boring bowl, you get a delicious crunchy sugar cone that's been lined with chocolate.  And WHO can forget about that extra chocolate that pools in the bottom of the cone, forming the most delicious and satisfying ending in ice cream cone history. Ahhh drumsticks...now-a-days there are about a million varieties but true to form, I'm a sucker for the original vanilla.  However, if you showed up with the caramel centered ones, I wouldn't turn you away.