Best Midwest ice cream shops keep you cool

Enjoy the Midwest's tastiest ice cream

Barb at Pumphouse Creamery

One of the best parts of summer is seeking out the Midwest's best ice cream stand, shop, parlor or drive-in. Grab a crispy, crunchy cone, pile it high with dense, sweet ice cream or tangy, refreshing sorbet. It's one of the most luscious (and cool) ways to savor seasonal fruits and flavors. 

Here are my top picks and tips for enjoying the best ice cream in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest: 

Pumphouse Creamery
4754 Chicago Ave., Mpls., 612-825-2021

The local farmers who make this ice cream shop a possibility are featured on the walls. The care shows as owner Barb Zapzalka scoops up sea salt caramel, handcrafted strawberry, blueberry buttermilk and local wild black raspberry at this little Twin Cities ice cream store. Just as good: the handmade Minnesota harvested multigrain cones. 

If you've got your dog along, you can get special cups just for him or her in vanilla or peanut butter with less sugar. Word of advice: Check their Facebook page to find out when seasonal flavors are available so you don't miss them.

Sebastian Joe’s Ice Cream Café
Among the first to up the ice cream ante, Minneapolis's Sebastian Joe's has been scooping its exquisite raspberry chocolate chip and more than 100 other flavors since 1984. You can pick from about 24 daily choices, but we never seem to get past the raspberry. It's that good.

Other temptations: Pavarotti (banana, caramel, and chocolate chips), Immaculate Confection (vanilla, honey, ginger and strudel), white licorice with freshly ground anise, and hilariously named Nicollet Avenue Pothole and Praline Home Companion. Among their sorbets, you'll find ultra refreshing and unique tastes such as orange basil, mint pink grapefruit and red papaya. 4321 Upton Ave. S., Mpls., 612-926-7916; 1007 Franklin Ave. W., Mpls., 612 870-0065

Madison's Chocolate Shoppe ice cream.

 Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream

With nationally lauded dairy program at Madison's University of Wisconsin, you know there has to be good ice cream. Babcock Hall Dairy Store, where the university makes its own ice cream (and you can see the process) has a fiercely loyal following. They do have good flavors, such as orange chocolate, but I prefer the denser, super premium Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, another Madison creation. 

Best flavor bets: strawberry lemonade (this summer's new flavor), Door County cherry, dark and rich Zanzibar chocolate, and fat Elvis (banana, chocolate, peanut butter). Some other unique options among their 110 flavors include honey ginger and horchata (a sweet Mexican rice milk). Customers also can find non-fat yogurt, soy ice cream, no-sugar ice cream and sorbets for anyone on special diets.

You can Chocolate Shoppe ice cream at its three Madison stores or in other locations such as Kalahari Resort's Sweet Shop at Wisconsin Dells, one of our family's favorite treat stops. 

Why here? Besides the ice cream, the sweets are picture-perfect and wonderfully creative whether it's candied apples or playful, googly-eyed chocolate creations. Plus you can eat your ice cream in the African-themed lobby where you might see a live tiger cub snoozing or playing.

In Minnesota, you can get Chocolate Shoppe ice cream at the The Creamery in Rushford along the Root River Trail in southeastern bluff country. It's one of my favorite areas of the state, and if you bike there from the charming hub of Lanesboro, you've more than earned a huge cone.

Ella's Deli  & Ice Cream Parlor

Another Chocolate Shoppe ice cream outlet worth mentioning is the whimsically eclectic Ella's Deli in Madison--one of the best places to dine with kids. This place is part restaurant, part toy museum and part ice cream parlor (remember the heydays of those in the 1970s?). 

Grilled pound cake a la mode.

There are moving toys and flying objects overhead (think superheroes and Harry Potter), games under glass at each table, and a bizarre, but fascinating collection of automatons including mechanical bare feet that sing. Really. There’s also a merry-go-round outside. Besides serving Chocolate Shoppe ice cream cones, they heap it onto grilled pound cake for dessert. Yep. Grilled pound cake with lots of whipped cream, too. Take a few friends or kids to help you eat it.

Michigan's divine tart cherry sorbet and ice cream

Cherry Republic's tangy-sweet cherry pie ice cream.

Across Lake Michigan, Traverse City has taunted my taste buds for years. Truly. I got hooked on its tart cherry sorbet in 2005, and finally got back for another round in June. Tangy, sweet and utterly refreshing. 

As the tart cherry capital of the country, the variations on cherry ice cream is mind-boggling. We'll take the vanilla with real chunks of cherry pie blended in, thank you very much.

Favorite ice cream destinations: The cheeky and beautifully landscaped Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor and family-run Moomer's dairy just outside Traverse City.

Grab a fresh berry shake at the family-run Peppermint Twist in Delano, Minn.

Find a drive-in

If you can't hit the road--and it's not easy with gas prices where they are--look for local drive-ins that  are as comfy and delightful as a meatloaf dinner served by Grandma. I love The Drive-In in Minnesota's Taylor's Falls with its giant root beer mug and homemade root beer. The playful pink Peppermint Twist in Delano, Minn., is just as fun and wedges into the memories of children who love its kid-friendly play and picnic areas. Best bet: fresh berry shakes.

Graeter's blackberry chocolate

Troll your local freezer cases

If you haven't trolled the freezer cases of upscale grocers such as Minnesota's Lund's or Byerly's lately, that's another sweet hotspot for cooling off. Cincinnati's hometown favorite, Graeter's ice cream, hit the cases earlier this year. They make small batches and stir in melted chocolate so it blends in as big irregular hunks you can fight over. 

I tried its trademark blackberry chocolate at its Cincinnati shop years ago, and it was as good as I remembered when I tried the pint in the freezer case. Graeter's mint ice cream is divine, as is the strawberry.

Even better: check the freezer cases of your local co-ops. They'll often carry the best locally made ice cream and sorbets.

 Please chime in with your favorites, too!

 

Where to see a moose? Drive until you lose your cell signal.

If you want to spot a moose, drive north until your phone signal stops working. Seriously. That seems to be the trick. You have to get out there on the edge of wilderness. A bit of luck helps, too.

We've now had two moose sightings this year. The first one was in January on Minnesota's Gunflint Trail. They like to escape the deep snow and lick salt along the sides of this scenic highway. The second was in June on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This moose wasn't far off the road. We were able to pull over and watch her as she watched us.

Door County with frost: Cozy and quiet

Cave County Park, Door County, Wis. Photos by Lisa Meyers McClintick.

Take in the Lake Michigan scenery and enjoy sleigh rides, skiing, wine tasting and more in the blissful quiet of winter.

At Door County's Cave Point Park along Wisconsin's thumb, Mother Nature cued up new chords on a crisp January morning. Sun warmed the water, and waves nudged wafer-thin shards of nighttime ice to the rocky shore. They shooshed forward with a rhythmic tinkling and constant crackling.

Even more alluring was the brilliant blue-green of Lake Michigan. It hugged limestone cliffs undercut with caves and a snow-white shoreline. Caribbean-colored water lapped against icicles strung as delicately as chandeliers.

Ice shove near Peninsula State Park

"She's singing," Dwight Zeller said of the lake after we ran into each other looking for good photo opportunities.

Zeller manages Door County's historic site at Cana Island Lighthouse station in the warm months, but says winter is his favorite season on the 75-mile-long peninsula.

"If you're looking for a single-word answer," he said, "it's 'quiet.'"

Grab the Sunday Star Tribune

To read my full feature on a Door County's winter vacation, check out the Star Tribune. It ranks as one of the best travel sections in the country.

This week's lead story is by Catherine Watson, the section's former editor. If I can pick one writer and photographer to guide my armchair travel to places such as Petra or Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations, she's it.

A few more Door County picks 

Best eats

It's a tie between baked goods and cherries.

Sweet treats: The Inn at Cedar Crossing's "morning rolls," an addictive and wonderfully chewy version of cinnamon buns using croissant dough. Also dangerously delicious is Skorpa, the Village Cafe's buttered, chewy twice-baked cinnamon twists.

Cherries a-plenty: From hot mulled wine and cider to cherry barbecue, pies, juice, jams, dressings and even brats, Orchard Country has it. Sleigh rides, too!

Creative haven

In all my travels, Hands-On Art Studio, ranks as one of my top 10 happy places. Admittedly, I was the camp counselor who was happy being at the craft hall all day, but this place is superb.

The converted rural barn and outbuildings hum with kids and grown-ups playing with stained glass, mosaics, metal jewelry, pottery wheels, spin-painted T-shirts and even fire as staffers teach how to handle blowtorches and plasma cutters for metal sculpture.

As tempting as it was to play with fire (it sounds cool just to claim that), I'm thrilled with vibrant mosaic mirror I chose. If you take a good friend along (that's my friend, Amy, on the right), it's even better.

My Hands-On Art Studio mirror makes me smile every time I pass it. That's what the best trip souvenirs should do.

For more info on travel to Door County, click here.

Return to Door County in the spring to enjoy its festival of blooms.