Five top summer ice cream destinations in the Twin Cities
On a hot summer day, you just have a craving for a scoop of cold, refreshing ice cream, right? If I am right, then I have found a few of many places just for you! I tried chocolate at every place and com- pared all of them. Let’s see which one tops them all.
Conny’s Creamy Cone
1197 Dale St N. / St Paul, MN 55117 / Phone: (651) 488-4150
Although Conny’s Creamy Cone in St. Paul may appear to be small and run-down from the out- side, it is charming and has great soft serve ice cream for your, sum- mer cravings.
I tried their chocolate kids’ cone along with a strawberry kids’ cone. The chocolate cone tasted a lot like Dairy Queen’s chocolate soft serve, but it was still great tasting. The strawberry cone was amazing. It was sweet and tasted just like a strawberry Laffy Taffy. Both of these cones cost $3.21. They both were really creamy just like the name itself. All in all, Conny’s Creamy Cone has a great vote from me.
2034 Marshall Avenue / Saint Paul, MN 55104 / (651) 603-1458
1100 2nd St. S., / Minneapolis, MN 55415 / (612) 206-3356
This spot is just 1 mile away from North Campus, across the Lake Street bridge. Izzy’s ice cream is home to the Izzy scoop. Here they top each single or double ice cream cone with a small extra scoop, which they call the Izzy scoop.
Izzy’s has over 150 flavors of hard ice cream, including blueberry cheesecake, cake batter, chubby bunny and cereal milk. I got the chocolate kiddie size and the can- dy bar ice cream kiddie size. Both were topped with a malted milk ball. The candy bar is Butterfinger and vanilla.
The candy bar was really good, but the chocolate was even better. It was super rich, decadent and creamy. The chocolate gets my vote, but they were both amazing. Izzy’s also has a location near the Guthrie Theater, perfect for visit- ing after a play. The service was great and very helpful about what was in each flavor. The price was a little bit high, $9. I would definitely recommend trying Izzy’s this sum- mer (or tomorrow)!
750 Cleveland Avenue / South St. Paul, MN 55116 / (651) 797-6428
Menchie’s is a self-serve frozen yogurt bar, less than 2 miles from South Campus. You can customize your frozen yogurt to be whatever you like, as long as you are willing to pay for each ounce, each ounce costs 51 cents.
I got two different combinations when I went to Menchie’s. The first was toasty marshmallow, chocolate and vanilla twist, and caramel frozen yogurt topped with Butterfinger, Hershey kisses, Reese’s peanut butter sauce and marshmallow sauce.
I would not recommend the toasty marshmallow frozen yogurt because it didn’t taste like marshmallows at all. It tasted like cardboard. The other combination was caramel, vanilla and chocolate twist, and original tart frozen yogurt topped with coconut, Butterfinger and Reese’s peanut butter sauce. The original tart frozen yogurt was super tart. This cost $8.28, which is a little bit high for just some average frozen yogurt.
Menchie’s also has an app where you can earn points to get free ‘Menchie’s money’. The service was all right but I still would recommend Menchie’s to anyone looking for good ice cream/frozen yogurt.
5600 Cedar Ave. S., / Minneapolis, MN 55417 / (612) 822-2040
311 W. 84th Street / Bloomington, MN 55420 / (952)888-3282
Fat Lorenzo’s gelato tasted just like the creamy and airy gelato I got on a family vacation on spring break to Italy. I got the chocolate chip and the mocha gelato.
I tried the chocolate chip at all of the places I went in Italy and Fat Lorenzo’s tasted exactly the same. The mocha was also super great. Both were very airy and fluffy, un- like ice cream, that can be dense. This gelato cost $7.78 for the small size, which is reasonable. If you are looking for a little taste of Italy, go to Fat Lorenzo’s!
490 Hamline Ave. S. / St .Paul, MN 55116 / (651)508-1469
Cold Front ice cream is an ice cream and soda shop in St. Paul near the Nook burger joint and across the street from Cretin-Derham Hall. The ice cream was out- standing; it surpassed the rest of the places I tried.
I got the Door County cherry and the Zanzibar chocolate. The Door County cherry was magnificent! It had a cinnamon flavor to it. I loved it, and I don’t like cherries at all. The Zanzibar chocolate was very rich and filling, I liked the chocolate the most because it was full of dense, dark chocolate but, both were phenomenal!
The atmosphere of Cold Front was cutesy with a little bit of trendy. I thought that it was perfect and the staff were very helpful and patient. The price was pretty good too, $7 total for the two single scoops. On the menu, they also have lots of sodas. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to try any, but I know I’ll be back.
Cold Front gets my number one vote!