Ask George: What's your favorite brand and flavor of ice cream in a take

We queried local chefs and SLM's dining team. The most common response: "There are too many good choices."

by George Mahe

August 25, 2023

8:57 AM

Jupiterimages/istock photo

What's your favorite brand and flavor of ice cream in a take-home pint? —Riley J., Kirkwood

Great question, especially with this week's unbearably hot temperatures. Personally, I tried in vain to choose my own favorite from the indulgent 40-plus flavors that Tamara Keefe makes at Clementine's Naughty & Nice Creamery—but, in the end, I reverted to my childhood.

When I was a kid, I used to sneak chocolate-covered cordial cherries out of the holiday box from Mavrakos Candies. I haven’t sought out that sweet, fondant-infused confection in years, but my love of cherries with chocolate endures in ice cream form, specifically in Graeter’s Black Cherry Chocolate Chip, a $9 per pint splurge crammed with practically whole Northwest cherries and shards of bittersweet chocolate. (Another fave: the Super Premium Cherry Chocolate Chunk from Schnucks’ Culinaria line, another excellent rendition that’s less than half the price of Graeter’s.)

We also asked SLM’s dining team and several local restaurant owners and chefs:

Zach Gzehoviak, SLM contributor: "Jeni's Buttercream Birthday Cake, preferably packed in a waffle cone. It tastes just like you’d imagine but better. It’s also gluten-free, which makes it an excellent choice for those with sensitivities or celiac.

Bill Burge, SLM contributor: "Clementine’s crushes it across the board, but I grew up loving my grandma’s favorites like butter pecan and butterscotch. So to me you can’t go wrong with Clementine's Salted Cracker Caramel. The mix of salty, sweet, and cracker crunch always hits me like a plussed up classic."

Cheryl Baehr, SLM contributor: "If we're counting frozen custard, the clear choice for me is Silky's Classic Vanilla, which, for my money, is the gold standard of custard in St. Louis. It's shockingly creamy and luxuriously smooth—you can really taste the egg-yolk richness, which gives it an almost savory element. Although you can never go wrong rolling through the drive-thru for a quick cone, a take-away quart on the couch is the ultimate indulgence."

Dave Lowry, SLM dining critic: "On advice from counsel, I decline to answer, since the smears of Baskin-Robbins’ Rocky Road found at the site of several important art thefts over the years might unfairly implicate me."

Lynn Venhaus, SLM contributor: When available, Clementine's Blackberry Buttermilk, made with local Missouri organic blackberries and scratch-made buttermilk blended with sweet dairy. It tastes like summer! If it's not available, then my go-to is Salted Crack Caramel, the ultimate sweet-salty combo.

Collin Preciado, SLM contributor: "Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. As a kid with a psychopathic craving for all things chocolate, I used to steal my dad's pint of Chunky Monkey just to dig out the dark fudge chunks. Of course, there were always traces of the banana-flavored ice cream still on those chocolate pieces, and over time, I began to appreciate how the flavors worked together. Eventually, I stopped exclusively stealing the chocolate and started eating everything in the container. Now that I'm an adult who has to buy his own ice cream, a pint of B&J's is fortuitously too expensive for me to eat with any sort of regularity, but it's always the first thing I think of when I'm in that aisle."

Amy De La Hunt, SLM contributor: "I love all of the exotic/creative flavors at places like Clementine's and Ices Plain & Fancy, but today I’ll choose two that are both near-ish to my home: Heavy Metal Ice Cream's Summerberry Sorbet hits the spot this week. At Curichi's Cream in Brentwood, my favorite is lucuma, a Peruvian fruit that's hard to find around St. Louis.

Pat Eby, SLM contributor: "I like to visit local ice cream places to take in more than just the great tasting ice cream. I love how ice cream seems to bring out the best in people. I revel in watching happy kids and grown-ups having a great time. But when I buy a pint to enjoy at home, I’ll stop by my local Schnucks for Ben & Jerry’s, especially Ben & Jerry’s Salted Caramel Almond—it has a rich vanilla bean base with a caramel swirl, chocolate flakes, and slivered almonds."

Kevin Nashan, Sidney Street Cafe, Peacemaker Lobster & Crab, La Tertulia: "It's gotta be Ices Plain and Fancy’s Butter Pecan—it’s delicious!"

Karl Schloz, chef-at-large: "I live in the Central West End, where my fave is Jeni's Honey Vanilla, with subtle notes of honey."

Craig Rivard, Little Fox: "Haagen-Dazs Cherry Vanilla has very few Ingredients: a combination of the best vanilla ice cream with slightly tart cherries."

Logan Ely, The Lucky Accomplice, Press: "I actually like the Oatly brand ice cream, the one made from oat milk."

Anthony Scarato, Anthonino's Taverna: "My go-to has to be Schnucks Culinaria's Gooey Butter ice cream (a 48-ounce tub, but you won't mind). It’s local, with good clean ingredients, and no artificial colors or flavors. And easy to pick up since I’m at Schnucks a few times a week."

Brant Baldanza, Corner Pub, Shack, Tavern Kitchen & Bar: Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream from Ben & Jerry's. The fudge-coated waffle cone pieces remind me of eating the bottom of the cone from the ice cream truck guy when I was a kid."

Randy Arcega, Kain Tayo: "We make and sell our own brand of ice cream at Kain Tayo called Ube, which comes in three flavors: mango, ube, and jackfruit."

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Mahe is St. Louis Magazine's dining editor. Like this story? Want to share other feedback? Send Mahe an email at [email protected].

August 25, 2023

8:57 AM