Cool Treats for a Hot Summer Day

Ana Picazo - San Francisco Bay Area
July 17, 2012

There's no better way to beat the summer heat than with a scoop of cold, creamy ice cream. Whether you enjoy classic flavors like chocolate and vanilla, or gourmet flavors like rosemary or cayenne pepper, we've got you covered with the cream of the ice cream crop around the Bay Area. Here are some of the coolest places to cool down:

San Francisco: Smitten

Smitten serves the coolest ice cream in town, literally: owner Robyn Sue Goldman's one-of-a-kind ice cream machine (nicknamed "Kelvin") uses liquid nitrogen to make ice cream from scratch in 60 seconds. Each customer's order is made to order, on the spot, so they can use the freshest ingredients to make the freshest flavors—peach ginger, mixed berry lavender, honey pistachio, and malted vanilla cocoa nib, to name a few—without any preservatives or additives. The liquid nitrogen freezes the ingredients so quickly, it doesn't have time to form ice crystals, resulting in a smooth, creamy texture that has customers, well, smitten.

San Francisco: Humphry Slocombe

Thanks to the wonders of globalization, more and more parents are raising their children to explore and enjoy new tastes and flavors. If your little gourmet snacks on sushi and craves carambola, take him to Humphry Slocombe, where their unheard-of flavor combinations take ice cream to new heights. Tahitian Vanilla, Dulce de Leche, and Meyer Lemon fall on the conservative end of the spectrum, while the adventurous end consists of flavors like Boccalone Prosciutto, Government Cheese and Russian Imperial Stout. In the middle, there's everything from kid-friendly Butter Beer to Sweet Summer Corn to their ever-popular Secret Breakfast (bourbon with toasted corn flakes). And if the flavors fail to fascinate your children, the two-headed calf mounted on the wall of their Harrison Street parlor certainly will!

Burlingame: Preston's Candy and Ice Cream

Entering Preston's is like entering another era; this family-owned candy and ice cream store has an authentic fifties feel. From the gleaming white counters filled with shelves of homemade candy to the frosty vats of ice cream to the wooden benches outside, it oozes old-fashioned, small-town charm. It's the perfect place to take your little one for a scoop of vanilla, rocky road, or peppermint (plus a couple of squares of fudge for mom). Best of all, it's just a block away from the Broadway Caltrain station, so you and your little one can hop on a train and turn an ordinary ice cream run into an afternoon adventure with a sweet treat at the end.

Oakland: Fenton's Creamery

On any given Sunday, you'll find Fenton's Creamery crowded with families enjoying a classic diner menu of grilled sandwiches, burgers, and salads, but it's their ice cream creations that have kept generations of families traveling from far and near for over a century. Their homemade ice cream is rich and sweet, and their over-the-top sundaes will take your breath away. The lines can get long, but the wait is worth it—and you can always amuse yourself by watching patrons attempt the Fenton's Challenge (finish a gigantic three-scoop banana split in 20 minutes and earn a yellow "I Survived the Dive" t-shirt).

Palo Alto: Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream

Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream has been a Silicon Valley institution for over 35 years, and it's still as rich and creamy as ever. Their one and only location, in Palo Alto, serves up generous scoops of rich, creamy ice cream to kids and computer engineers alike. They produce their ice cream daily, in small batches, using locally-sourced milk and ice cream—and the locals have rewarded their efforts with numerous awards and #1 rankings. Rick's flavors range from classics and all-time favorites like Vanilla, Rocky Road and Birthday Cake, to international flavors—Green Tea, Saffron Pistachio, Ube, Macapuno, Mexican Chocolate, Kulfi—as diverse as Silicon Valley itself. And where else but a Silicon Valley ice cream parlor could you find a flavor called Computer Chip?