ice cream

PEER REVIEWS

The Scoop on the Outer Cape’s Scoops

Independent writers give their takes on ice cream

By The Independent Staff and contributors Jul 2, 2024

Ice cream is always a good idea. But with so many choices, a good idea can easily become an intense deliberation: where is it creamiest, which flavor to choose, is the cone worth the coin? Keep your heads cool, people. You can’t traverse the whole Outer Cape and all the way to Orleans in one afternoon (or morning, or evening) asking for samples from every counter before you make your decision. Allow us to do the rounds for you. Our findings on flavor, texture, cost, general atmosphere, and dropped-cone policies are below. Take a lick. I mean, a look. —Dorothea Samaha

PROVINCETOWN

A trip to a chain operation becomes tolerable if the reward is Cherry Garcia, perhaps the best ice cream flavor ever invented. (Photo by John D’Addario)

Ben & Jerry’s
258 Commercial St.
Open Sunday-Friday, noon-10 p.m.; Saturdays 1:30-10 p.m.

By all rights, the Commercial Street outpost of Ben & Jerry’s — a franchised outlier in a town that prioritizes the oddball and singular — should not exist. It offers no local flavor or idiosyncrasy: a scoop of Cherry Garcia tastes the same in Provincetown as it does in Pittsburgh or Peoria (or from a pint purchased from Stop & Shop, for that matter).

Still, once or twice a season, I find myself ducking into that low-ceilinged entranceway next door to town hall. The shop is murkily lit and seldom crowded, though occasionally I’ll have to wait behind a visiting extended family for whom the greater Provincetown experience has clearly proved too heady.

Despite the lack of ambience, however, it’s worth it for that Cherry Garcia, which might be the most perfect ice cream flavor ever created. The brittle slivers of dark chocolate are a perfect foil for the soft sweetness of the cherries — which always yield perfectly to the tooth — and the cherry-flavored ice cream itself. (A small cup or cone costs a cool $7 after tax, or just slightly more than an entire pint at the supermarket.)

Like the ne plus ultra that is a McDonald’s French fry, it is a reminder of the pleasures of engineered food — and that despite its distinctness from the rest of the world, Provincetown is just like everywhere else when it comes to ice cream. —John D’Addario

Lewis Brothers Ice Cream
310 Commercial St.
Open daily, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

I asked the worker at Lewis Brothers to give me the best ice cream flavor, parroting a part I had heard my mom play with every waiter at every restaurant (“Just tell me, what do you think is the best thing on the menu?”).

I received a scoop of pistachio on a sugar cone, and I thought of my dad, who has a penchant for pistachios. He grew up on what I think of as Cape Cod’s West Coast counterpart: Puget Sound, Washington. The pistachio is native to Afghanistan and Iran. Above the front door of Lewis Brothers, a sign reads “New York Store.” Nothing made sense. But everything was right: the ice cream was cold, and the pistachio bits were crisp. The ice cream is homemade, prepared behind the counter. New batches are made daily.

Jeff Arch and his children, James, Katelyn, and Violet, here from Plymouth, set out from Lewis Brothers in Provincetown with their scoops. (Photo by Jack Styler)

Lewis Brothers makes ice cream worth traveling for. Mark, one of the workers, told me that one apparently affluent woman in Western Massachusetts regularly sends her private pilot to pick up a supply of their peppermint stick. And hot fudge.

Once served, the farthest the ice cream really should go is one block in any direction. Go any farther and you might be left with nothing but liquid lactose and your disoriented thoughts. —Jack Styler

The Nut House
237 Commercial St.
Open daily, 10 a.m. to midnight

The Nut House is my go-to, and not only because it’s 57 steps away from my desk at the opposite end of Whalers Wharf. It’s always been the only place out here with a supply of Toscanini’s ice cream. But a first cone of the season (one scoop on a cone is $5.85) comes with news. I hope you are sitting down B3 people because the Toscanini’s is there no more.

Those folks love Provincetown, Nut House owner Kim Leonard tells me, but driving six flavors here from Cambridge every Monday was nuts. Not to worry, says her partner and the shop’s flavor maven, Rita Bean. There’s a new triple B here, one that is “still brown butter, burnt sugar, and brownie, but with a little less of the burnt.”

The nutty ladies have teamed up with Mary DeBartolo, the woman behind those fabulous Local Scoop Strawberry Sunrise bars, and this year they’re dipping her creations exclusively. DeBartolo’s magic is in choosing local ingredients. “I want to do a beach plum,” Bean says, “but she’s making us wait until they ripen.” Meanwhile, the raisins for the rum raisin are soaked in small batch rum from Truro Vineyards.

The strawberry balsamic sounds like a classic to go back for, but roasted banana sounds weirder, in the way Toscanini’s flavors used to. I ask for a taste, braced to find it silly. It’s dreamy. Miles beyond that blended frozen banana thing that took over the internet a few years ago. Why? “The caramelization,” Rita says. It’s also delicately laced with thin shards of dark chocolate.

My friend Cooper goes for the Creamsicle cardamom. His scoop is a pale melon-orange color and it’s just as good as those bars from childhood. Better, he says: “There’s real zest in it.” Then, “Remember running barefoot on hot asphalt to catch the ice cream truck?” Becalmed, we savor our summer memories. —Teresa Parker

Provincetown Fudge Factory

210 Commercial St.
Open daily, 10 a.m.-midnight

“Why not?” I finally asked after standing silently at the counter for 20 seconds too long. I had just been informed that Fudge Factory no longer sold ice cream scoops.

Cashier Sydney Bureon explained: it had been “too much” to serve ice cream as well as fudge. My eyes darted in bewilderment around the store’s shelves of chocolatey goodness, still searching for nonexistent tubs. Noticing my desperation, Bureon pointed to a small freezer in the corner of the store. Fudge Factory had ice cream bars.

The bars are $6, and ice pops are $5, but if you live in Provincetown, Fudge Factory will give you a 20-percent discount.

I walked out of the store holding a Cookie Crusher, an ice cream bar “for cookies and milk lovers,” according to the wrapper. I bit into its sweet shell — its contents were creamy and tasted like chocolate milk.

These are Cape Cod Pops, made in Orleans with ingredients supplied by businesses on Cape Cod. The cookie crumbs on my Crusher were from Underground Bakery in Brewster.

Two days later, I was back. Bureon remembered me and asked if I had liked the ice cream bar. I scooted my next victim, a Strawberry Sunrise pop, across the cashier counter. —Kiran Johnson

Spiritus Pizza
190 Commercial St.
Open daily, 11:30 a.m.-2 a.m.

As a secular Jew with a stubbornly devout stomach, I had to make a decision. Indulging in a scoop requires a complex cost-benefit analysis: does the pleasure of ingesting ice cream outweigh the pain of digesting it? Almost everywhere the answer is yes, and the counter at Spiritus is no exception.

My sojourns to Spiritus run with the crowds: I’m usually there at the end of the night, as the bars along Commercial Street close and the gay bacchanal pours onto the stoop of the storied pizza house.

But this trip was different; I was here on business. I was a roving reporter hot on the scoop (as it were), and I had tough questions that needed honest answers. Questions like, how much is the ice cream? ($5 for a kiddie, $6 for a regular scoop, $7 for two scoops). Where is it from? (Lewis Brothers, Gifford’s, and Häagen Dazs). What’s your policy for dropped cones? (No official policy, the server at the counter told me, but “if you’re plastered, probably not. If you’re a kid, okay.”)

It was the middle of a workday, and my eyes were beginning to droop. Perhaps the server noticed. She recommended the espresso shake ($9.75), a Spiritus staple. I pondered for a moment whether a shake counted as ice cream, and, if not, whether I would be shirking my professional duty by ordering one, and whether this was a fire-able offense. But I ordered one anyway because I desperately needed caffeine, and two birds with one stone, etc. The decision did not disappoint. The shake was delicious, and I buzzed my way through the rest of the day (as did my stomach). —Sam Pollak

Twisted Pizza and Ice Cream
293 Commercial St.
Open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday to 2 a.m.; Sunday to 11 p.m.

Andrea scooped me toasted almond and caramel cashew. She nestled both scoops into a large waffle cone and shook chocolate sprinkles on top. The ice cream was sweet but spacious — too airy.

When candy is introduced into ice cream it provokes questions. How large or small are the candy pieces? What size and volume is appropriate? If there’s caramel involved, the question becomes: how much is enough without overwhelming the other ingredients? Caramel cashew went too heavy on the caramel, which crashed my senses like the time drag legend Divine drove the wrong way down Commercial Street and rammed into the hardware store. I did not see a cashew in the scoop. Toasted almond underwhelmed, but I blame the caramel in the scoop above it. Scoop order matters.

The owner told me the ice cream was made onsite, from a base supplied by Hood. I took a left out of Twisted and followed Commercial then Shank Painter all the way to Stop & Shop and grabbed a 14-oz. container of Van Leeuwen’s Black Cherry Chip on sale in the back aisle for under $5. The coral-colored container and black font caught my eye. The chips are perfectly sliced chunks and the ice cream’s consistency was just right. —Pat Kearns

TRURO

Endless Sundae
11 Shore Road
Open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday noon-5 p.m.

For those who’ve sought a cone in Truro in summers past, the ice cream truck at Truro Vineyards evokes the Ship of Theseus paradox: if the ice cream vehicle formerly known as High Tide has been painted over in vibrant new hues, stocked with flavors from a different local joint, and accoutered with unfamiliar swirling signage, is it still the same truck?

Not exactly. Truro Vineyards is doling out scoops of eight popular Lewis Brothers flavors, a variety of toppings, and ice cream and ice pop bars from the Local Scoop from the window of its adopted truck, which they’ve named Endless Sundae.

The colorful flavor board on the Endless Sundae ice cream truck at Truro Vineyards. (Photo by Sophie Mann-Shafir)

The customer favorite, according to Sophie, who scoops the ice cream, is cookie dough. But she favors black raspberry. Inspired by a fellow Sophie, that’s what I got, in a cone, with chocolate sprinkles. I didn’t drop it, but if I had, they would’ve replaced it. That’s especially true for children: “Stuff happens,” Sophie says.

What was on my mind as I ferociously licked the dripping edges of my first ever scoop of purple ice cream was whether anyone actually opts for gummy bears on their ice cream. The textures seem mismatched. As if in answer to my query, out popped a child with vanilla in a cone, the ice cream covered in gummy bears. —Sophie Mann-Shafir

Savory & the Sweet Escape
316 Route 6
Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday-Sunday; Monday and Wednesday to 4 p.m.

All week I felt dread bubbling around in the background of my thoughts. I realized on Thursday that the feeling was related to the presidential debate to take place that night. Maybe, I thought, having a giant tub of ice cream on hand while I watched would be a balm.

I arrived at Savory & the Sweet Escape around 8:40 p.m. ready to swoop in and out, but I couldn’t help but stop and inspect all the native plants I spied in the flower box surrounding the patio, like ‘Husker Red’ penstemon. I’ve been meaning to plant that one myself — it was gorgeous. The light was fading, but not gone, and the temperature was perfect, a combination that feels like vacation, even when you’re from just down the road.

Savory & the Sweet Escape beckons at sunset on a summer night. (Photo by Joe Beuerlein)

The menu inside was tall and wide. Parsing it felt like work, so I asked my helpful server to pick out a scoop (Wicked Mudd Flats, which is decadent and chocolatey and the most popular) and then to pick out another (black raspberry truffle brownie, which he let me try first: delish), both of which he plopped into a homemade waffle-cone bowl, a stack of which were on display on the counter and looked too cute to pass up.

I went back outside to enjoy the prominent row of flower containers along the curb while I savored my treat. They were reminiscent of ice creams: every flavor flower you can think of all crammed together, with the end result being fun and cheerful.

While I was finishing my last spoonful, the lights in the building suddenly went off: It was nine o’clock and closing time. In my car I turned the ignition, and the radio began blasting the debate.

While it lasted, it had indeed been a sweet escape. ––Joe Beuerlein

WELLFLEET

A Nice Cream Stop
326 West Main St.
Open daily, noon-9:30 p.m.

Getting an ice cream cone is always a spur-of-the-moment decision for me. Had I foreseen my desire for a frozen treat, I would have gotten something at Stop & Shop, where a pint costs the

same as a scoop just about anywhere out here.

When I’m evaluating an ice cream shop on the Cape, I have two criteria: how interesting the flavor selection is and how nice it is to walk around while eating whatever I’ve ordered.

On these two fronts, A Nice Cream Stop succeeds. The menu offers a lot of pastry-heavy flavors, like Toasted S’moreo (marshmallow ice cream with graham crackers and Oreos) and Stoney’s Dream (vanilla with fudge, cookie dough, and brownie pieces). I opted for the Blueberry Crumble. The one scoop serving I got (just over $7) was generous and delicious, if a little too sweet. There are plenty of beautiful places to walk around near the shop: I enjoyed my ice cream in the park behind Preservation Hall, sitting on a bench as the sun set on a warm summer evening.

One warning: it’s cash only, so I had to visit their ATM, apparently built for children carrying debit cards; it’s under an awning so low I had to crouch to use it. ––William von Herff

Bob’s Sub and Cone Family Restaurant
814 Route 6
Open daily, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

When I pulled into the parking lot, windows down, radio serendipitously blasting Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 hit “Heaven Is a Place on Earth,” the guy at the counter at Bob’s Sub and Cone asked me if I drove an old cop car. Considering the double antenna and sleek black exterior of my 1993 Cadillac Seville, that query was not misplaced, nor even the first time I’ve heard it.

I don’t. This car belonged to my grandmother, a second-grade teacher. But the allusion to an older, perhaps frozen-in-time version of America it exudes mirrored the symbolism proliferating at Bob’s itself: the American flag, the picnic table, the church across the street, the neon signs advertising ice cream and Coors Light, a Ms. Pac-Man machine inside. Bob’s was exactly what I was searching for.

I ordered a small chocolate soft-serve cone ($2.75) with a cherry shell dip (another 50 cents). As it melted all over my hands and arms, I had sensory visions of childhood visits to the Dairy Queen in my Illinois hometown. You can, it turns out, buy a specific brand of nostalgia for less than $5. (Bob’s takes cash and cards.)

As of this writing, six hours post-treat, I have discovered yet another sticky patch of melted chocolate ice cream adhered to my arm. I guess you could say Bob’s stuck with me. —Aden Choate

Two flavors plus sprinkles at Gelato Joy in Wellfleet. (Photo by Dorothea Samaha)

Gelato Joy
3 West Main St.
Open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

In all my years of eating ice cream — 21 of them, now — I’ve never been able to fully and enthusiastically claim a flavor as my favorite. “I like chunks,” I sometimes say. One of my good friends hates that word: chunks. But it can’t be helped. I like to have something to chew on.

At Gelato Joy, in the center of Wellfleet, if you’re ordering gelato (they also offer baked goods, coffee, and candy) things to chew on are a rare occurrence. That’s because gelato is supposed to be smooth. And theirs is. It’s homemade, soft and light, and full of flavor. I always order chocolate chip, the only gelato with chunks on the menu. The “chips” are actually bits and pieces, sometimes very big pieces, of milk chocolate.

On my most recent visit, I opted for two flavors in one scoop ($5.95), pairing a rich dark chocolate with a sweet, perfectly delicate raspberry. The sky was the soft blue of late afternoon, humidity held my face in its sweaty palms, and I knew it was as good a time as any to grow up a little and put out of mind my youthful desire for chunks.

Until I saw the sprinkle station, a few feet down the counter: free sprinkles in two shakers, one rainbow and one chocolate. I went with rainbow. The big sprinkles came out reluctantly, one at a time, as if they were embarrassed.

Did my gasp of joy at the sight of them betray some immaturity? That’s for me to chew on. —Dorothea Samaha

Mac’s on the Pier
At the end of Commercial Street
Open daily for ice cream, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

I wasn’t having the best morning. On the way to my office in Wellfleet, my bike chain came off. And when I fell, I spilled my thermos of coffee. I got grease on my shirt putting the chain back on and arrived sweaty and with only three minutes to spare before my first client meeting. I toweled off and logged on to find that my client had canceled at the last minute. I swore.

I needed an attitude adjustment to salvage the morning and I knew just where to get it. Back on my bike, I headed over to Wellfleet Harbor for a midmorning cone at Mac’s on the Pier: a place overlooking the harbor and Mayo Beach that could lift even Eeyore’s spirits.

Dagny Bradford serves up a Moose Trax kiddie cone with sprinkles at Mac’s on the Pier in Wellfleet. (Photo by Dorothea Samaha)

I pedaled up to the ice cream window just as the friendly server put the “Open” flag in place. I was customer number one.

She was too shy to give me her name, but since the LED ice cream menu over the window was on the blink, she walked me through my choices: 16 flavors of Gifford’s ice cream (made in Maine), two frozen yogurts, two sorbets, and soft-serve vanilla and chocolate. Cones prices range from a kiddie for $4.29 to a waffle for $7.69.

I ordered the ice cream equivalent of comfort food: a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate in a sugar cone. At a picnic table I watched the sun glint off the water and ate my cone. Once I felt the ice-cream-attitude-adjustment begin to take hold, I decided that a Mac’s whole-belly clam roll for lunch would seal the deal: it was gonna be a good day after all. ––Edouard Fontenot

A soft serve from PJ’s Family Restaurant in Wellfleet. (Photo by Molly Reinmann)

PJ’s Family Restaurant
2616 Route 6
Open daily (except Wednesday), 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

When I introduced myself to my server at PJ’s as a reporter for the Independent, I got the celebrity treatment. “Oh my god,” she said, “are you one of the summer fellows? I was just reading about you!”

With my ego so inflated, PJ’s could have served me any old thing and I might have been tempted to write a nice review. But things just got better from there. When I — a gluten-free, soft-serve-loving customer — saw the options on the flavor board, I jumped for joy. They have four flavors of soft serve: vanilla, chocolate, coffee, and black raspberry. Unlike any ice cream establishment I had yet visited on the Cape, PJ’s offered a gluten-free cake cone. The place was made for me.

PJ’s also offers 13 flavors of hard ice cream, five sundae options, a frappe, a float, and an ice cream soda. Had I had my dog with me, he would have been treated to a pup cup for $2.25.

I decided on the black raspberry in a gluten-free cone with a chocolate dip shell (total: $6.53). The first bite outdid my wildest dreams. The crunch of the hard shell followed by the cold, soft sweetness of the ice cream made for a delightful explosion of texture, temperature, and flavor.

As I nursed my melty soft serve, I asked about PJ’s policy on replacing dropped cones. My new friend and fan laughed. “I don’t know if we have a policy on that,” she said. “But I always replace them. Maybe don’t print that.” —Molly Reinmann

EASTHAM

The Landing
491 Campground Road
Open daily, 8 a.m.-9 p.m.

I don’t know what came over me. Standing outside the ice cream window at the Landing, I went fruity. Like most people over the age of reason, I veer toward the nutty, the caramelized, or the chocolate. But here I was on the road less traveled: “One scoop of strawberry,” I said (small, $5.35) then, regressing even further, “No, wait, strawberry cheesecake.”

“Purple Cow for me,” I heard Ed say. He was clearly under a similar spell. Who are these people, I thought, ordering pink and purple ice cream flavors when mocha is right there on the menu?

I blame the unreformed 1950s feeling of the place. The storybook red clapboard corner store on the road to Campground Beach made me feel like a kid, roaming the neighborhood on my bike, evading lawn mowing. You can sense the salty beach here, less than half a mile away. A dad-type walks by towing a wagon piled high with a cooler, beach chairs, buckets, and shovels. The scene is pure summer.

Kuei Chang (her favorite is rum raisin: “I like the rum”) who owns the place with her husband, Stephen Roderick (“he likes the salted caramel”), handed us our cones. “Coffee Oreo and Coconut Almond Joy are the most popular,” she told us.

The strawberry ice cream was pale pink and the cubes of cold cheesecake embedded in it were entertaining nibbles. Ed’s was good, too, as you’d expect from ice cream made at Acushnet Creamery, a small producer on the South Coast. But the whole fruity endeavor was nonetheless kid stuff.

We’re going back. We need a couple of scoops of rum raisin to put us right. —Teresa Parker

Nauset Ice Cream
4550 Route 6, Town Center Plaza
Open daily, noon-10 p.m.

This Eastham perennial favorite may have the least curb appeal of our entire ice cream survey lineup. It’s in a plain mini-mall on Route 6 that’s not changed much since the 1950s, between Town Center Wine & Spirits and the Royal Thai restaurant. But the line inside often stretches out onto the asphalt parking lot in front, and with good reason. The ice cream is homemade and excellent.

The line moves fast, even though Nauset’s servers are generous in giving out tastes to people who ponder the 26 choices as if they have never tried ice cream before. Sometimes, though, my partner noted, you really need that taste — of the pistachio, for example, a flavor that can take many forms from too-sweet green to heavenly nuttiness. Nauset’s, which is creamy white (they don’t use coloring in any of their flavors) with lots of whole pistachios, got a thumbs up. I went for mochaccino and was happy with its bittersweetness and density. The server warned me that it was on the melty side and offered to serve my cone upside-down in a cup.

All the flavors we tried were dense and soft; no extra air whipped in here. Mint chip had plenty of chips, and chocolate sprinkles added a pleasant crunch to coffee Heath (which wasn’t as generous on Heath). The “kiddie” cone or cup is large and costs $4.85; “small” ($5.85) is large; “regular” ($6.35) is huge. —Edward Miller

ORLEANS

Ice Cream Cafe
5 South Orleans Road
Open daily, noon to 10 p.m.

The boards showing homemade flavors and ice cream concoctions at the Ice Cream Cafe, which include such fanciful forms as blizzards, make decisions overwhelming for a new customer like me. Called up unexpectedly soon, I floundered at the register before ordering my classic combo: Oreo and chocolate chip cookie dough.

I admit I valued my own comfort over our readers’ curiosity in the heat of the moment, for which I apologize. The Brownie Batter Swirl, a customer favorite, according to my server, did not appear in my cone. Neither did Dirt Bomb, composed of a vanilla ice cream base spiked with cinnamon and nutmeg and muffins from the nearby Cottage Street Bakery.

Yet the usual did not disappoint. The two large scoops were great value for a small, which set me back $5.42 plus tax.

Outside, while typing notes, I fought a losing battle with the ice cream dripping down the sides of the cone. My nose skimmed the top scoop, sending me scrambling for napkins. Despite the mess, I can tell you the globs of cookie dough were bountiful and delicious and the Oreo ice cream was a dark gray, which in my mind usually indicates higher quality (more cookie, less “stuf”?). —Jacob Smollen

The Knack
5 Route 6A
Open daily, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Cape Cod talks about its ice cream like the scoops themselves are landmarks and the servers are town ambassadors. I’ve been living in Orleans for a week, and no one’s mentioned the Jonathan Young Windmill, but everyone’s talked about the ice cream. I’ve had more names thrown at me than there are sprinkles on the most flamboyant of cones, but one comes up over and over again: “You gotta go to the Knack.”

Standing at the counter I was expecting a huge menu of frozen delights, so I asked what the most popular soft serve was. “We only have vanilla and chocolate,” replied the server. “Or the twist.” It’s $4.75. And, yeah, it’s special.

I’m from the U.K., where the iconic dessert is “the 99,” a serving of vanilla with a chocolate stick. Merging those flavors in a creamy twist where the two stand separate on the cone but fold into each other in the bite? I’m never eating ice cream on a rainy British beach again.

“D’ya wanna cup with that cone?” I’m asked. I decline, but she politely insists: “It’s kinda humid today.” She was right. That light and airy scoop melted fast and that little container I didn’t think I needed saved my hands from a sticky mess. The best ambassadors use expert knowledge to save guests from themselves. The Knack’s got them. And a Cape Cod landmark in the vanilla chocolate twist. —David Marsland

Smitty’s Homemade Ice Cream
210 Main St.
Open daily, 1-9:30 p.m.

Thanks to a massive board outside the door, it is impossible to enter Smitty’s and not be ready — which is useful for an anxious panic-orderer like me. Before entering, all I had to do was pick one of the 41 homemade flavors and decide if I wanted a traditional scoop or a famous sundae. I decided on a scoop of black raspberry chip.

Inside, eight teenagers ran the ice cream operation. One of them took my order. Her friend Katie told me that Coffee Oreo was the most popular flavor, but I stuck with my decision. I paid $5.75 — in cash, as is mandatory — and put my change in the tip jar decorated with the names of the colleges the servers will attend. As a black raspberry loyalist, I almost always think it’s good. But at Smitty’s, the chip really takes the scoop the extra mile. Each bite was sweet and rich and included a thin chunk of dark chocolate, adding a crunch that made my mouth happy.

While I sat and ate my ice cream, I stared once again at the 41 flavor options and tried to decide what I would get next time. ––Molly Reinmann

Editor’s note: This article has been updated. The earlier version inadvertently left out our review of the Nut House in Provincetown.

THE ICE CREAM REPORT

Scooping Up Comfort in Cups and Cones

Where to find the twists and frills in our ice cream universe

By The Independent Jul 5, 2023

Ice cream time is best when you’re on the way home from the beach. Or sitting under the night sky. It is ideal licked for dinner, though it is also just right on the way to work. In this year’s survey of the Outer Cape’s frozen dessert possibilities, we found that, in fact, ice cream is worthy of consideration morning, noon, and night. Our reporters fanned out from Provincetown to Orleans to get these sweet scoops.

PROVINCETOWN

Bliss! P’town Frozen Yogurt
322 Commercial St.
Open daily, noon to 11 p.m.

One of the best things about adulthood is the freedom to skip dinner and go straight to dessert. When that mood strikes, Bliss is always the first place I think of. Since it’s frozen yogurt, I can rationalize by reminding myself that it’s actually good for me: all that fresh fruit! All those probiotics! (Soft-serve ice cream is on the menu, too, and though excellent it is not pertinent to this report.)

Forget whatever you’ve had at those self-service joints in suburban strip malls: Bliss’s frozen yogurt is truly supernal. It is textured yet smooth, rich without being heavy, and has just enough tang to let you know you’re eating something cultured — in both senses of the word. Pro tip: if fresh tangerine or blueberry is the flavor du jour, grab your fill while you can. Another pro tip: Make sure you have cash on hand before you order. Nothing is worse than anticipating that first tart-sweet mouthful and realizing there’s only plastic in your wallet. (Prices range from $3.25 for a kiddie cup to $5.75 for a large one; toppings extra.)

Every year I hear rumors of the shop’s imminent closing, and every year I return to Provincetown and it’s there, a still point in the turning world that is downtown Commercial Street. My first cup of the season is right up there with a dip in a kettle pond on the list of things I most look forward to. There’s a reason why it’s called Bliss. —John D’Addario

A scoop of gelato from the Blue Monkey in Provincetown. (Photo by Georgia Hall)

The Blue Monkey Café & Bistro
334 Commercial St.
Open daily, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

A statue of a bear outside the Blue Monkey Café catches my eye on the way to work. He wears a picture of freshly scooped gelato on his chest and tempts me to indulge in a 9 a.m. cone.

When I finally give in, Moraine, host and waiter, greets me with a cheeky grin and a twinkle in his eye. “I have an ice cream a day,” he says, justifying my belief that gelato is acceptable morning, noon, and night.

“This is gelato, not ice cream,” Sheneika, who has served scoops for eight summers, informs me. Before my visit, I was unaware of the distinction between the two. As it turns out, she tells me, gelato contains less air than ice cream, resulting in a slightly denser texture. I felt humbled by this gap in my scoop IQ.

I sampled several gelato flavors, all made in-house, and decided the turtle dove with maple pecans was a cut above the rest, particularly in a freshly pressed cinnamon-infused waffle cone. Among sorbets, pineapple mint was delectably summery and refreshing.

Despite a high price point even for Provincetown ($5.88 for one scoop), I left figuring my new gelato knowledge might be useful on upcoming trivia nights. —Georgia Hall

Lewis Brothers Ice Cream
310 Commercial St.
Open daily, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The building that houses Lewis Brothers is called, inexplicably, The New York Store. The words appear in quaint, old-timey text on a false façade. The whole building looks like it’s from a vintage Western. I’m a native New Yorker, and nothing about the place particularly reminds me of my hometown.

Rather, Lewis Brothers’ interior, with metal cutouts of whales lining the walls, is distinctly Cape Cod. So, too, is the business: they have only their Provincetown place and a truck in Truro. All the ice cream is handmade in-house.

The classic flavors are accompanied by some unconventional in New York, my hometown, mainstays, such as ginger and Grape Nut, and two ever-so-slightly-spiked flavors modeled on cocktails. My first scoop this summer — cookie dough — was slightly too sweet for my taste. But the coffee Heath of my second visit did not disappoint. It pairs a welcome hit of mocha with satisfyingly crunchy Heath Bar crumbles.

At $7 for a small cup, it wasn’t cheap. And I paid a 50-cent credit-card fee and spent another 50 cents to add chocolate sprinkles (another New England touch). But you’re investing in something more here: You sit on MacMillan Pier, legs dangling above the harbor, looking out at the pastel blues and purples of the sunset. A melted, sticky drop runs down the cup, over your finger, then into the water below. It’s a feeling that’s quintessentially Provincetown. —Elias Schisgall

The Nut House
237 Commercial St.
Open daily, 10 a.m. to midnight

A capsule of confection, the Nut House offers ice cream and an unusually diverse collection of sweets. Baked goods and baking apparatuses line one wall. Baskets are piled high with bags of rainbow candy and circus peanuts. At the back of the Nut House, a glowing glass case displays neat rows of chocolates. The ice cream almost disappears behind the deluge of sugary provisions.

Skeptical new customers, do not fear. The Nut House has ice cream from Toscanini’s, the beloved purveyors in Cambridge. And this year, they’ve added flavors from another high-quality source, Orleans-based Local Scoop. Flavors tend to the classic (pistachio, rum raisin), with some notable exceptions like Toscanini’s goat cheese and brownie or jelly donut from the Local Scoop.

On my second visit to the Nut House, I sought the scooper’s advice on flavor choices. He suggested the legendary Brown Butter, Brown Sugar, and Brownie, or “B3.” I settled on a small cup with a waffle cone.

I expected to find brown sugar too sweet for my taste (I fear cloying desserts). But the flavor was perfectly balanced, creamy enough to be a rich treat but leaving me still wanting more. I thanked my scooper for his guidance, running back to my car to grab tip money. Card and Apple Pay will do for the goods, but tips for the expert service are cash only. —Eden Knight

Provincetown Fudge Factory
210 Commercial St.
Open Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight, Friday-Saturday until 1 a.m.

I think ice cream has healing power. Whether I’m hot, tired, or hungry, it always gives me a second wind. I also unabashedly embrace clichés: I’m often found sniveling with a half-melted pint and a comically large spoon — it’s comfort food.

Although I wasn’t in extreme need during my visit to the Fudge Factory, I’ll admit I was a little blue. I was glad to find that, while this place may officially be a candy store, it has a counter stocked with Gifford’s ice cream at the back.

I felt compelled to sample the coffee flavor after my server, Rado, said, “People claim it’s the best.” The taste of coffee was subtle but satisfactory, good for those who like a lighter roast. Among Fudge Factory staff, the classic chocolate is a favorite. Mint chocolate chip is praised for its scoopability.

Craving a taste of home, I opted for the rocky road on a chocolate sprinkle cone. My mother used to serve up enormous slabs of rocky road for afternoon tea. My melty scoop felt delightfully nostalgic.

I left with a grin on my face, grateful for their late hours and affordable price of $4.95 per scoop and certain this was one factory I would be frequenting this summer. —Georgia Hall

Spiritus Pizza
190 Commercial St.
Open daily, 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Don’t let the giant slice hanging on the patio fool you: Spiritus serves more than mere pizza. It happens to be one of my favorite ice cream stops, in part because it’s one of the few places late-night enough for sweet-toothed night owls — and who eats ice cream before 1 a.m., anyway?

On this visit, the scooper suggested I get mint condition, sourced from Lewis Bros. (Spiritus also offers flavors from Häagen-Dazs and Gifford’s.) Tired and tousled, I gladly accepted.

She scooped it for me with her left arm, explaining that she didn’t want her right becoming disproportionately buff and had been practicing sharing the work between both extremities. Scoops run $5 for a kiddie, $6 for one regular scoop, and $7 for two — all are quite generous.

The mint base was soothing, and the little chocolate pieces embedded throughout crunched and flooded my mouth with a pleasant bitterness — 60 or 70 percent cacao, I guessed. I sat outside on the back patio, my treat aglow under the red string lights. A forgotten bocce ball sat mournfully at my feet.

When creamy cravings come calling, remember three crucial tenets before you hit Spiritus: don’t order your ice cream at the pizza counter, never get the espresso shake after midnight, and always, always bring cash. —Sabina Lum

Twisted Pizza and Ice Cream
293 Commercial St.
Open Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday to 2 a.m.; Sunday to 11 p.m.

I approach Twisted with caution. A loyal New Yorker, I am suspicious of anyone’s “New York pizza.” I rarely eat anything bearing that name outside of New York, just in case its quality forces me to relinquish my pizza-superiority-complex.

Ice cream, however, is neutral territory. Pondering my flavor choices, I watched two confident older women approach the young ice cream scooper.

“Do you make the ice cream here?” one asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Right in the back. You can ask my boss.”

“It’s OK,” the other woman said. “We believe you.”

I ordered a small cup of campfire s’mores ($5.35) — what could be more summery? As the server prepared what I felt was a slightly meager scoop, I asked him my dropped-cone query.

“If you drop it, we replace it,” he said. But don’t get it twisted: “If you’re drunk, then it’s not our problem.”

Outside, in Provincetown’s June haze, I examined my ice cream. Marshmallows swirled through a caramel-colored base. The taste: a campfire s’more, minus the heat and the chocolate. The texture: goopy. But isn’t that just like summer? Fleeting joys exist alongside unexpected disappointments. Yet when it’s over, it leaves you wanting s’more. —Eve Samaha

TRURO

High Tide Kitchen
8 Highland Road, North Truro
Open daily, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

I love a classic scoop in a sugar cone as much as the next person — don’t get me wrong. But as someone who aims to have as many summer ice creams as summer days, I sometimes crave a flourish.

Well, I’ve found the frills. They take the form of unicorn sprinkles and under-the-sea gummies and can be found at a deceptively compact aqua-blue ice cream truck nestled in the Chequessett Chocolate parking lot. High Tide was manned the day I visited by Haki, an enthusiast of ice cream and probably of most things, who’s from Bulgaria and working here for his second summer in a row.

Most popular flavor? Salted caramel chocolate pretzel. Haki’s favorite? The same, obviously. I tried it, and boy did I understand. Crunchy, silky, salty, and sweet; even my sample had all its components. I tasted a few more flavors. Moose tracks (perfectly peanut buttery), campfire s’mores, extreme chocolate.

“What makes it extreme?” I asked.

“You’ve heard of double chocolate, right?” Haki said. “Double it.” He wasn’t kidding.

There are six waffle cone flavors, from the Konery in Brooklyn, and an eclectic list of toppings. (Frills are not free. Each topping is $1 extra; a small scoop is $6.75, a large $9.)

I went with the salted caramel chocolate pretzel with chocolate sauce, made in-house.

I’ll have to venture back for the hot fudge, which wasn’t available, and which Haki says is “an absolutely separate entity” from the chocolate sauce. —Sophie Mann-Shafir

Savory & the Sweet Escape
316 Route 6
Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday-Sunday; Monday and Wednesday to 4 p.m.

Last summer, my family played a game: one of us would pick up a pint ($9) of ice cream from the Sweet Escape, bring it home, and make the rest of us guess the flavor. A dark setting is necessary for this game because the color of the ice cream could give it away. We ate ours on the patio under the night sky; but I guess for the sake of the game you could eat your ice cream indoors with the lights off.

The place’s creative flavors, concocted by owner Diane Costa, make the game fun. For example, in the lavender fig, clumps of fig dapple a lavender base for a treat combining two already elusive flavors.

The Sweet Escape’s flavors have some confusing names, so the goal is to guess the ingredients, not the name. Ryder Beach Rubble, for example, is not made from rubble collected on Ryder Beach.

My family’s favorite was the black raspberry and key lime cheesecake swirl, a flavor which, much to my dismay, was crossed out on the chalkboard when I sidled up to the counter. But then, a revelation! There on the board were black raspberry and key lime cheesecake, listed separately like long-lost siblings. What if I ordered both ($7 for 2 scoops) and swirled them together myself?

“That’s definitely possible,” the scooper at the counter told me, and it felt like I had won an entirely different game. —Sam Pollak

WELLFLEET

Bob’s Sub and Cone
814 Route 6
Open daily, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The name presents a dilemma. Should you call this Route 6 stand Bob’s, to give co-founder Bob Nelson his due? Or is it Bob’s Sub and Cone? I prefer the latter, because the “and” is important here. Sure, the menu includes 20 ice cream flavors, but they’ve got 32 different sandwiches, too. And there’s a full bar to take your family outing up a notch.

Even the décor emphasizes combination. On the walls hang ceramic fish and electric beer signs and intricate paintings of the seashore and a TV playing Divorce Court. And on each table is an arrangement of tulips.

After housing an Italian hoagie, I went around to the ice cream window and ordered a chocolate soft serve dipped in chocolate — an infantile choice, perhaps, but I believe if chocolate isn’t your favorite flavor, you’re lying.

The girl behind the counter tilted the cone over a cup as she passed it to me, aware that the ice cream was breaching its chocolate coating, endangering the entire operation. “Sorry, it’s kinda messy,” she said sympathetically.

After a few ineffectual licks, I asked for a spoon, grabbed a heap of napkins and retreated to my car. It wasn’t pretty, but it was tasty, and I left fully satisfied, having tried both sub ($13.50 for an Italian with everything, including onions, pickles, and hot peppers; “Oil or mayo?” they ask, which must be a New England question; “Oil,” of course, is the answer) and cone ($2.25 plus an extra 50 cents for the dip). —Nicholas Miller

Gelato Joy
3 West Main St.
Open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Shivering in my summer pajamas, I glanced outside at the pouring rain. I had planned my whole day around a trip to Gelato Joy. Was it foolish to sample gelato when no cooling off was required?

I needn’t have worried — and not only because the clouds dispersed seconds before I parked. I’d happily endure frostbite during the next arctic blast for a lick of the sublime gelato at this family-owned spot. The place was empty when I arrived, perhaps because of the just-resolved inclement weather. A well-curated array of flavors beckoned. I went with two scoops ($7.75), pairing chocolate hazelnut with a vibrant strawberry sorbet.

They operate an outside window in addition to the inside counter. “Is that stressful when you’re busy?” I asked the two young scoopers. “A little,” one said, glancing at the line of customers that had formed behind me since the sun came out.

I went to claim a bench. On first bite, I was catapulted back to a family trip to Venice, my 10-year-old self begging pitifully for the day’s third cup of nocciola and frutti di bosco — it was a Wednesday afternoon madeleine moment.

This gelato was somehow both creamy and airy, as if swirled with a cloud. A perfect smattering of seeds dotted the strawberry sorbet, while a pleasant graininess added depth to the chocolate hazelnut. Other options were tempting. I’ll be back for a San Pellegrino-and-sorbet spritzer. And maybe an affogato for breakfast. —Amelia Roth-Dishy

Moose tracks with rainbow sprinkles at Mac’s on the Pier. (Photo by Dorothea Samaha)

Mac’s on the Pier
At the end of Commercial Street
Open daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (food window closes at 8:30)

It’s near closing time, and the sky over Wellfleet Harbor is still filled with light. The servers at the ice cream window here struggle to keep up with demand. But when we join it, the line is just long enough to communicate excitement and not so long as to elicit despair. Where better to be on the summer solstice than here, ordering my favorite iteration of ice cream deliciousness: the simple, sublime vanilla hot fudge sundae?

Mac’s serves 16 flavors of Gifford’s ice cream. There are also two frozen yogurts and two sorbets and soft-serve vanilla and chocolate. Cone prices range from kiddie ($4.29) to waffle ($7.69).

Christopher almost followed the lead of a tall, grumpy boy just in front of us who ordered an orange whip (vanilla soft serve with orange cream soda, $6.79), a concoction that you surely have to be raised on to appreciate. Instead, he settled on two scoops in a sugar cone — black raspberry with American-style orange sherbet ($6.59), which he proclaimed a winning combination.

I ordered a small sundae with whipped cream and nuts ($7.99). The ice cream was good, but if you’re going to fiddle with the proper sundae proportions (which in my opinion is two-thirds ice cream, one-third hot fudge), for the love of God go heavy on the hot fudge. I got another ladle of hot fudge, no questions asked, which made everything all right as we sat overlooking the water watching the last of the longest day of the year slide slowly past. —Edouard Fontenot

A Nice Cream Stop
326 West Main St.
Open daily, noon to 9:30 p.m.

I stopped for an ice cream at a Nice Cream Stop — there, I said it. The midday sun beamed down onto the patio behind the small white cottage in the center of town. The heat made ice cream seem not just desirable but necessary. I surveyed my flavor options and decided on Stoney’s Dream: vanilla ice cream with a fudge swirl, cookie dough chunks, and brownie pieces.

Who is this dreamer, Stoney? I wondered if the server knew, but in the spirit of preserving the anonymous quality of dreams, I didn’t ask.

There was a time when the building that houses this ice cream window was also home to the Chocolate Sparrow, a candy store, and therefore paradisiacal in my young eyes. Candy and ice cream. Now that the Sparrow is gone, a cone alone will have to do to remind me of the good old days.

I got my scoop ($6.68) in a cone, despite dripping hazards due to sun. Supplied by Emack and Bolio’s, this is the kind of ice cream you can really chew — thick with sizable chunks and pieces. I didn’t notice the ice cream dribbling down the front of my favorite shirt, so lost was I in Stoney’s Dream, now my dream, too, an ice cream reverie, a personal meditation on the good, new days ahead. —Dorothea Samaha

PJ’s Jenna Sabia hands out a “kiddie” swirl of black raspberry and coffee soft serve. (Photo by Oliver Egger)

PJ’s Family Restaurant
2616 Route 6
Open daily (except Wednesday), 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

My identical twin brother Leo, who was visiting, studied the ice cream menu at PJ’s. He turned to me with a mischievous grin. “You know what?” he said. “I’m going for it.” He walked up to the window: “Could I please have the banana split?”

Leo, a self-proclaimed ice cream enthusiast, had never had this classic treat. PJ’s banana split, a boat-shaped bowl full of soft serve and a whole sliced banana and covered with chocolate syrup plus a mountain of whipped cream and nuts, did not disappoint.

PJ’s has been churning out ice cream (and chowder and fried fish sandwiches and all the rest) since 1971. Server Jenna Sabia recommended the black raspberry and coffee swirl soft serve. I ordered a “kiddie” size and was handed a hefty and delicious serving.

After we got our ice cream, Leo, his girlfriend, Lucy, and my partner, Zahra, and I meandered over to Duck Creek Cemetery, adjacent to the restaurant. The graveyard has tombstones going back to 1739. We ate our ice cream beside a stone adorned with a weathered winged skull.

“Is it disrespectful to eat ice cream in a graveyard?” I asked.

“When I die, I want people to picnic on my grave,” Zahra said.

“God, that banana split was good,” Leo said, resting his boat cup, licked clean, in the grass. He smiled at me. “Can I have a bite of yours?” —Oliver Egger

EASTHAM

Ben & Jerry’s
50 Brackett Road
Open Sunday-Thursday, noon to 10 p.m., Friday-Saturday to 11 p.m.

This assignment was not my first foray into Ben & Jerry’s. When I was a kid, the brand, known for its original flavors, chunky add-ins, and social justice advocacy, got my attention. I’ve even visited the factory in Waterbury, Vt.

Even if it’s not my go-to anymore, I still enjoy a Cherry Garcia once in a while. So, walking into the North Eastham store promptly at noon, making me the day’s first customer, I knew what I was getting into. The large menu features many of Ben & Jerry’s classic flavors as well as pints, shakes, cakes, and homemade waffle cones.

The ice cream served in Eastham comes from the aforementioned Vermont factory, which according to the Ben & Jerry’s website makes 350,000 pints per day. I opted for Chunky Monkey (a banana ice cream base, with fudge chunks and walnuts mixed in) on a sugar cone. The banana flavor provided a beautiful foundation for the chocolatey chunks, and the walnuts balanced out the sweetness.

A kid’s scoop will run you $5.37, a small $6.31, and a large $7.25. —Sophie Griffin

The Landing
491 Campground Road
Open daily, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The ice cream window at the Landing is at the front of a larger general store, which stocks food and drinks — a handy stop for people on their way to Campground Beach, just a half mile down the road.

While I was waiting in line, I heard a gasp: a kid in front of me dropped his scoop. His mother went to get another cone and pulled out some cash. A new cone was made and handed over, but her money was waved away.

I ordered the coffee oreo (a small is $4.75). “You chose a good one; coffee oreo is everyone’s favorite,” the server told me. After a few bites, I could see why. The rich coffee-flavored serving was generously speckled with crunchy oreo chunks. I held on tight and set about ensuring my delectable scoop was smooshed firmly into its crisp sugar cone.

The Landing gets its ice cream from Acushnet Creamery. They have 20 flavors, with rum raisin and salted caramel being runners up to that coffee oreo favorite. —Sophie Griffin

Nauset Ice Cream
4550 Route 6, Town Center Plaza
Open daily, noon to 10 p.m.

I had high expectations going into my first visit to Nauset Ice Cream. A friend who has spent summers in Wellfleet for over 20 years told me it’s her ice cream destination of choice. And on the way in, I counted 12 “Best of Cape Cod” plaques on the back wall.

There was just one problem. Standing in front of the ice cream case, I faced the flavor choice, already a high-stakes dilemma akin in my mind to choosing a spouse. Here, the decision is made difficult by Nauset’s more than 25 options. But to make matters worse, because they don’t use food coloring in their frozen delights, you can’t count on a pop of color to sway your decision.

Luckily for me, the precocious high-school-age staff is very patient. Despite the line growing behind me, the server waiting for my order remained calm as I sampled an exorbitant number of flavors. If it weren’t for the elbow to the ribs from my girlfriend, I don’t know when I would have settled on chocolate. No, I hadn’t sampled it, but it was good.

It was on my second trip, though, that those sky-high expectations I brought to this gig were finally met. Not to put a crimp in your sampling style, but here’s a now-insider’s tip: order the custard-based chocolate mousse (in a kiddie for $4.35; small for $5.35; or regular for $5.85). —Becca Baron

ORLEANS

Ice Cream Cafe
5 South Orleans Road
Open daily, noon to 10 p.m.

This being my first cone of the summer, choosing a flavor on which to base this review was a weighty decision. I joined a group of ice cream enthusiasts milling around outside the place scrutinizing the 36 or more flavors.

But seeing people queuing up inside, I quit stalling and chose dark chocolate chip, which addressed my craving for both ice cream and chocolate.

Congenial server Madeleine Brodeur, a Bostonian in her third summer on the cafe staff, handed me a kiddie cup of ice cream in no time flat. A lot of people request samples, she said, and sometimes more than one. “The most I’ve been asked for is seven,” she said.

The most popular flavors? Madeleine went down the list: brownie batter swirl for young customers. Fruit-lovers go for black raspberry. People who like vanilla choose cherry vanilla chocolate chip. And, of course, “all coffees, really.” I hadn’t realized coffee is the most popular ice cream flavor in New England. One of this year’s summer flavor specials is horchata, based on the cinnamon and vanilla-spiked Mexican beverage.

My scoop of dark chocolate chip was starting to melt, so I dug in. It was a creamy delight.

The hard facts: servings run from $4.35 for the kiddie to $6.55 for a large. All of the hard ice creams here are made in-house. —Christine Legere

Eve and Dorothea Samaha try the Knack’s ice cream sandwich and soft-serve twist cone, respectively. (Photo by Teresa Parker)

The Knack
5 Route 6A
Open daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

In past years, our reviewers have resisted the ice cream sandwiches and shakes at the Knack, because the soft serve is just so good. This year, we went whole hog.

The cookies in the Knack’s gigantic ice cream sandwiches ($7.50) are homemade, and the selection varies. We settled on the sea salt chocolate chip cookie with chocolate ice cream. The cookie was cakey, with small, dark chocolate chips, and was pleasantly salty. The ice cream is the Knack’s own rich and milky soft serve, frozen into a thick slab, the chocolate redolent of good cocoa. One sandwich is easily enough for two people.

We also tried the strawberry shake ($7.50) — figuring that old-fashioned flavor would be a good test of milk shake worthiness — and found it superior: rich but not too thick to drink with a straw, not too sweet, with a jammy strawberry taste and a pleasing not-fake pink color. The shakes also come in vanilla, chocolate, twist, coffee, mocha, cookies and cream, and peanut butter.

The soft serve, vanilla, chocolate, or twist, in one size only ($4.50), is as good as ever. And it’s worth noting that owners Van and Michael Haidas donate 10 percent of all dessert sales at their two locations (the other is in Hyannis) to local charities, including the Family Pantry, We Can, the Lower Cape Outreach Council, and Calmer Choice. So far, the total donated is more than $158,000. So, don’t skip dessert after that avocado burger or fried chicken sandwich. —Edward Miller

Smitty’s Homemade Ice Cream
210 Main St.
Open daily, 2 to 10 p.m.

Whenever I’m asked my favorite food, the answer is always ice cream. But a narrow definition: two scoops, one pure chocolate (must be dark), one chocolate chip (big chips required). Smitty’s gets both flavors just right, with a sublime (not icy!) consistency.

The lure of Smitty’s other 30-plus flavors is lost on me, but fortunately my husband has a more adventurous palate. He ordered the sampler — four flavors for $8.50 (a bargain versus my two-scoop small at $5.50) — choosing mocha chip, banana Oreo, amaretto cherry chip (his favorite), and locally inspired shark’s tooth (black raspberry with white chocolate chips).

Scoopers at Smitty’s Homemade in East Orleans include, from left, owner Richard Smith, Jonathan Naas, Avery Bailey, Alex Herman, and Maeve Myles. (Photo by Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll)

Neither of us is fond of nuts in ice cream, so we missed Smitty’s most popular flavor: Nauset Mud, a coffee base with a fudge swirl, chocolate chips, and almonds.

“Every single shift, we run out of that pretty quickly,” said Maeve Myles, who is training a new and welcoming crew. “It’s honestly one of the best flavors I’ve ever had.”

She began working there in 2020, when Richard Smith turned the former Sundae School on the road to Nauset Beach into his third Smitty’s, after East Falmouth — in its 32nd year, and where all the ice cream is made — and the 15-year-old Mashpee Rotary shop.

The cheery Orleans spot has only enough room inside for people in line to enter through one door, buy their treats, then exit the other door. Seating is outdoors, at chairs and tables on brick patios. —Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll

TAKING OUR LICKS

The Sweetest Scoops of the Season

The Indie staff picks favorites from salted caramel chocolate pretzel to tangerine. What’s yours?

By The Independent Jul 27, 2022

“Let’s skip it this year,” said K.C. Myers, feeling jaded about the ice cream survey. “We’ve tasted it all before.” But that was before summer really heated up, before the sandy-footed unexpected drop-ins appeared on our doorsteps, before the slow sundowns allowed one more bite before day’s end.

By the time those things had happened, we’d gotten some calls: “What about the ice cream list?”

TAKING OUR LICKS

The Sweetest Scoops of the Season

The Indie staff picks favorites from salted caramel chocolate pretzel to tangerine. What’s yours?

By The Independent Jul 27, 2022

By the time those things had happened, we’d gotten some calls: “What about the ice cream list?”

We needed reinforcements, and right now they are here. Our summer contributors include eight students: six in college and two in high school. They told us they stood ready to be deployed on a moment’s notice. And here we are again with our crew’s sweet favorites for this season. —Teresa Parker

Provincetown

Bliss! P’town Frozen Yogurt
322 Commercial St., Provincetown
Open daily, noon to 11 p.m.

I approached the counter and explained that I was a reporter. The owner looked at me with apparent skepticism. “No pictures,” she said. “I’ve been here a long time and everyone who needs to know about me knows about me.”

But talking about the yogurt soft-serve, made fresh daily, her face lit up. I examined the familiar flavors (this was not my first foray to Bliss). There was one I had never seen before: almond biscotti. And before I could pull out my wallet, there was a kiddie cup waiting for me. The frozen yogurt had a satisfying level of sweetness; its almond flavor was noticeable, but not overpowering.

Servings come in kiddie ($3.25), small ($4.50), or big ($5.75). If your cone should meet a blazing concrete doom, that misfortune (or clumsiness) will be restored with a free replacement.

Once I had finished, I eyed the little boy next to me, licking a sample of sunset-colored tangerine frozen yogurt. It was time for me to deliver my own dose of skepticism: was it made with real tangerines? The owner reached over to fill my cup again and delivered her answer, which is the company’s motto: “Sell no crap of any kind, anywhere.” —Talia Kantor-Lieber

Lewis Brothers
310 Commercial St., Lopes Square, Provincetown
Open daily, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

When it comes to dining out, ambience is as important as the food itself. When I go out for ice cream, I’m going less for the sweet creaminess (not that I hate that part) and more for the classic summertime ritual of taking yourself out to the ice cream shoppe (ideally, it’s a “shoppe,” spelled just that way).

In Provincetown, the best place for this ritual is Lewis Brothers. Even without the “shoppe,” it still has old-fashioned charm: checkered tile floor, Tiffany-style lamps, but, besides that, absolutely no frills.

Rather than telling you what flavor to get, I’ll tell you how to enjoy whichever amazing, homemade flavor you choose (I do recommend lemon rhubarb, new this season).

Go on a night when it’s just chilly enough that you could wear a sweatshirt but you won’t miss it if you forget; leave your phone behind (live in the moment, babe!) but bring your wallet (a small scoop is $6); go with friends; get a cup, not a cone (no time for messes); always get sprinkles (for the vibe); take your ice cream outside and eat it as you mill about on the sidewalk and, if you’re friends with the right kind of people, make catty comments about the Commercial Street foot traffic. Lull yourself to sleep with all that lactose. That’s what I like to call summer. —Paul Sullivan

The Nut House
237 Commercial St., Provincetown
Open daily, 10 a.m. to midnight

On the way to the newsroom, I pass through a heavy cloud of fresh-baked-cookie aroma. I would have walked right by the Nut House, not sure it was my kind of place, had it not been for one word on a little sign: “Toscanini’s.”

Toscanini’s goat cheese and brownie ice cream from the Nut House. (Photo by Teresa Parker)

The fabled ice cream arrives twice a week from Cambridge, says shop owner Kim Leonard, who’s been scooping it here seven months a year for 22 years.

Toscanini’s is known for sophisticated flavors. The favorite? “Easy,” Leonard says, “B3. You know the one: brown sugar, brown butter, and brownie — I’ve had people cry when we run out.”

Wipe your tears and order the goat cheese and brownie. The creamy part is not too sweet, almost savory, but not at all goaty. As with the B3, the chunks of brownie are big and chewy.

There’s a light-colored old-fashioned plain chocolate, but I have never tried it. Because there is dark, shiny, cocoa pudding — chocolate ice cream to the tenth power.

The pistachio has only the slightest hint of that flavor’s bitter almond-like secret ingredient. The pistachios are chopped fine.

“And it’s not green,” a staffer chimes in. “Toscanini’s uses real ingredients.” Cups and cones are $5 for one scoop, $6 for two.

Speaking of crying, The Nut House does not replace a dropped cone. Leonard thinks that’s an odd idea: “If you drop your steak upstairs at Ross’s Grill, do they give you another one?” —Teresa Parker

Provincetown Fudge Factory
210 Commercial St., Provincetown
Open daily, 10 a.m. to “at least midnight”

This West End shop has many praiseworthy features, but I’ll start with the most important: it’s always open when I need it. The sudden and desperate need for chocolate is no laughing matter, and Fudge Factory takes its role as provider seriously.

Every time I’ve looked, Fudge Factory’s cheerful staff is there, happy to fill my arms with Grand Marnier truffles, dark chocolate peanut butter cups, toffee-dipped pretzels, and the all-important coffee ice cream cone (with sprinkles).

Bobby Ivanov serves up scoops and chocolates year-round at the Provincetown Fudge Factory. (Photo Paul Benson)

Fudge Factory carries eight flavors of ice cream, all made by Gifford’s creamery in Maine. All are exceptionally creamy, with bright, well-defined flavors that never leave you hunting for “a good bite.” There is enough cookie dough in the peanut butter-caramel-cookie dough, and plenty of brownie bites in my favorite, the Muddy Boots (vanilla, caramel, brownie). The strawberry ice cream gets rave reviews from those who go fruity.

A waffle cone dipped in chocolate with rainbow sprinkles makes the best presentation, but you’d better be ready to consume it on the spot: this rich ice cream melts quickly. If your plan is to walk down the Court Street landing to look at the harbor, you might want to go with a triple-scoop cup, which is a deal at $6.50.

Dropped cones: “Oh, of course we replace them. It happens to the kids when they look at that giant wall of candy behind you,” says Bobby Ivanov, who’s at Fudge Factory year-round. —Paul Benson

Ptown Scoop
385 Commercial St., Provincetown
Open Monday-Friday noon to 10 p.m., weekends until 11

Judging an ice cream store is not just about how good the salted caramel is — it’s about trust. Trust that when you walk in the door, the ice cream establishment will take you in its arms like the little baby you are and serve you the creamiest of treats.

Here, on the small wooden deck out front, sits an open cooler filled with ice-cold water and a small tin can for cash. Standing beside this honor-system cooler on the hottest day of the summer, you know you can trust Ptown Scoop to satisfy.

To ensure a good sampling of the menu, I finagled four half scoops for the price of two of the usual ones ($5.25). Then I walked next door to the picnic tables overlooking the pier at Cannery Wharf Park and got to work.

As I bit into the coconut almond bar ice cream, the water in front of me took on a shimmering turquoise color. The scoop, riddled with coconut flakes and crunchy bits of almonds, transported me to the tropics. Their new espresso-toffee flavor, Maine Deer Tracks, brought me back to reality in the best way possible. The salted caramel chocolate pretzel was perfectly salted.

I saved their new nondairy dark chocolate flavor for last, and after tasting three rich flavors, my delicate stomach gurgled in thanks. This one did not let me down.

The cherry on top here is the proximity of a peaceful stroll to the galleries of the East End. —Johnny Liesman

Twisted Pizza and Ice Cream
293 Commercial St., Provincetown
Open daily, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Twisted Pizza and Ice Cream is not a place for ice cream snobs. They don’t have dainty or exotic flavors and don’t hand out samples on little spoons.

The store is loud, greasy, and chaotic, because they don’t just sell ice cream. There’s also New York style thin-crust pizza, loaded with cheese and toppings and handed to you on a paper plate with a large stack of napkins.

I’ve never been someone who enjoys fruit in dessert. Sorbet, fruit swirls, strawberry chunks — those would all be no’s for me.

But I surprised myself when I walked into Twisted and ordered one of their new flavors for the season: Maine Black Bear. It’s got a rich vanilla base swirled with gobs of raspberry jam and loaded with dark chocolate raspberry cups. I found myself pleasantly surprised.

After ordering a scoop ($5.35) and splurging on a waffle cone upgrade ($1.70), I sat on the curb outside the store, slurping as quickly as I could to minimize drippage loss. As bits of sugary cone, creamy vanilla, and chunky raspberry chocolate swirled together in my mouth, I wondered, for just a moment, whether fruit does belong in ice cream after all. —Emma Madgic

Truro

High Tide Kitchen
8 Highland Road, North Truro
Open every day except Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

A young customer at High Tide Kitchen holds up his ice cream, roughly the size of his own head. (Photo by Talia Kantor-Lieber)

My mother, father, six-year-old sister, and her friend piled into the car with me, and we headed to the ice cream truck parked in front of Chequessett Chocolate.

The line was formidable, so I scanned the menu while I waited. There’s an array of smoothies and soft-serves made from frozen bananas, plus nine regular flavors, made by Bliss Bros. Dairy in Attleboro. I selected the thick and chunky coffee mud pie and salted caramel chocolate pretzel.

Faced with the decision of cup vs. cone, I am staunchly team cup. An abandoned cone on the ground is a sight that sends shivers down my spine (though if it were to happen here, High Tide would take care of it.) But these cones are imported from the Konery in Brooklyn, so, feeling loyal to the borough where I have lived all my 16 years, I got one. A chocolate-flavored one, to be specific. I remain committed to the cup lifestyle, but I’ll admit it was excellent, even a little bitter, perfectly offsetting the sweetness of my ice cream.

The whole operation is a bit deluxe here. But this is by no means a flaw. It’s only logical that the truck outside Chequessett, with its beautiful, curated selection of chocolate, is special. Sure, it’s on the expensive side. But for $7 or $8 (depending on your selections), as the man working the window told me, “It’s just the best.” —Talia Kantor-Lieber

Savory and the Sweet Escape
316 Route 6, Truro
Open daily, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Last year in this same ice cream round-up I promised to try to the candied bacon at Savory in 2022. Sorry to disappoint, but I have decided life is too short to eat bacon in ice cream.

This year my stroll through the imaginative Savory ice cream flavors led me to meld two of my favorite things on earth: booze and cream. The combination brought me to Savory’s Armagnac plum. I ordered the kiddie size ($5) but got a very grownup taste.

I could smell the brandy wafting off the tiny scoop before it hit my tingling taste buds. Even after that powerful sniff, the flavor itself was quite a tipple. It had a rich velvety finish and just a hint of plum. The Indie’s former arts editor, Saskia Keller, said last year she did not like alcohol mixed with her desserts. Saskia, I beg to differ.

Scanning Savory’s list of homemade ice creams, I found one more containing the demon drink. I cannot remember the name of it — maybe I’m too buzzed by now — but I am sure that it also had coffee in it. I now know what I am going to get next time. What a fool to have denied myself a little hooch in my scoop for so long. —K.C. Myers

Wellfleet

Bob’s Sub and Cone
814 Route 6
Open daily, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

I pulled off Route 6 and into the lot at Bob’s Sub and Cone in a 1997 pickup. It fit right in. Inside the restaurant, the radio blared, and a friendly woman at the register took my order, then handed me several maps, pointing to her beach recommendations. American flags decorated the building. I had the feeling that I had traveled through a portal into a nostalgic version of America, wholly untouched by the last 20 years.

A small vanilla soft serve on a cake cone, dipped in chocolate costs $2.75 at Bob’s Sub and Cone. (Photo by Miles Aronow)

Bob’s has been serving up sandwiches and ice cream in the same spot since Carl and Vi Nelson opened it in 1981. Their son Bob and his family carry on the tradition.

Bob’s is right down the road from Marconi Beach — the perfect post-beach stop.

Hungry from a morning in the waves, my boyfriend inquired about a vegetarian sub. The man behind the counter shook his head. “You gotta go for meat,” he said. But after we explained that we don’t eat meat, the man reluctantly pointed us to the veggie sub they offer — which, incidentally, is delicious. Bob’s also offers pizzas, seafood dinners, and a full bar.

The prices here are untouched by inflation, with a small soft-serve cone of creamy deliciousness costing only $2.25, a medium $2.95, and a large $3.25. Their specialty is soft-serve dipped in a chocolate, cherry, or butterscotch shell, which can be had for 50 cents extra. I splurged, and with that, sealed my intention to return. —Nora Markey

Gelato Joy
3 West Main St., Wellfleet
Open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

What is gelato? Seen on the path to enlightenment at Gelato Joy. (Photo by Dorothea Samaha)

It was a warm night at Wellfleet’s “little Italy” (behind the Sickday Surf Shop building). I stood by the counter at Gelato Joy, a child studying the bulletin board of potential flavors. Near the bottom of the list: “Roasted Almond.”

Nutty ice creams usually don’t appeal to me. I prefer my cold treat without a hint of health food about it. But that night, putting my prejudice aside, I took a risk.

Smooth and rich, the ice cream melted in my mouth and evolved. There were notes of almond, the hearth, Italia at dusk. In that moment, I transcended my juvenility.

“This is maturity,” the ice cream said to me. “This is who you are now.” I perched on a turquoise bench and thought about my Roth IRA.

The ice cream is homemade, “right in the back,” a server said. Flavors move in and out daily. If you drop your cup (they don’t have cones), they’ll replace one scoop of it. “Samples are a yes,” the server told me. I’ll be exercising that privilege. —Eve Samaha

Mac’s on the Pier
At the end of Commercial Street, Wellfleet
Open daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (food window closes at 8:30)

There’s no place more charming to slurp an ice cream cone than Mac’s on the pier in Wellfleet. Even if the line at the window is long, which it certainly will be in high season, the setting makes it worth the wait. Take your cone and sit at one of the picnic tables with your feet in the sand and gaze out across the water. Squint and it’s like inhabiting a vintage snapshot of a long-ago summer day.

Mac’s serves Gifford’s ice cream from a dedicated window. Their well-edited list of flavors skews traditional. Fifteen flavors of hard ice cream are on offer, including cookie dough, Moose Trax, and peppermint (with crushed peppermint candy pieces). Mac’s also serves American-style sherbet, sorbet, and 2 flavors of frozen yogurt. And, of course, soft-serve swirl is on the menu. Sizes and prices range from kiddie ($4.29) to waffle ($7.69).

The very friendly server wasn’t aware of any official policy regarding dropped cones, but when I asked, she immediately looked around, brow furrowed, for a crying child. I got the impression this kind of disaster is diplomatically handled on a case-by-case basis.

I opted for a scoop of my grandmother’s favorite, maple walnut in a wafer cone. Then I made my way down to a bench and took it all in: the sun sparkled on the water, boats bobbed in the harbor, kids squealed on Mayo beach, and the breeze, even carrying its whiff of nautical authenticity, made for a perfect old-fashioned afternoon. —Edouard Fontenot

A Nice Cream Stop
326 West Main St., Wellfleet
Open daily, noon to 9:30 p.m.

Tucked behind a craft gallery on Main Street, A Nice Cream Stop would be nearly hidden, if not for the big red and white sign out front.
Going to A Nice Cream Stop is a tradition for my family. Decades ago, my uncle scooped here — his favorite being anything drizzled in hot fudge. Beach outings were punctuated by the stop here on the return home. My allegiance to black raspberry chocolate chip yogurt on a cone has remained steadfast. Not overly sweet, this flavor is light, a lilac-colored confection with the perfect number of chocolate chunks scattered throughout.

This evening, I go with my older brother. The small courtyard is packed, with a 15-person line. I usually get one scoop ($6.26) but for only a bit more I have the option to double the portion and get two ($7.66). It’s an obvious choice. I get one scoop of my black raspberry favorite topped with another of Grasshopper Pie, which they say is their most popular flavor.

The scooper at the window is super friendly, animatedly describing the new passionfruit sorbet. Apparently, it’s a big hit. She says that the shop, supplied by Emack and Bolio’s, always replaces ice creams when kids drop them. To prevent that from happening, though, they also offer a cup on the side. —Benjamin Siegel

PJ’s Family Restaurant
2616 Route 6, Wellfleet
Open Thursday-Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

There was a time when I was vegan. During that time, I missed just two things: Regina Pizzeria’s pollo pesto pizza and PJ’s coffee-black raspberry soft-serve twist.

For me, this unlikely blend of soft-serve flavors is more than a rare and delicious combination. It’s served with memories of post-beach PJ’s runs and fish-and-chip dinners with friends, with the sweet taste of summer, with a coating of chocolate sprinkles, and, always, with a smile.

Steven Rice visiting from Guilderland, New York, polishes off a cone at PJ’s in Wellfleet. (Photo Nancy Bloom)

I’ve consumed many a twist in the PJ’s parking lot, and to do so once again, free from all dairy restrictions, was like reuniting with an old friend.

The Java Berry — that’s what fans have dubbed my favorite soft-serve blend — is not the only item served at PJ’s, of course. The restaurant is beloved for its classic Cape Cod clam chowder and fried seafood.

Follow a hearty meal with a visit to the ice cream window, and you’ll find a wide selection. PJ’s offers over a dozen hard ice cream flavors ($5 for a small), vanilla and chocolate soft-serve ($4, small), as well as sundaes, floats, homemade-cookie ice cream sandwiches, sorbets, and an array of toppings.

That coffee-black raspberry twist, though, is powerful. A combo like that makes a girl wonder how she ever lived without it, back in her dairy-free days. —Isabelle Nobili

Eastham

Ben & Jerry’s
50 Brackett Road, North Eastham
Open daily, noon to 10 p.m.

If you’re looking for a local ice cream experience, then Ben & Jerry’s probably isn’t on your mind. The socially conscious Vermont-based company was bought in 2000 by Unilever, a multinational conglomerate, and their ice cream is now ubiquitous. It’s available at convenience stores across America. They even have a factory in Israel where they make the ice cream that was one of my lifelines to American culture when I lived there.

So, what’s the draw to visiting one of their two shops on the Outer Cape? (They have an outpost at 258 Commercial St. in Provincetown.) It’s the flavors. Whereas most supermarkets feature only a handful of their famously creative combinations, when I visited their Eastham shop I had over 25 to choose from, including four brand-new varieties.

Behind the counter was Brett Hardy, 16, who lives in Eastham. He recommended Chewy Gooey Cookie because of its coconut ice cream. I opted for Mint Chocolate Chance, which mixes fudge chunks into naturally colored mint ice cream. It was intense and even a small cone ($6.07) was a tad too much. Next time I’ll go for the kid size (that’s $5.14, while a large is $7.01).

My kids played it more conservative, forgoing exotic flavors like Netflix & Chill’d for chocolate and strawberry. They allowed me to sample their choices for the purpose of this article but my daughter, Malina, offers the best assessment: “It’s delicious.” —Abraham Storer

Nauset Ice Cream
4550 Route 6, North Eastham
Open daily, noon to 10 p.m.

A Rainbow Monster at Nauset Ice Cream. (Photo by Greta Magendantz)

Nauset Ice Cream’s popularity is evident even on a soupy Wednesday night. The outdoor dining area is occupied by families and teenagers out on their own. Even though the line stretches out the door and onto the sidewalk in front, it moves quickly. I had just enough time to peruse my options: sundaes, floats, fruit smoothies, sorbet, and frozen yogurt, not to mention the wide assortment of both vegan and traditional hard ice cream flavors.

The ice cream is made in house daily, with interesting flavors. The newest is perfectly in season: peach. I tasted a sample, and it was a deliciously subtle ode to the iconic summer fruit. Still, I decided on the Rainbow Monster. Although the name alone had me convinced, I was truly sold by the unique combination of Oreos, cookie dough, and rainbow sprinkles (stirred into the ice cream itself) with a vanilla base.

My “small” serving was generous, well worth $4.10. The servers were friendly and efficient, and the ice cream was delicious. My only regret about Nauset Ice Cream is not having discovered it earlier in the summer. —Greta Magendantz

Orleans

Ice Cream Café
5 South Orleans Road, Orleans
Open daily, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

When my wife and I arrived at the Ice Cream Café on a sultry Wednesday afternoon, there was a line out the door, but the high-spirited and efficient staff handled orders quickly. There we were, sitting on the back deck of the café just 10 minutes later, with one scoop of chocolate brownie fudge for me and for my wife a scoop of mocha. Both with hot fudge.

All 38 flavors of traditional ice cream here are made on-site, as are the nondairy flavors, some soy-based, some coconut and oat-based, and some pea-protein based. The nondairy coffee with gluten-free Oreos is particularly good. These vegan choices are the café’s signature options as are their gluten-free cones.

Then there is Dirt Bomb, made with dirt bomb muffins — the ones dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar from the Cottage Street Bakery next door. Ice cream sandwiches made with Cottage Street cookies are also available. New flavors this summer are sweet cream marshmallow swirl peanut butter fluff and a chocolate chili pepper offering that the scoopers here say has proved to be very popular.

Prices range from $4.35 for kiddie scoops to $6.25 for a large. And if by chance a customer drops a cone, it is replaced, no questions asked. — Tom Recchio

The Knack
5 Route 6A, Orleans
Open daily, 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

“We make our own cookies!” said the cheerful young server when I asked her about the Knack’s ice cream sandwiches. “Wow!” I said. Then I ordered a soft-serve twist. I just can’t bring myself to change my tune.

The soft-serve ice cream isn’t homemade. “We pour the mix into that machine right there,” said the server. She pointed to a place beside her, hidden from my view.

I like to imagine that the machine looks like a Dr. Seuss contraption: knobbly, weirdly anthropomorphic, and entirely magical. The ice cream, certainly, is out of this world.

My twist (in a cup because of the heat) exited the window. When I plunged it into the ice cream, my spoon encountered resistance — something not all soft-serves can muster. Some are barely there, more idea than real treat, a pitiful pile.

At the Knack, the vanilla is sweet and light, the chocolate rich and milky, with the familiar bitterness of good cocoa present but not overpowering. The serve really is soft — not melty, or slippery, but soft, like velvet.

Too soon, our trip to Orleans was over. On the drive home, I thought about Dr. Seuss. “Oh, the places you’ll go!” he wrote. The Knack, I thought. The Knack is the place I’ll go. —Dorothea Samaha

Local Scoop
34 Route 6A, Orleans
Open daily, noon to 9 p.m., weekends till 10

When this shop opened 10 years ago, I was skeptical — yet another ice cream shop in Orleans? How long can they last? I’m happy to report that the Local Scoop is still going strong and supporting local businesses along the way.

All the ice cream is homemade — even their vanilla soft-serve is made in-house. The ice cream runs from $5.75 for a small to $9.55 for a large. Soft-serve and frozen yogurt start at $5.25 for a small; a large is $8.50.

In addition, Local Scoop carries its own line of Cape Cod Pops in more than a dozen intriguing flavors. There’s Brew, made with Cape Cod Red beer, and cucumber lime, with fresh cucumber from Chatham Bars Inn Farm.

Ice cream flavors contain Cape Cod ingredients, including Snowy Owl Coffee and Hole in One Donuts. Visitors and locals can also pick up gifts from the Cape while satisfying their ice cream cravings here.

My companion got the dairy-free Almond Joy, which is a coconut-based ice cream, with vegan whipped cream topped with vegan hot fudge. It was marvelous! I had the salted caramel, made with 1830 Cape Cod Sea Salt.

Word on the street is that Local Scoop is very generous in supplying ice cream for community events. —Susan Abbott

Smitty’s Homemade Ice Cream
210 Main St., East Orleans (on the road to Nauset Beach)
Open daily, 1 to 10 p.m.

Smitty’s is an old-style no-surprises ice cream shop. (Photo by Susan Abbott)

Perfectly positioned on the way from Nauset Beach in Orleans, Smitty’s is in the space previously occupied by the Sundae School. We stopped by early in the afternoon on a very hot day to beat the after-beach rush.

This is the old-style no-surprises ice cream shop you expect on the Cape: staffed by enthusiastic young people, serving homemade hard and soft-serve ice creams in a multitude of flavors. Dropped cone policy: “We rescoop.”

Usually, I opt for the ginger ice cream, but today I tried their coffee Heath, another favorite. When asked about shop favorites, the scoopers suggested Oreo Crunch (made with real Oreos; they want you to know theirs is not “cookies and cream”) and an old New England favorite, Grape Nut. We eat gluten-free, so we couldn’t try either, but the coffee Heath did not disappoint.

Two flavors inspired by local geography are Nauset Mud (coffee ice cream with a fudge swirl, chocolate chips, and almonds) and Shark’s Tooth (black raspberry ice cream with white chocolate chips).

A nice shaded outdoor seating area, an ATM (since it’s cash only), and a water fountain are all nice touches. A small cone is $5.50 and a large is $8.25. —Susan Abbott

THE SCOOP

Ice Cream, Soft Serve, and Gelato: We Take Our Licks

Our second annual survey of the landscape of frozen pleasures

By The Independent Jun 30, 2021

By the Independent Staff

On warm days, when things go slack, there are two possible remedies: a swim or an ice cream, or both — two dips are better than one. We asked our writers to consume their favorite frozen treats with notebooks in hand. Preliminary results: there is no bad ice cream. It always sparks memories of past joys or plans for future flavor experiments. We’ve included staff favorites from Orleans to Provincetown. —Teresa Parker

HARD (AND SOFT) LICKS

It’s the Time of the Season for Ice Cream

Our comprehensive survey of the landscape of frozen pleasures

By The Independent Jul 2, 2020

The warm temperatures and the parade of cars could mean only one thing. It was time to stop standing at the kitchen counter eating ice cream straight out of the container. Wearing our brightest masks, we got into the lines — now longer for being safely spread out — for long-awaited summer treats. We added Orleans to our usual four-town coverage because, when it comes to ice cream, you never know where the need may arise. One writer welled up remembering the time a first lick sent her double dip to the asphalt. She would never go back to the shop that made her pay for a do-over. We decided to add “What’s your dropped-cone policy?” to our survey questions and found nothing but generosity. Homemade and otherwise, here are our writers’ dairy joys. —Teresa Parker

MILES APART

Ice Cream at a Distance

By The Independent May 7, 2020

A mask gets pushed aside, though six feet of separation were kept, for a taste of summer on a sunny Saturday. (Photo Nancy Bloom)

The Scoop on the Outer Cape’s Scoops

Independent writers give their takes on ice cream

Scooping Up Comfort in Cups and Cones

Where to find the twists and frills in our ice cream universe

The Sweetest Scoops of the Season

The Indie staff picks favorites from salted caramel chocolate pretzel to tangerine. What’s yours?

The Sweetest Scoops of the Season

The Indie staff picks favorites from salted caramel chocolate pretzel to tangerine. What’s yours?

Provincetown

Truro

Wellfleet

Eastham

Orleans

Ice Cream, Soft Serve, and Gelato: We Take Our Licks

Our second annual survey of the landscape of frozen pleasures

It’s the Time of the Season for Ice Cream

Our comprehensive survey of the landscape of frozen pleasures

Ice Cream at a Distance

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TAKING OUR LICKS

TAKING OUR LICKS

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THE SCOOP

HARD (AND SOFT) LICKS

MILES APART

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