Favorite Scoops of Summer

What’s hot with ice cream this summer?

Well first, let’s talk about what’s eternal, since a key ingredient in any icy summer delight is nostalgia. Here in the East Bay, we tip our cones to vintage businesses like Fentons (est. 1894), Dreyer’s (1928), Loard’s (1950), Tucker’s (1941), and Meadowlark Dairy (c. 1900) for continuing to dish up generations of sweet childhood (and adulthood) memories.
Find these on our map by looking for the crown:

Many more beloved places have come and gone, but most missed at the moment is Ici, which closed abruptly in November 2018. Edible East Bay associate editor Rachel Trachten treasures her memories of their malted vanilla and chocolate chip ice cream sandwich on dark chocolate wafers. Staff artist Margo Rivera-Weiss, creator of this map, recalls wielding the scoop to serve salacious-sounding flavors like Rubyfruit Jungle at Vivoli’s, Berkeley’s legendary lesbian gelateria, which shuttered sometime back in the mid 1980s.

Returning to our original question, “What’s hot?” Two answers from our readers: plant-based frozen delights and a growing diversity of global flavors and styles.
Check out the map to see our four Readers’ Choice shops, which are marked with a .

Our call for votes drew a pack of opinions from Tina Ramos (aka Tina Tamale). Well known and respected around the Oakland food scene, Tina held up her family’s tamale traditions at La Borinqueña Mexi-catessen in Old Oakland for many years, and she continues to boost local food entrepreneurship as she travels locally and throughout the world. She knows food in Oakland like nobody else, and since she doesn’t shy away from sweets, our map couldn’t hold the total of Tina’s many favorite spots. Her picks are marked .