{"id":33742,"date":"2015-01-09T12:08:17","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T17:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visitbuffaloniagara.com\/?post_type=crawl&p=33742"},"modified":"2023-08-03T10:07:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T14:07:12","slug":"ice-cream-crawl","status":"publish","type":"crawl","link":"https:\/\/www.visitbuffaloniagara.com\/crawl\/ice-cream-crawl\/","title":{"rendered":"Ice Cream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buffalo\u2019s ice cream shops are a lot like the city itself: historically underrated and off-the-radar. Buffalo wings and beef on weck have traditionally gotten all the attention from food-loving visitors, while old school ice cream parlors and roadside stands have often gone unnoticed.<\/p>\n

But just as Buffalo is experiencing a renaissance, so is its frozen dessert culture. \u00a0Classic ice cream parlors that have spent years making creamy concoctions with milk from local dairy farms and perfecting homemade toppings have been joined by innovative newcomers who have broadened the city\u2019s palate by introducing new ingredients and exotic flavors that excite even the most adventurous eater.<\/p>\n

Go ahead, order a traditional Buffalo meal of pizza and wings, but make sure to save room for dessert.<\/p>\n

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Antoinette’s Sweets<\/a><\/h3>\n

Antoinette\u2019s has spent more than a century perfecting every detail of the ice cream experience. Four generations of the Morphis family have owned and operated this confectionery staple since 1915, and each has instilled in the next the importance of maintaining quality \u2013 of never compromising top-notch ingredients, producing ice cream in small batches and every topping except the nuts in-house.<\/p>\n

The aroma of freshly made chocolate greets customers as soon as they walk into the candy store and ice cream parlor in Depew, where Antoinette\u2019s has been located since 1958. Wood paneling and neon signage line the walls, and rows of glass and tin ice cream sundae bowls cover the shelf behind the ice cream counter.<\/p>\n

The scene stealer here may be the sundae toppings. The whipped cream \u2013 squeezed on by staff from a pastry bag \u2013 is fluffy, pillowy and puts any can of Redi Whip to shame. Custom made sundaes with add-ons like homemade hot fudge, peanut butter sauce and marshmallow topping produce a symphony of flavors out of this world. Antoinette\u2019s access to ingredients in its candy store makes its ice cream and sundae toppings all the more unique. With nearly 20 different topping options and a dozen ice cream flavors to choose\u2013 from a potent cinnamon to coconut with real coconut pieces inside \u2013the possibilities here are endless.<\/p>\n

A glass of water accompanies every sundae order \u2013 a nice touch in for a Buffalo institution that knows as much about ice cream as anywhere in Western New York.<\/p>\n

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Hibbard’s Custard<\/a><\/h3>\n

Nearly every small town has a seasonal ice cream stand \u2013 a place to park, get out of the car, grab a cone and watch a summer afternoon go by. But few can lay claim to a stand as storied as Hibbard\u2019s Original Frozen Custard, a staple of the village of Lewiston since 1939.<\/p>\n

Hibbard\u2019s often surprises first-time customers who expect their custard to be twisted out of a machine; employees scoop it out of a cooler instead. The hand-dipped custard\u2019s texture \u2013 richer than soft serve, smoother and creamier than hard serve \u2013 is in a league of its own in this part of the state. \u00a0Hibbard\u2019s makes custard fresh on-site every day and uses considerably less air than average when producing it, resulting in a denser product that needs to be scooped.<\/p>\n

Not much has changed since Harold Hibbard first started scooping custard from the same spot eight decades ago; Hibbard\u2019s even still uses one of its original ice cream machines. The stand rotates over five dozen different varieties and serves six at any one time; can\u2019t-miss options include vanilla, which uses a proprietary extract found nowhere else, and peach, the perfect combination with the Niagara County Peach Festival taking place across the street each September.<\/p>\n

The Hibbard family knows a thing or two about longevity \u2013 its ancestors were among Lewiston\u2019s first settlers in the early 1800s. If the long lines on summer days and legendary reputation are any indication, Hibbard\u2019s \u2013 now in its third generation of family ownership \u2013 will be scooping its custard for a long time to come.<\/p>\n

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King Condrell’s<\/a><\/h3>\n

The aroma of freshly roasted pecans and cashews often greets customers entering King Condrell\u2019s Candy & Ice Cream. Owner Rick King spares no detail in creating the ultimate ice cream sundaes \u2013 right down to roasting the nuts in-house that top some of his confectionary treats.<\/p>\n

King and his manager Karen Nowak have been making all the sundae toppings themselves since they first purchased the store over 20 years ago \u2013 from fresh whipped cream concocted multiple times a day to the apple topping that\u2019s an autumn favorite\u2013 and just started producing their own ice cream in early 2017, meticulously finding the exact vanilla flavor that would pair perfectly with their signature hot fudge recipe handed down from original owner Nick Condrell.\u00a0 King wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. The Buffalo native was an apprentice of Clarence Drescher, who ran Drescher\u2019s candy store on Buffalo\u2019s East Side for over 50 years and taught King the importance of hard work and maintaining the highest quality ingredients.<\/p>\n

The size of some Condrell\u2019s sundaes also stands apart: the \u201cUltimate Brain Freeze,\u201d ten scoops of ice cream with strawberry and pineapple topping, bananas, whipped cream and nuts, is a treat only eight people have finished in its 16 years on the menu (there\u2019s a free T-shirt and bragging rights for anyone who does), while the shareable \u201cKitchen Sink\u201d is 16 scoops of ice cream (there are more than two dozen flavors altogether) served inside a portable sink that King constructed himself. For a more modest treat, try \u201cThe Turtle,\u201d a menu staple since Condrell\u2019s first opened a half-century ago, with vanilla, hot fudge, housemade caramel sauce, whipped cream and roasted pecans combining to create a perfect symphony of creamy, salty, sugary goodness.<\/p>\n

King Condrell\u2019s remodeled in recent years to resemble a vintage ice cream parlor: candy-themed photos and posters, including Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland sharing an ice cream float and a \u201cGolden Ticket\u201d guaranteeing admission to Willy Wonka\u2019s chocolate factory hang from the walls. But it\u2019s the commitment to quality and house made ingredients that will really bring customers at King Condrell\u2019s back to another era.<\/p>\n

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Lake Effect Ice Cream<\/a><\/h3>\n

Browsing the handwritten menu on the wall of Lake Effect Ice Cream is akin to taking a food tour of Western New York.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the Revolution Coffee, blended with a fine, Turkish ground roasted at Buffalo\u2019s Public Espresso.\u00a0 The Paula\u2019s Glazed Donut features chunks of real fry cake baked at the region\u2019s most popular donut shop.\u00a0 Other local options incorporate sponge candy \u2013 Buffalo\u2019s favorite confectionary treat \u2013 from Platter\u2019s Chocolates and Crystal Beach Loganberry. And the same cinnamon and sugar crumbles that E.M. Chrusciki Bakery sprinkles onto its Polish pastries cover the \u201cEl Guapo\u201d sundae.<\/p>\n

Neighborliness \u2013 working with nearby businesses to create flavors found nowhere else \u2013 is the scoop at Lake Effect, which has evolved from a seasonal hobby into one of the region\u2019s most recognizable brands. Owners Jason Wulf and Erik Bernardi are next door neighbors and teachers at Lockport High School who began making ice cream during their summers off.\u00a0 They\u2019ve grown from selling their first pint at a craft show more than a decade ago to operating two locations and distributing their product to local grocery stores.<\/p>\n

Lake Effect\u2019s hard serve has a higher than average butterfat content \u2013 14 percent \u2013 and is less airy than most ice cream, resulting in a richer, creamier product. Indecisive customers don\u2019t have to settle on one flavor: they can order a \u201cFlight of Five\u201d small scoops \u2013 a nod to the five Erie Canal locks near the store\u2019s flagship Lockport location \u2013 or a Flight of Nine.<\/p>\n

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Churn Soft Serve<\/a><\/h3>\n

Buffalo\u2019s soft serve game hadn\u2019t changed much for decades until a newcomer arrived in 2017 and churned up the scene.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something about Churn\u2019s custard that stands apart. Maybe it\u2019s the milk sourced from grass-fed cows just a few hours down the road. Or the toppings, from cinnamon coated churros whose aroma fills the store to bits of Aztec brownie and cookies, baked on site by one of Buffalo\u2019s most renowned pastry chefs and adorning highly Instagrammable sundaes. Or that vegan coconut is one of its most popular flavors. This new kid on the block is doing things differently and producing custard that might be Buffalo\u2019s smoothest, creamiest yet \u2013 with a lasting flavor that lingers on the tongue.<\/p>\n

Churn owners Chris Dorsaneo and Pete Cimino have trailblazed a career out of the unconventional, founding Buffalo\u2019s premier, taco-slinging food truck, Lloyd, in 2010. Their first restaurant, Lloyd Taco Factory, opened on Hertel five years later, followed soon after by the interconnected Churn. The pair describe Churn as \u201cLloyd\u2019s little sister\u201d and modeled the shop\u2019s interior after a late 1980s teenage girl\u2019s bedroom, complete with walls painted bright yellow and pink and New Wave tunes on the radio.<\/p>\n

With acclaimed pastry chef Jennifer Boye helming day-to-day operations, Churn is concocting some of Buffalo\u2019s most innovative frozen treats, from the \u201cde La Lloyd\u201d cone (coffee soft serve made with local Public Espresso Coffee covered in homemade Aztec Brownie bites, oreo crumbs and spice dust)\u00a0 to the \u201cCarmelicious\u201d sundae (Vanilla, bananas \u201cfoster style,\u201d churros and whipped cream). The unusual pairing of Lloyd and Churn, of tacos and ice cream, has quickly caught on in this corner of North Buffalo, a testament to the owners\u2019 motto that \u201cIf you make what you love, it always goes well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nick Charlap’s<\/a><\/h3>\n

Some teenagers get the keys to the family car when they turn 16. Nick Charlap received the keys to his family\u2019s ice cream making facility.<\/p>\n

Charlap grew up next door to Charlap\u2019s Dairy Farms Inc., a milk plant his grandfather built in the rolling hills of Boston, 25 minutes south of Buffalo, in the early 1960s. Nearly 20 dairy farmers from the surrounding fields in the Southtowns drove up in pickups to drop off their milk that Charlap\u2019s pasteurized, bottled, and shipped off to surrounding businesses. Charlap\u2019s added ice cream to its production by 1974, and placed young Nick in charge soon after.<\/p>\n

After a 42-year career that had more twists and turns than a soft serve cone, Nick Charlap is still making ice cream and has branched out to several locations across Buffalo, including one where his grandfather\u2019s dairy plant started all those years ago. Nick Charlap\u2019s still uses the same Crepaco freezer- one of two of its kind left in the country \u2013 to make its ice cream just as it did back then, and its original three flavors (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) have expanded to nearly four dozen varieties.<\/p>\n

Charlap\u2019s vanilla ice cream, a closely guarded family recipe, is a base for nearly a quarter of those flavors. \u00a0Nick Charlap has scoured other ice cream spots to sample their vanilla and has yet to find one he likes more. \u00a0It\u2019s easy to see why; the vanilla in the hard serve immediately jumps out and complements longtime flavors like the cashew caramel crunch \u2013 a menu staple since the 1980s \u2013 perfectly. And the vanilla milkshake \u2013 made with 14 percent butterfat ice cream and whole milk \u2013 is irresistibly thick, sweet and creamy.<\/p>\n

Charlap\u2019s Angola, Kenmore and Hamburg locations are seasonal outdoor stands, while the original Boston location runs from March through December and features a 50s-themed parlor with black and white tiled floors, stainless steel walls and Johnny Cash on the radio. Customers don\u2019t just keep coming back because of Charlap\u2019s remarkable quality and consistency. They\u2019re also returning to experience the legacy of Nick Charlap, who turned a teenage passion into one of Western New York\u2019s most recognizable ice cream brands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-33742","crawl","type-crawl","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhere To Find The Best Ice Cream in Buffalo, NY<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our Ice Cream Trail for the best ice cream in Buffalo! 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