The Best Ice Cream in LA

If you want a dessert that makes your mouth pucker just for a second, head to Pasadena’s Bloomfield Creamery for a scoop of Michigan tart cherry with chocolate ice cream. It’s a perfect sweet-and-sour balance that makes for a refreshing summer treat. The family-owned shop makes their own small batch ice cream using locally sourced dairy and honey. Bloomfield’s menu includes several gluten free flavors, as well as multiple vegan ice cream options. They also serve yogurt, homemade cookies and cookie dough. 
 

Fluffy McCloud’s excels at classic ice cream flavors like strawberry and rocky road, all of which are organic and made fresh several times a week. The small ice cream parlor is tucked into the Echo Park stretch of Sunset Blvd. and filled with whimsical touches, like a kinetic sculpture and a neon jukebox. The ambience only adds to the delight of sharing a sundae topped with globs of homemade whipped cream, a cherry and pretzels. 
 

Since 1919, Fosselman’s has been whipping up batches of ice cream that have become a local institution. Head to the Alhambra retail store and soda fountain for a scoop from their 48-flavor menu.  Be on the lookout for seasonal flavors (the black licorice ice cream offered in October is delicious) and, maybe, pick up some old fashioned candies for later. Fosselman’s also provides the ice cream for a number of other local spots, like the soda fountain at the Santa Monica Pier Carousel, so look out for this LA classic when you’re exploring. 
 

With locations in Culver City, Beverly Grove and El Segundo, Ginger’s Divine Ice Cream and Pops serves heaping scoops of rich, flavorful ice cream made from scratch with locally sourced ingredients. The cherry cheesecake brownie, stuffed with chunks of brownie, tastes like three desserts in one. The lavender honeycomb is a feast for the senses. Tinted purple thanks to carrot extract, it is a fragrant sweet with honeycomb crunch. 
 

Indigo Cow specializes is Hokkaido milk soft serve. It's subtle flavor is refreshing when served plain, but there are a variety of toppings you can add to your order. Try the MBR (mochi, brown sugar syrup and roasted soybean powder) for a sweet and chewy treat. Other soft serve flavors, as well as toppings, may change seasonally. Indigo Cow has locations in Echo Park and Sawtelle Japantown. 

With Iranian and Egyptian roots, Kinrose Creamery specializes in riffs on beloved, Middle Eastern desserts, like walnut baklava, lavashak and konafa ice cream. The Old Town Pasadena shop also boasts multiple pistachio flavors, the Egyptian-style orange flower pistachio has a more subtle flavor than the brightly-hued, Iranian-influenced saffron pistachio rose, but both are delicious and Kinrose doesn’t skimp on the nuts. A second location is open in Encino on the weekends. 
 

Initially Warren and Rose Schwartz’s experiment to see how creative you can get with softserve, Magpies has expanded over the course of the past decade from a single shop in Silver Lake to include locations in Highland Park and Tarzana. It’s also become a go-to for those who avoid dairy thanks to a vegan-heavy menu. Try a slice of Magpies’ softserve pies, which are dense, delicious and easily shareable. The pistachio baklava softserve pie is a must for nut-lovers. 
 

Since opening in 1980, Mashti Malone’s has become a Hollywood favorite and, in the process, introduced many Angelenos to distinctively Persian flavors like rosewater and pistachio saffron. Since then, they have opened locations in Westwood and Silver Lake as well. Try your scoop served as a wafer sandwich. 
 

With roots in a Santa Barbara dairy, McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. While you can pick up a pint at select grocery stores, you should visit one of the MicConnell’s Fine Ice Cream scoop shops, which include locations in downtown’s Grand Central Market, Studio City, Pacific Palisades and Third Street Promenade, for a taste. A recent collaboration with See’s Candies brought together two Southern California icons for flavors like Brown Sugar with Milk Bordeaux and Strawberry with Strawberry Creams. 
 

Scoops has been experimenting with ice cream flavors since 2005 and the results are in the always-changing menus at the Highland Park and Chinatown shops. The variety is incredible. On any given visit, you could find anything from cotton candy and sprinkles to black sesame and tahini, as well as rotating non-dairy options. The staples, though, are Brown Bread at the Highland Park shop, known as Bianco Bread in Chinatown. 
 

When you enter Wanderlust Creamery, prepare to transport your tastebuds from Los Angeles to destinations unknown. Wanderlust’s international flavor profile includes ice creams inspired by Peru, Singapore, the Pacific Northwest and beyond. You won’t know where you’ll land until you finally decide on a scoop or two. Best known for flavors like sticky rice and mango and Japanese Neapolitan, Wanderlust has locations in Atwater Village, Pasadena, Sawtelle, Venice and Torrance.