Quite Possibly The Best Ice Cream I've Ever Had
I was in Lancaster, PA for a handful of days on a work trip last week. Lancaster is quirky little town in Amish country- about 1.5 hours west of Philly. When visiting someplace new, I have this habit of trying to befriend a local in order to find out where the best restaurants, bars and attractions are in that given town. If I befriend the right local, I'm never let down by this strategy, it's gold. After chatting up a local chef, while grabbing dinner on my first night, I asked him where would a dessert fiend, like myself, go for dessert in this town? Without hesitation he said "Carmen and David's Creamery." He told me they get their dairy from local Amish farmers and the ice cream is to die for. He also said that one of the owner's went to Ice Cream School at Penn State in order to learn the ways of ice cream making. Ice Cream School actually exists? I did the college thing all wrong.
On my last day, I finally made a special trip to this quaint little ice cream shop located downtown. I was a bit early, it didn't open until 5pm, and I had 30 mins to kill. I jaunted next door to Prince Street Cafe for a hit of caffeine while I waited. This wait is worth mentioning because I had quite possibly the best latte I've ever had. I went in thinking of ordering a normal latte, but was rightfully steered towards their "How Now Brown Cow." This drink is an iced latte, BUT made with rich, local chocolate milk instead of regular boring milk. WOAH it was delicious. It was a solid dessert appetizer before I moved on to my dessert entrée next door.
At 5pm on the nose, I sauntered into C & D's Creamery and was faced with copious amounts of ice cream flavors- 30 to be exact. "It's sample o'clock," I thought. After asking the gal behind the counter a few Q's about their flavors, I sampled only 3 flavors, but felt like trying at least 5 more. The pressure of the line got to me (quit breathing down my neck line!) so I pulled the trigger and got 3-mini scoops on a pretzel (!!) cone of Molasses Brownie Chunk, Vanilla Fudge Ripple and Dark Chocolate. Lets back the truck up and talk about that pretzel cone. In all my ice cream shop visiting days, I've never come across a cone like this before so it was a no-brainer to give it a go. Verdict? I loved the concept, but the cone was slightly stale. Le sigh. As for the ice cream, it was <dramatic pause> quite possibly the best ice cream I've ever had. It has a thick, velvety texture that kind of coats your tongue. It's creamy, but not overly rich creamy. It tastes like homemade ice cream to the highest degree. The Dark Chocolate top scoop was unreal. I'm talking having the urge to high five a fellow patron good. The fudge in the Vanilla Fudge Ripple tasted like legit homemade fudge. Same went for the brownies in my Molasses Brownie Chunk scoop. I chose well, but probably would have felt that way about any of the flavors. I'm a real dumb dumb for going to this place on my last day.
Until I return to this happy place, I will have dessert dreams about Carmen, David and their creamery for days to come.
Photo cred: carmenanddavidscreamery.com