The best ice cream in Los Angeles

The James Beard Award-winning writer and ice cream whiz Jeni Britton Bauer extended her Ohio roots to Los Angeles with Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, and now you can find it in Venice, Los Feliz, Larchmont, Playa Vista, Beverly Hills and Calabasas. The scoop shops offer an ecclectic choice of more than 20 flavors, with options such whiskey and pecan; brambleberry crisp; cold brew with coconut cream; and riesling-poached–pear sorbet. Looking for something traditional-leaning? Even the Milkiest Chocolate in the World is killer. You truly can’t go wrong. If there isn’t something on the signature menu, the limited-edition menu will surely have options that catch your attention and makes use of whatever’s in season.

With wild flavors found nowhere else, this Portland-founded craft creamery puts an artisanal churn on the standard scoop. Their extensive menu boasts options both indulgent and curious—many of which feature ingredients exclusive to Southern California, reflecting the company’s “farm-to-cone” philosophy. The best part? You don’t have to choose just one: Guests can opt for an ice cream flight including your choice of four flavors from both classic and seasonal menus. The ice cream shop now has locations in the Arts District, Larchmont, West Hollywood, Venice, Pasadena, Studio City, Culver City and Silver Lake.

Chunks of cream known as khameh make all the different at this family-run Persian ice cream shop in Westwood, where fragrant flavors like saffron pistachio, white rose and orange blossom reign supreme—though you'll find classics like chocolate and vanilla too. Compared to American ice cream and Italian gelato, the thicker consistency of Saffron & Rose's ice cream stretches without breaking up, for an iconic Tehrangeles treat dating back to 1974.

Chef-driven, somewhat pricey and fully vegan, Zen Ong’s West Hollywood takeout window next to Dayglow Coffee serves high-quality, coconut-based ice cream made with seasonal, gourmet and typically local ingredients: think strawberry made with Oxnard-based Harry’s Berries, Kishu mandarins from the Mandarin Man in Chino Hills and even rhubarb pie from Grand Central Market’s Fat & Flour. Unlike other plant-based ice creams, Awan’s scoops completely disguise the taste of coconut for an ultra-smooth, creamy base—the perfect blank canvas for the chef’s Indonesian-inspired flavors, seasonal produce and everything else in between.

If your taste in frozen desserts runs more classic, head to Ginger's Divine Ice Creams in Culver City and along West Third Street. Under cheery bright yellow umbrellas, you'll find more than three dozen flavors, including the ultra-popular Billionaire Brownie and our favorite, the Chocolate PB Crack. All flavors feature a super creamy, smooth and ultra-sweet base, with plenty of delicious plant-based ice creams and sorbets as well. Tasty, colorful popsicles and ice cream sandwiches made with housemade cookies appeal to the kids—or the kids at heart. Time Out tip: At the West Third Street location, park at the Beverly Connection across the street, which costs $1 an hour.

Some people like their ice cream with a side of apple pie, or maybe a shot of espresso. If you’re El Prado’s Nick Fisher, the perfect pairing just might be some horny goat weed or any of the other supplements available for sale at Fluffy McCloud’s, his new late-night scoop shop just across the street. Nightly, local characters dressed in styles from every decade—from Y2K to the Roaring Twenties—flock to Fluffy’s for vegan-friendly ice creams and the quirky interior, which draws inspiration from 1950s soda fountains and writer M.F.K. Fisher’s description of Downtown’s Pig ’n’ Whistle location (long gone). The gleaming all-mirror walls offset a giant Saturn-shaped lantern overhead; there’s a demonic juke box, a Lactaid candy dispenser and a horned ice cream case; and banana splits and scoops come in classic silver-hued ice cream dishes. Made with organic dairy and minimal stabilizers, the ice cream itself is delicious as well, from the Thelma’s vanilla to the “pistachioyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo” made with Italian pistachio paste. 

Forget vanilla: At Mashti Malone’s in Hollywood, Westwood and Silver Lake, you’ll find delicately perfumed Persian ice cream in rare and wholly original flavor combos, such as ginger and rose water; orange blossom with pistachio; Persian cucumber; date; Alfonso mango; and saffron rose water—all of which augment the rundown of straightforward stalwarts like cookies and cream, strawberry, and mint chip, so you can mix and match to your heart’s content. You can even get them blended into a shake or smooshed between two wafer cookies (a Mashti Malone’s classic).

Named after the Japanese word for gratitude, this locally owned South Bay shop offers a rotating selection of simple, well-balanced flavors like nutty black sesame, earl gray and creamy almond mont blanc, and donates a portion of all sales to charities. Always on hand, however, are Japanese-style matcha parfaits: generous scoops of matcha and vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, mochi, red bean and cornflakes. Note: Though the daytime-only shop (12:30 to 6pm, closed Sunday and Wednesday) makes dozens of flavors, only about five are available daily, so plan accordingly.

This best-in-class Mexican paleteria with locations in Culver City, Mid-City, Pico-Union and West L.A. stocks over thirty different flavors of Oaxacan-style ice cream bars including juicy watermelon, tangy chile-dusted mango and the smoky, must-try leche quemada. You’ll also find gelato and sorbet on the menu, but the move here is to order a paleta—the icy, fruit-filled treats are just as delicious as your standard scoop on a cone.

We could wax poetic about chef Chad Colby’s rustic Italian pastas, fluffy and flavorful pizzas and beyond-artful charcuterie, but even when you’re in the mood for savory, somehow Antico Nuovo's (note: fairly expensive) ice cream steals the spotlight. It’s freshly spun in a machine imported from Italy, and it whips the ice cream around so quickly that the finished product feels airier and smoother than your average affair. It can come ribboned with orange cookies, dotted with pistachios, and creamy with Harry’s Berries strawberries, depending on the day’s flavors. Available only for those dining in, you’ll find fewer flavors than you would at a traditional ice cream parlor, but the quality more than makes up for it.

The artists formerly known as Helados Pops now go by Pops Artisanal Creamery, but a scoop of hibiscus tea sorbet is just as sweet by any other name. The generational family operation whips up some of the best ice cream and sorbets in the Valley, drawing on the varying ripeness of fresh fruits to inform each batch—whose recipes get tweaked accordingly. Flavors here are bright and always rotating, so you might find spiced cucumber one week and cashew fruit the next, with a handful of flavors almost always in the mix (thankfully the tamarind, young coconut, and vegan chocolate are almost always on offer).

Located directly across from Koreatown's Boiling Crab is Honeymee, an ice cream shop serving luxuriously creamy not-too-sweet soft serve with pure honey. The move? Get the Sweetie, which displays the honey in gorgeous amber swirls, or the Honeymee, which features a giant chunk of honeycomb on top (who needs a cherry?). There are chocolate sauce options as well, but let's be honest—you're here for the honey. You can also find Honeymee along Sawtelle, in Little Tokyo and further-flung locations in Gardena and Buena Park. 

Sierra Madre locals stop in for root beer floats, milkshakes and ice cream in flavors like chocolate that’s made with three types of chocolate; roasted fig leaf; salted buttercream; rhubarb crumble; and triple milk, which combines buttermilk, cream and non-fat milk. Karen Klemens handcrafts her ice cream using local, seasonal produce and organic dairy, and rounds out the menu with homestyle pies and cakes, too. Stop by and you can even recreate Reese Witherspoon’s iconic ice cream throw from Big Little Lies—but honestly, who would want to waste ice cream this good?

This Alhambra institution is like a leap back in time: Fosselman’s opened in 1919, and though it moved to its current location more recently (‘74, to be exact), it still provides all the old-timey charm of an old-school ice cream parlor. The flavors are almost all straightforward and classic, while the operation is run by third-generation Fosselman’s who offer half-gallons, choose-your-flavors ice cream cakes, and six-packs of ice cream sandwiches featuring chocolate cookies. Be on the lookout for specials, such as their popular Thin Mint ice cream.

Farm-fresh Sweet Rose Creamery keeps the Westside cooler with an outpost in Santa Monica as well as one in the Brentwood Country Mart. Seasonal flavors are big here, where visitors can choose from flavors packed with produce and herbs from the nearby Santa Monica Farmers Market. Don’t be surprised to find peach crumble, sweet corn, and blueberry muffin on offer alongside classic options such as vanilla, salted caramel and fresh mint, all available à la carte or in creations like their artisanal sundaes. If customization is your thing, try adding one of Sweet Rose Creamery’s house-made toppings, like marshmallows and brownie bites.

This is elegance in frozen-food form. The ever-popular Carmela—which is also sold in a few specialty food shops around L.A.—rides the locavore trend by incorporating fresh herbs and seasonal fruit into flavors like rose petal or spiced strawberry sorbet. The Pasadena location and its roving ice cream truck (most always parked at farmers markets) both offer sweet-toothed Angelenos the chance to sample a few favorites before choosing a flavor or two to be placed atop a cone or wedged between two cookies for an ice cream sandwich.