Excellent Indiana Ice Cream

Okay, so I didn’t get to go to Europe with Beth for research this time around, but after she got back we did take a trip to northern Indiana (partly for some other book research for me) and on the way home we made a stop at Fair Oaks Farm for their famous ice cream and cheeses. It’s right along I-65, maybe an hour from Chicago. Coming from Chicago, you can’t miss the billboards! “Our Whine Cooler” (with a picture of ice cream) and “We Dairy You to Stop” among others.

The cheesiness of their billboards aside, I can unequivocally say that their reputation is well deserved. The mint chocolate chip ice cream may have been the creamiest I have EVER tasted, and that’s saying quite a lot. The chocolate was also very, very good. Bethany got the butter pecan and the peach and those were exceptional as well.

Then there’s the cheese. We bought some to take home and the Butterkase in particular is divine. We also had grilled cheese sandwiches while there–I had the Havarti with pepper and Beth had the cheddar. Both were lovely and exactly what we wanted for a light-enough lunch to leave room for ice cream.

If you have kids along, there’s even Mooville, their outdoor playground… and even without kids, I confess we couldn’t resist jumping on the enormous “Dairy Air jumping pillow.” So if you find yourself a bit peckish while driving I-65 between Lafayette, IN and Chicago, this place is well worth a stop.

Victorious Homecoming

Beth here.

I know you’re all going to feel VERY sorry for me when I report that I’ve just returned home from another GRUELING research mission. After 21 days in 11 different places in Europe, I have much to report. It was tough work, but somebody’s got to do it. Just goes to show what I’m willing to endure to bring YOU, the ice cream lovers of the world, the information you so desperately need.

All right, I’ll cut right to the top of the pile: Florence. Still the ice cream capital of the WORLD, in my opinion, but the balance of power has shifted slightly since the last time I was there. I am sad to report that Il Gran Duca–formerly the owner of the coveted #1 in the world (as we had discovered thus far) spot, has backslid since my last visit. It’s still FANTASTIC gelato. It’s just no longer noticeably a cut above the rest of the wonderful gelato in the magnificent city of Florence. They’ve scaled their production way back and now no longer even offer a dark chocolate flavor (the quality of which had A LOT to do with their supremacy).

While this is a very saddening turn of events, the GOOD news is that I found several other gelaterias worthy of note. We were already familiar with the Gelateria dei Neri (which may now have overtaken the #1 spot… I think it may have been #2 before and their quality has NOT gone down–if anything, it has improved since my last trip to Florence), a few blocks east from the Piazza delle Signioria on the Via dei Neri. Definitely worth the TWO visits made on this trip–and when you’re trying to hit as many different gelaterias as possible in a day and a half in Florence, that’s really saying something. Their dark chocolate flavor still makes me go weak in the knees, and they have a lot of other interesting options, such as a wide assortment of very authentic fruit flavors (usually featuring bits of the ACTUAL fruit mixed in with the gelato) such as pear, mango, and frutti di bosco, or wildberry.

They also offer 9 different flavors of granita, which would loosely translate to “slushy,” but it’s so much more than the syrupy gunk that bears the same name here. For one thing, like with the ice cream, they use ACTUAL fruit (or in the case of the mint flavor, actual mint leaves) in the production. They’re incredibly light, refreshing, delicious and remarkably thirst quenching–there’s not much that can beat them on a scorching afternoon in August. I myself partook (AFTER a small pear/pineapple gelato, of course–I have to put my research first!) in a mandarin orange granita on my second trip to the dei Neri–and was not disappointed!

My first trip featured a dark chocolate/fior di latte (literally “flower of milk”–a delicate and superbly flavored member of the cream flavor family) that knocked my socks off. The contrast of the incredibly dark chocolate and the lighter-than-air fior di latte was particularly effective. Others in the party sampled such flavors as chocolate orange, peach, lemon, tiramisu and biscotti (Italian cookies).

The charming service (particularly from the older gentleman who I suspect may have been the owner/author of the edible art we saw before us), the somewhat tucked-away location, the variety of flavors and the consistency of the excellence of the gelato all come together to make the Gelateria dei Neri one of the best (if not the best) gelaterias in Florence, and therefore, quite possibly, the world.

Looks like it’s going to take more than one entry to cover my adventures in Florence. Stay tuned!

Gelato in L.A.

So my sister Dawn recently moved to L.A. to make her fortune (which she undoubtably will–she’s a brilliant actress and absolutely gorgeous–she fits the movie star look much better than I do–probably because she’s not nearly as obsessed with ice cream as I am…) and has gotten the classic job-for-aspiring-actor-needing-to-pay-rent: bartending at a swanky restaurant. I went to visit her over spring break and spent some time at said restaurant since she couldn’t get time off: Il Moro. It’s in West L.A. (near Santa Monica) and it’s owned by a couple of sweet Italian guys who seemed to think that the fact that I can say a few things in Italian and that they like my sister’s work was reason enough to shower me with free food while I was there.

Awesome.

I managed to casually let it slip that I was crazy for gelato (when one is a graduate student, one has no shame when it comes the the procurement of free foodstuffs) and Elio (one of the owners) quickly brought out this beautiful tray with three scoops of different flavored gelato, each cradled in a finely crafted chocolate cup. I nearly wept at the beauty of it.

The flavors were: coconut, vanilla, and chocolate rum. Can you guess which was my favorite? They were all delicious, but I’m afraid that coconut and vanilla simply can’t compete with chocolate, particularly with chocolate also flavored with RUM. Yum. On our scale of 5, I would give it a 4.5 for flavor and a 3 for texture–it had the ever-so-slightly crystaline texture to it that is quite common, even in Italy. It’s the real stuff, though. Absolutely delicious and definitely worth a trip, even though the Godawful L.A. traffic.

Besides, the bartender is a total hottie.

-Bethany

A new challenge!

I know I’ve been terribly remiss in posting here. Bethany is away for the summer, performing at Festival 56 in Princeton, IL, and traveling around sampling ice cream just isn’t as much fun alone. But today’s Indianapolis Star had an article (Cool Scoops) that has lit a new fire under me! I’m determined to try as many of these places/flavors as possible and report back. Since most of them are practically in my back yard, I can’t make excuses. And who wants to make excuses to NOT eat ice cream, anyway?

Ice cream in Japan

After a week in Japan, touring Tokyo and Kyoto, I think we can definitively say that Japan has many wonderful things–kai ten sushi, karaoke, Buddhist temples that are over 1000 years old–but ice cream isn’t its strongest suit.

We started tasting in Kyoto with some Sakura (cherry blossom) and matcha (green tea) hand-dipped ice cream near the Kiyomizu-dera temple. Nice, but nothing to write home about. A day later we tried another place nearby (we were staying at a bed & breakfast near that temple) and it was better. The black beans and mochi are an interesting addition. I liked it better than Bethany did. (I’m not naming these places because the names were in kanji and even Dawn couldn’t tell me what it meant–sorry!)

After seeing lots and lots of soft-serve places, we finally decided we’d better try that, since that seemed to be more of a specialty. And yes, that was quite good! If you go, do try the soft-serve.  The place we tried in Uji (a short train ride from Kyoto) was particularly good. Uji is famous for its green tea, and the matcha-flavored soft-serve was excellent.

We only ran across one place that advertised gelato, the coffee shop at the top of the government building in Shinjuku (in Tokyo). Fabulous 360 degree views, but the gelato? Um, let’s just say the strawberry cake was much better. Ice crystals and not a lot of chocolate flavor.

In summary, if you visit Japan, make sure to visit a kai-ten sushi place. That’s where little plates of sushi travel all around the restaurant on a long conveyor belt. You sit on a stool and snag whatever strikes your fancy, then pay at the end according to the plates you’ve accumulated. Fun, inexpensive and very tasty!  And do try Japanese karaoke if you’re with a group. Unlike American karaoke, you and your friends get a private little room and only embarrass yourselves in front of each other, instead of a room full of strangers. Tip: Nomi Houdai means “all you can drink.”

And if you get to Uji, try the matcha soft-serve ice cream!

A Midwestern Treasure!

I’d been hearing good things about FARMbloomington, a locally-owned restaurant in downtown Bloomington that boasts a diverse menu of organic and locally grown foods. But not until last week did I finally have the chance to check it out for myself.  Five of us stopped by after a show (Beth’s show, which was fabulous–but that’s a different topic) for drinks and dessert.  Beth had been there once before and said the ice cream was wonderful. (Yes, she should have blogged about it then!)  With five of us, of course we ordered five different desserts and everyone tasted everything.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I’ll start by saying that ice cream does not have to be gelato to be outstanding! Okay, we already knew that from Berthillon’s in Paris, but FARMbloomington’s chocolate ice cream is every bit as good and a whole lot more accessible from the midwest!  For vanilla lovers, the vanilla was just as exceptional. Smooth, creamy, very, very flavorful.

Moving beyond ice cream, the apple pie (okay, with ice cream) was fresh, warm and excellent. The carrot cake was one of the best I’ve tasted. The coffee ice with vanilla ice cream was something different, but also very good. And the red velvet cake was as velvety as the name suggests and very chocolatey.

This place isn’t cheap, mind you–desserts ranged from $6 – $9 and the drinks from $5 – $9– but taken in the light of an experience instead of just “drinks and dessert,” well worth the price and the drive.  Highly recommended!

Gelato in Indiana!

Yes, it’s true!  We heard about it a little while ago, but scarcely dared to believe it.  Finally, this weekend, we drove up to Clay Terrace in Carmel to check out Gelato Da Vinci ourselves.  And it’s twoo, it’s twoo!  Perhaps not up to Florentine standards, but perfectly passable gelato, right here in Indiana. How exciting is that?

We had to try the chocolate, of course, as that’s our standard. Not the best we’ve had, of course, but not the worst, either (and this is compared to gelato around Italy, so “not the worst” is actually pretty high praise). We also tried the rose (not as intense as Fenoccio’s, but not bad at all), the “love affair” (Tia Maria and coconut) and the “Italian kiss” (bacio, which is basically nutella). But the standout was the creme brulee. Excellent! Definitely a flavor to go back for.

Afterward, we tried a scoop of the blueberry sorbet, mostly out of curiousity, and it was okay, but if I hadn’t seen the sign, I might have guessed it was raspberry.

Clearly we’ll need to go back for further research–though if anyone knows of any other gelaterias in Indiana, please share!

–Brenda

Research update

Beth here.

I’ve been working hard to meet my ice cream quota despite the cold weather and have a few things to relate. First off, store-bought ice-cream is usually a last resort, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Secondly, if you’re going to go store-bought, the little containers are usually your best bet. These ratings are based on a scale of store-bought ice cream–if we were comparing this stuff to gelato (say, Il Grand Duca in Florence being a five), none of these would rate over a two…

Test #1: Dove ice cream.
Rating: Three stars.
The best part is that there’s a layer of solid chocolate over the top of the ice cream that you have to hack through with a spoon. Now this could be seen as a detriment if you’re really desperate to get to the ice cream… but the chocolate (particularly the dark chocolate, in my opinion… but we all know I’m biased) is quite good. The ice cream is not bad either, for store bought. I tried the raspberry chocolate flavor and was pretty happy while it lasted.

Test #2: Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
Rating: Four stars.
The best store-bought ice cream I’ve found so far. Not quite as good as the ice cream you’ll get made fresh at a Ben & Jerry’s store, but close. Very creamy, awesome flavors. In the past two weeks I’ve had a pint of Phish Food (always a favorite… VERY chocolatey, and excellent for putting you in a better mood) and the Dublin Mudslide (Irish Cream flavored with swirls of fudge–also quite nice). More to follow…

Test #3: Homemade Ice Cream
Rating: Three stars
Despite the oxymoronic name, pretty good ice cream. The mint chocolate chip is among the best (for that flavor) of any store-bought brands, and I just finished a carton of the Turtle Sundae… I don’t know if it was a mixing error in my carton, or what, but ALL of the caramel was at the very top, so you kind of had to dig through it to get to the ice cream… which was actually kind of awesome–made it more like a sundae.

I’m gonna go out and get some Hagen Daas (though from previous experience I know it’s decent but nowhere near as good as when you get it fresh from an ice cream stand in Germany…) and do some more research. Anybody have suggestions for other brands I should try?

An ice cream project

The Beach Party was great–so much fun that I think we’ll have to make it an annual event!  I saw someone with a camera (not me, alas–blame the mojitos) and if I can track him down and get him to send some to me, I’ll share, as long as they’re not too terribly embarrassing.

Meanwhile, it’s unfortunately still winter and if the groundhog sees his shadow tomorrow, spring could be a long time coming. Which means we need a new project until prime ice-cream-travel season rolls back around.  It may be kind of lame compared to sampling gelato across Italy, but I believe Bethany and I need to do a thorough comparison of store-bought ice cream and report back.  If nothing else, it will pass the time, and who knows? Maybe we’ll find a winner or two that can let us pretend it’s summer for a brief, blissful while.

More to follow, after appropriate research…

–Brenda

Beach Party

Beth here.

It’s really cold in Indiana right now, which makes me very sad. I am still soldiering on and eating copious amounts of ice cream, but I feel slightly (only slightly) silly standing outside of Bruster’s in 5 degree (F) weather ordering a frozen, creamy, dreamy concoction while jumping up and down repeatedly to make sure that I don’t freeze to death.

But never mind the cold! We decided to thumb our noses at the frosty heavens, crank the heat up, and have a beach party this weekend. With piña coladas, mojitos, and painkillers galore, we took decadence to a new, Caribbean high. Just the sight of my dad in bermuda shorts, a crazy tropical print shirt and goofy sun hat was enough to get me laughing hard enough that frozen rum drink came out my nose–which made me forget all about the winter blues. With the help of Annette Funicello (who, it turns out, canNOT sing), Frankie Avalon, and the rest of the gang, we were able to escape the bleak Indiana winter for the brief respite of one evening of magic. Magic that will (hopefully) buoy our spirits until it stops being so freaking cold.

P.S. Where can I get a fringe dress?