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Scoop it. Blend it. Twist it. Shake it. No matter how they’re served, the icy treats from these area establishments are always sure to satisfy a sweet tooth.
Dairy Queen
501 16th St NE, Cedar Rapids
This walk-up Dairy Queen in a residential Cedar Rapids neighborhood is one not to miss. You can expect a friendly face to greet you from behind the sliding window when you’re ready to order and whether it’s the staff’s attention to detail at work, or a combination of nostalgia and other less-specific factors, this location serves up some of the best Dairy Queen treats around.
The best evidence of the attention to detail is understood when ordering one of their Blizzards. The goodies here are always blended well into the milky soft serve so you’re sure to have a little nugget of topping in every bite. The staff also go the extra mile to finish the presentation with an extra sprinkle of toppings before passing it out the window to hungry customers.
Heyn’s Premium Ice Cream
811 S 1st Ave, Iowa City,
25 Cherry St, North Liberty
We can all appreciate the kitschy dairy cow themed interiors of both the Iowa City and North Liberty shops, but obviously the housemade ice cream of this Iowa City institution is what we’re all here for. Classic flavors mingle alongside more experimental varieties and hand-illustrated signs showcase the overwhelming selection of rich flavors.
Heyn’s certainly dishes up a great ice cream sundae, milkshake or root beer float; all are respectable choices. But! On a hot summer day, it really doesn’t get better than a hefty waffle cone overflowing with scoops of sweetness. If you haven’t sampled the coconut chip, I must ask, “What are you waiting for?” Perfectly coconutty with an appropriate ratio of chip to cream, this will be my personal flavor of choice until someone else can convince me otherwise.
Carver Hawkeye Arena
1 Elliot Dr, Iowa City
Home of the Hawks, and, weirdly, home of some of my favorite ice cream in Iowa City. What makes this soft serve different from all the others? There are jumping, shouting and flipping cheerleaders. There’s a lively pep band that motivates. That familiar squeak of shoes on a polished gym floor. All these elements combine harmoniously to set the stage, but for me, the reason to love this ice cream is the fact that when you hit the right stand at just the right time (don’t go at half time: lines too long, and you miss the dance team and the flipping), you can get a giant chocolate-raspberry twist cone for less than four bucks and in as many minutes. It’s an exercise in timing, for sure, but no matter the waiting time, the reward is equally sweet.
Be sure you’ve landed at the right stand, though. The two stands don’t always serve the same flavors and you’re here for the chocolate raspberry. It’s what sets this place apart from the others.
Capanna Coffee and Gelato
710 Pacha Pkwy Ste 6, North Liberty
Gelato and sorbetto are always on offer at this North Liberty coffee shop. In fact, the well-stocked case is the first thing you run into upon entering, so it’s hard to ignore the brightly-colored peaks of velvety richness.
Capanna cycles through a rotating selection of flavors, and due to the nature of preparation and the warmer holding temperature in the cases, these delightful flavors come through more pure and intense. The texture of both the sorbetto and gelato also differs from traditional American ice cream, as there is less air introduced in the cooking process, making it more dense and compact. Sample any of their flavors; they’re all great, but the mango sorbetto is what keeps me coming back.
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