In order to compare apples to apples, we tasted vanilla and chocolate from all of the shops reviewed below. When the mood struck us, we ventured out and tried some more unusual flavors as well.
Frosty Bear
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Don't be fooled by the modesty of the Frosty Bear hut off the side of Cross Highway; what's inside takes the cake. Frosty Bear opened earlier this year and features Longford ice cream made in Portchester, NY. The ice cream is made in small batches and is ultra premium.
They've got just 16 varieties but you'll want to try, well, just about all of them. Reese's Nightmare is anything but. Deep chocolate peanut butter ice cream mixed with pieces of Reece's peanut butter cups, this one is not to be missed. It's dense, concentrated and rich. I loved it, and I don't even like peanut butter cups.
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Frosty Bear takes home top all-around prize for the best ice cream. Their chocolate and vanilla are spectacular.
Most unusual flavor: Chocolate Cherry Avalanche -- chocolate ice cream with chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate cookie batter swirled with a cherry sauce.
Sunny Daes
What usually strikes me when I walk into the (oddly-spelled) Sunny Daes is that the staff is decidedly, well, un-sunny.
Mood aside, Sunny Daes has one of the larger menus around. Even better, they've got the only gelato in town. The gelato turns out to be half the fat and fewer calories, oddly enough, than the traditional American ice cream. But if you're expecting the creamy Italian-style stracciatella or tiramisu, you'll be disappointed. They may have gotten the flavors right, but the consistency is off. It should be creamy and gooey, but it's just as airy and hard as the American stuff. In a blind taste, test, it was impossible to tell the difference between their gelatos and standard ice creams.
Another disappointment at Sunny Daes: they're very stingy with the dry toppings. You don't get a full scoop of topping, they just roll your ice cream around in crushed Oreos or M&M's. It probably works out a tablespoon of cookie, max, for 75 cents.
Most Unusual Flavor: Biscotto
Top This
You might flash back to your college cafeteria when you walk in this recently-opened self-serve joint. The yogurt, too, reminds me of cafeteria fro-yo. It's thin and on the watery side. You'll never forget that you're not eating ice cream.
It's no frills here at Top This. Customers grab a Styrofoam bowl and help themselves to one of six flavors (along the lines of NY cheesecake, strawberry and Pinkberry-style "tart"). They do have a fair array of toppings – 24 of them -- ranging from coconut flakes to chopped nuts to fresh berries and fruity pebbles cereal, of all things.
Be forewarned: although 59 cents an ounce seems ridiculously cheap, Top This thoughtfully gives you a 12-ounce cup. So fill it up and add a few toppings and your inexpensive snack can easily set you back 7 or 8 bucks.
Most Unusual Flavor: Pomegranate-Raspberry Tart
Carvel
Carvel reminds me of the old-fashioned ice cream stores with its retro logo and an ice cream list that probably hasn't changed since the 50s. The ice cream itself neither wows nor disappoints. It's run-of-the mill.
There is one pleasant surprise at Carvel: their soft serve non-fat ice cream knocks it out of the park. It's rich and so creamy that I'm tempted to send it to a lab to see if it really is fat free. Carvel's non-fat ice cream beats the frozen yogurt at both Sunny Daes and Top This.
Most Unusual Flavor: does Mississippi Mud Pie count as unusual?
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Frosty Bear
161 Cross Highway
$3/ small scoop
Sunny Daes
30 Riverside
$2.90/ small scoop ice cream
$3.75/ small scoop gelato
Top This
14 Post Road
$.59 per ounce
Carvel
1025 Post Road East
$3.75/ small scoop
