For this edition of Best in Texas, I reviewed three local ice cream shops. At each of the three choices, I ordered similar flavors so that the ratings could be consistent.
Cream & Sugar:
The first stop on my ice cream adventure was Cream & Sugar. This is a trendy spot located in the Village of Fairview, and while they are known for their coffee and drink assortments, they also have a variety of ice cream flavors. I ended up settling on cookies n’ cream, a classic flavor that I personally love. I got the “Kiddie Scoop”, but it was definitely enough considering the sweetness in the ice cream. The cookies n cream was less cream, more cookie. It was actually an absurd amount of cookies. For people that are not fans of their ice cream being crunchy and chewy, maybe this ice cream is not for you. However, I enjoyed the proportion of cookies in the ice cream. I could tell it was homemade, simply by the unusual texture of this ice cream.
Cost: 7/10 Efficiency: 10/10 Overall: 9/10
Braums:
The next place I went to was Braums. Although Braums doesn’t make their ice cream homemade in house, they are a mainstay establishment in Texas. To keep the judgement equal across the board, when I went to Braums, I ordered one scoop of cookies n’ cream ice cream. The icecream was in fact standard across the board. It was your normal, everyday ice cream, no different than a scoop of ice cream from a carton. Although I am certainly no judge when it comes to ice cream, Braums was simply okay. Not good, not bad, just okay.
Cost:8/10 Efficiency: 10/10 Overall: 5/10
Dairy Queen:
The last stop I went to in my trial of local ice cream spots was Dairy Queen. I decided on Dairy Queen, as it is also a classic Texas establishment. For many, Dairy Queen is a “Texas stop light,” home to an assortment of delicious ice cream treats. Although they don’t serve basic ice cream, I did order an Oreo Blizzard to keep in theme with my previous orders. The Oreo Blizzard is vanilla soft serve with oreos blended in, basically cookies n’ cream ice cream. This flavor has everything you could need, and the soft serve allows it to be easily consumed, no need to wait around for your ice cream to melt you to the perfect consistency. The sizes are quite large, so you will definitely feel satisfied after eating one. Of course, I have to mention the fun dramatic flair DQ employees add, tipping over the blizzard cup to show that the ice cream is solid. Overall, the Dairy Queen Blizzards are a Texas classic, known for their incorporation of delectable candies and cookies, and it certainly did not let me down.
Cost:10/10 Efficiency: 10/10 Dairy Queen: 8/10
The comparison between Dairy Queen and Cream & Sugar is near impossible. The former specializes in fast, comfort food, while the latter is a coffee shop with homemade ice cream. When I finally deliberated on the winner, I had to settle on Cream & Sugar. Although Dairy Queen is faster, and cheaper than Cream & Sugar, they lacked the homemade aspect. Cream & Sugar has specialty flavors, and they have the homemade taste which can’t be beaten by soft serve. I would recommend all the spots that I listed above, because ultimately you can’t go wrong with ice cream. If you’re looking for some yummy homemade ice cream and maybe some coffee to go with, I recommend heading to the Best in Texas Ice Cream winner, Cream & Sugar.
