It's Been a Hard Month: July's Ice Cream Review

Hey guys, back from the internet dead here. Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted anything and I'd like to attribute it to my dear friend organic chemistry. We're not friends any more. Anyways, in typical monthly-review-post-style, here is my belated review of July's ice cream adventures. I'm only going to list four because we are not going to mention the roadtrip soft serve, the out of town boardwalk ice cream, and the post-lab stress frappe. July's been a hard month and it also has been a hot month. Who better to call on than ice cream.

1. Lizzy's Homemade Ice Cream  29 Church St, Cambridge, MA 02138

Lizzy's pretty much immediately scored brownie points in my book for having a really cute cow reclined on the rooftop of their establishment with its own ice cream cone. I love Lizzy's, not only for it's creamy, fresh ice cream, but because it's just so convenient to head to after a wonderful six hour lab. They feature two long rows of flavors, but my personal favorite is mint oreo. And if you're not a cone girl like me, they have kiddie cones which are literally so little and perfect for the tiniest treat. 

Cuteness scale: 9/10 for cow statue and quality, but little public seating

2. Eventide Fenway 1321 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02215

You guys. Eventide's soft serve is something that we really need to talk about. Like if soft serve was a sport in the Olympics, this soft serve would have been Michael Phelps, world records and all. First off, Eventide is a really popular oyster joint from Portland, ME that has somehow made its way down to beantown to bless us with its ice cream (I am failing to mention that they probably have really good drinks and seafood but have yet to get to that). And side note, Bon Appétit magazine just deemed Portland the city of the year (at least in a food context), so that should be a good sign in itself. When we went, the featured flavors were brown butter with maple pecan crumble and bourbon caramel, as well as strawberry rhubarb with some sort of oat and honey crumble. The latter must be monthly because it's been replaced with cracker jack soft serve topped with a peanut magic shell and caramel corn. DO NOT be turned off by the size of the menu (unless you hate/are allergic to both options). I was skeptical too, and then was completely blown away. Quality over quantity? Honestly, I am mentally drooling just thinking about how they perfected the marriage of textures in this sweet treat. They should open their own window exclusively for this. The interior of this shop mimics many others in the area (bychloe, sweetgreen, salon nikki), but also features your typical crab shack picnic benches, a completely on-brand move.

Cuteness scale: 10/10 for exemplary flavor and style

3. Blackbird Donuts multiple locations

Blackbird Donuts is known for... their donuts. But when they began rolling out their donut ice cream sandwiches, my friends and I have been eyeing their selection for a while. This week's special flavor, mint chip, was enough to draw us in despite the weather. We both went for a vanilla glazed donut with the mint chip ice cream in the center, but what was surprising to us was that the mint chip ice cream was just vanilla ice cream with a sugary mint frosting layer on the disc (sort of reminiscent of toothpaste?) Time after time, life has shown me that sometimes, the simpler the better. This in mind, I would suggest going for your classic chocolate or vanilla ice cream center, and to also stick with a glazed donut over the cake-ier ones. 

Cuteness scale: 7/10 for lack of dedicated seating for enjoying, but a really aesthetic interior

4. Honeycomb Creamery. Again.

Yes, hello again. We love tradition here. Honeycomb is constantly rotating flavors of ice cream and waffle cones in small batches, so honestly it's like they are a whole new person (ice cream shop). This month's visit featured a scoop of milk chocolate straciatella in a matcha waffle cone. Quality? Check. Variety? Check. Seating? Check. Rewards for being a loyal customer? Check. 10 punches on their loyalty card and you can bring a whole pint home (what?!) So yeah, all in all, we love a Honeycomb.

Cuteness scale: 10/10 for being on brand with my brand

So if you've been looking closely enough, you'll notice how my manicure has been destroyed with acetone from the lab, and only changed once throughout the month. Hopefully, this is explanation enough for my neglect of this blog. Stay tuned for lots of catching up and better nails!