These North Carolina ice cream shops serve some of nation’s best scoops, report finds
Ice cream lovers can’t get enough of four North Carolina treat shops — and now they rank among the nation’s best places to go for scoops.
The ice cream parlors made it onto a list of top 10 destinations for getting the cold treat, according to nationwide results published July 7. The North Carolina winners included:
Simply Natural Creamery in Eastern North Carolina at No. 3
Andia’s Homemade Ice Cream in Cary at No. 4
Beaufort Creamery in Beaufort at No. 7
Two Roosters Ice Cream in Raleigh and Durham at No. 8
The list comes from USA Today’s 10Best, which ranks top restaurants, activities and travel spots. To determine the nation’s favorite independent ice cream shops, editors reviewed submissions from a group of experts. Then, readers had about a month to vote on the places they craved the most, helping them win Readers’ Choice Awards.
“These spots were chosen for their use of quality, fresh ingredients (sometimes sourced right from their own farms) and creative takes on this beloved frozen treat,” 10Best wrote.
The results were released ahead of National Ice Cream Day on July 16. Though there’s a day dedicated to the dessert, 10Best shared reasons to love North Carolina ice cream shops all year long.
Why the ice cream shops are special
Among the North Carolina winners, both Andia’s and Two Roosters have locations in the Triangle.
Andia’s received a nod for its “monster” milkshakes and its unique ice cream flavors, including baklava and rose pistachio.
The business has two locations in Cary, just west of Raleigh. And one of them isn’t a stranger to receiving acclaim, having recently been ranked among Yelp’s “Top 100 Ice Cream Shops” in the United States, McClatchy News reported.
On the 10Best list, Two Roosters was praised for its “tempting and very clever” monthly specials. The ice cream seller, which has locations in Raleigh and Durham, lists bourbon peach cookie and non-dairy strawberry shortbread among its featured flavors for July.
Also ranking among readers’ favorite ice cream shops were two with a presence in Eastern North Carolina. Simply Natural Creamery — which has a farm in Ayden and locations in Greenville and Morehead City — was acknowledged for serving ice cream with a rich taste. That flavor comes from the milk of Jersey cows, which roam in pastures, according to the business and 10Best.
Rounding out the list of frozen treat destinations with North Carolina ties was Beaufort Creamery in Beaufort, roughly 155 miles southeast of Raleigh. The business, located near the waterfront, is described in the report as a small-batch shop that “churns out homemade hard scoop ice cream, featuring tempting rotating flavors like banana pudding and orange creamsicle.”
While 10Best didn’t share how many total people voted on the top ice cream shops in the country, the website told McClatchy News in an email that the contest was one of its most popular this year.
“While we always aim to present a geographically diverse spread of nominees, this first-ever award attracted a handful of NC-based ice cream shops,” 10Best wrote. “We vet all nominations to ensure they meet criteria and to narrow the field of nominations to 20. This vetting process resulted in 4 NC-based shops making the list of 20, and, of course, the voters determined who landed in the top 10.”
Overall, the website said the nation’s best place for ice cream was Island Creamery, which has locations in Maryland and Virginia.
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