Lake Effect Ice Cream, a small artisanal ice cream maker in Western New York, has become one of my go to spots for ice cream.

Lake Effect Ice Cream was started in 2007 by two Lockport High School Teachers, Erik Bernardi and Jason Wulf. Originally, they sold their ice cream at farmers markets. In 2013 they opened their first location along the canal in Lockport. In early 2017, they expanded to a second location on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo. Recently, Lake Effect’s first ice cream truck debuted. The name comes from the type of snow the Western New York region gets.

Lake Effect is known for their wide variety of flavors, many of them quite unique. Even their standard flavors have a distinctive take to them. Their chocolate flavor, House Chocolate, uses a custom cocoa blend. Their vanilla, Silver Cloud Vanilla, uses vanilla from the mountains of India. And their cookies & cream is Extra Cookies Extra Cream. Other standard flavors on the menu include Mint Chip and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Many flavors have a local flare to them. Loganberry is based on a drink that I have only seen in Western New York. And Paula’s Glazed Donut is inspired by a local donut shop that ranks among the best in the world. Other notable flavors are Blue Moon (which the menu says taste like Fruity Pebbles), London Fog (a take on the drink of the same name, which I have written about here), and Adventurful (with the Girl Scout Cookie of that name mixed in). They have one sherbet, Icewine Sherbet. Icewine is readily found in the region, as the climate is perfect for it.

Ice cream comes in cups and cones, shakes, or sundaes. There are 10 flavors of Artisan Sundaes, with names such as Blue Table Chocolate Trio, Wee Bite of Scotland, and The North Park (an historic theater in Buffalo). There are also ice cream flights of either 5 or 9 scoops. My companion and I got a 5 scoop flight.

The flavors we chose were: Black Sesame, Peanut butter Epiphany, Loganberry, Whisky Brown Sugar, and Salty Caramel. All were excellent. The ice cream is rich and creamy and the flavors are strong and distinctive. Black Sesame is a personal favorite, but I have rarely seen it outside of Japan. This is the 2nd place in the States that I have seen it, so perhaps it is getting more popular. I liked them all and cannot pick a favorite, but I’ll make note of the Whisky Brown Sugar. It was a tasty surprise, consisting of Tennessee Sour mash whisky blended in with vanilla ice cream and brown sugar. A great combination! It is also featured in the Wee Bite of Scotland sundae.

Lake Effect Ice Cream is a popular place and it is easy to see why. The entire time we were there, people kept streaming in. The Buffalo location does not have a lot of indoor seating. I have not been to the Lockport one, so I cannot comment on that. There is more seating outside, but as it was raining the day we went we could not use them. It was a bit tight, but we were comfortable. And the ice cream was worth it.