I was on a road trip to Richmond, Virginia to do some site seeing. I was in the mood for some ice cream and looked for places to go. Turns out, Richmond has great ice cream.

Scoop

First up was a place called Scoop. It is located on Strawberry Street in Richmond’s Fan District, not far from the downtown area. Scoop was started in 2018 by acclaimed pastry chef Morgan Botwinick. Jody Spraker-Pozen was hired as the kitchen manager soon after, and in 2019 she became the recipe developer, creating new flavors of ice cream. In 2020, Paula Denmert became the current owner of the shop.

The day I visited, there were 17 flavors on the menu, ranging from Cookie Dough to Tiramisu. Other notable flavors available were Creme Brulee, Croissants & Jam, and Cardamom Pistachio.

It was a tough choice, but I went with Mexican Hot Chocolate and PB Crunch. Both were excellent. The Mexican Hot Chocolate tastes exactly like its name sake. It has a smooth, milky chocolate flavor with a spicy kick to it. The PB Crunch’s base is peanut butter ice cream, and chocolate cookie crumbles are mixed in. The base has a strong peanut butter taste, which is exactly what I like. This is perfectly counterbalanced by the chocolatey flavor of the the cookie crumbles, which also gives it a good crunch.

Scoop is a small place, with most of the seating outdoors. I suspect a lot of people order their ice cream to go. It was a pleasant day, and I had a enjoying time eating my ice cream at one of the outdoor tables.

Gelati Celesti

Next was Gelati Celesti. They have 11 locations, 7 in the Richmond area and 4 in Hampton Roads. I went to the one on Arthur Ash Boulevard (Scott’s Addition), across the street from a theater called Movieland. While not in the downtown area, Scott’s Addition is near the heart of the city: north of the Fan and Museum districts and south of the North Side.

Gelati Celesti opened up on West Broad Street way back in 1984. It was started by Peter Edmonds and his father, John. Peter owned the store for 26 years. In 2010, he sold the store to his longtime friend Steve Rosser. Since that time, Steve has expanded Gelati Celesti to 11 locations. Scott’s Addition was the 4th location, opening in 2017.

Gelati Celesti has a whopping 32 flavors. The standards were there: Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, and Cookies & Cream. Other noteworthy flavors were: Almond Amaretto, Curt’s Coffee Caramel Crunch, Cinnamon Baklava, and Chocolate Covered Strawberry. There were also sorbet and dairy free flavors, including Coffee Chip, Passion Fruit Sorbetto, and Chocolate Sorbetto. Gelati Celesti also has cheesecake and pints of ice cream to go.

With such a large number of options, I had another tough decision. Ultimately, I chose Chocolate Decadence and a flavor called Don’t Ask (there is also a flavor called Just Ask)

Chocolate Decadence is a chocolate ice cream with deep, rich chocolate flavor. Don’t Ask also has a chocolate ice cream base, but with vanilla wafer cookies mixed in. The cookies provided a nice crunch and a good contrast with the chocolate. I don’t recall if I asked what Don’t Ask was before I ordered it, but the two flavors were not a great combination as both were heavy with the chocolate. Were I to choose again, I would pair either with a milder flavor, such as vanilla.

Scott’s Addition has no outdoor seating, but instead it is huge and there is a ton of eating space. The walls are copiously decorated with ice cream paraphernalia, but the feel is modern, not nostalgic. It’s a great place to eat ice cream.

Next time

There were a couple of places that I wanted to try but were closed the day I was in town. At the head of the list is Ruby Scoops. I’ve been meaning to try Ruby Scoops since they won Ben and Jerry’s Clash of the Cones in 2021. They are located in the center of North Side. The second place I wanted to try is Bev’s Homemade Ice Cream. Bev’s is a local ice cream parlor that has been open since 1998. It is located in Carytown, a retail area at the southern end of the Museum District. Bev’s sounds like the kind of place I would love.

Do you have a favorite ice cream shop in Richmond? Please share.