6 Ice Cream Shops I Love and 2 I’d Love To Visit

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

There are conflicting reports online about the health benefits of ice cream. All I know is that going out for dessert boosts my serotonin levels lickety-split. Here are “ate” places where I plan to experience ice cream enlightenment this summer.

Banana Splits in Latrobe

The Great American Banana Split Celebration will take place Aug. 22-23 in Latrobe, where the icy dessert was invented. But, “peel” free to celebrate the sundae year-round throughout town.

If you’re new to the dish, it’s a banana cut in half lengthwise topped by a Neapolitan trio of ice cream scoops with pineapple sauce drizzled over the vanilla, strawberry sauce over the strawberry and chocolate syrup over the chocolate.

Enjoy the classic configuration at Valley Dairy Restaurant, a regional chain founded by a banana split aficionado known as “Ice Cream Joe.” For a different spin on the split, visit Mailey’s Provisions on Main Street. The farm-to-table eatery’s version features a Banana Foster-stuffed crepe and scoops of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla topped with pineapple compote and Chantilly cream.

PHOTOS BY KRISTY LOCKLIN

Cookie Cookie Ice Cream

Cookie Cookie Ice Cream in Kennedy gives people with special needs a welcoming place to work.

The entire staff goes the extra mile when it comes to kindness, compassion and community service — they also make a mean ice cream sandwich!

Cookie Cookie recently released an ice cream flavor that combines their sweet cream with tres leches cake from Milane’s Cuban Corner in nearby McKees Rocks.

Making the world sweeter is a team effort.
1815 McKees Rocks Road, Kennedy

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

The Windmill

A Hopewell landmark since the 1960s, The Windmill sells a variety of sweets. The signature ChipnWich — a scoop of ice cream between two warm, soft cookies — is a must, diet be damned. There’s an 18-hole miniature golf course on site that’ll help you burn off all that sugar. The course takes a haunted turn every October when more than 90 monster murals reappear for spooky season. Ice cream, you scream!
2142 Brodhead Road, Hopewell

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Sweets by Mrs. C

Sweets by Mrs. C in Monongahela is the gift that keeps on giving. The Christmas-themed ice cream and candy shop is open year-round with more offerings than even Santa Claus and his better half could eat.

Visions of ice cream nachos will dance in your head as soon as you enter the holly, jolly establishment. If you’re a fan of strawberry pretzel Jell-O salad, try Prancer’s Pretzelberry Prize, a sundae that turns Pittsburgh’s beloved summer staple on its antlers with strawberry-cheesecake ice cream layered with graham cracker crumbs, strawberry topping and crushed pretzels. It’s naughty and nice.
260 West Main St., Monongahela

The Snowman

My BFF is a 13-foot-tall, fiberglass Frosty.

In 2013, Brian and Debbie LaChance opened a snowman-shaped ice cream stand on their six-acre property off of I-79. Treats such as shaved ice, milkshakes, sundaes, frappes, Hershey’s ice cream and pup cups are served directly from the belly of the beast.

I chill out at The Snowman after my annual trek through nearby Moraine State Park. I can’t believe it’s the middle of May and I haven’t had a Yeti yet! Choose from 24 flavors of shaved ice and they’ll combine it with scoops of vanilla or chocolate topped with whipped cream.

There’s also a mobile version of the business that blows through the region like a blizzard every summer.
238 E. Portersville Road, Portersville

Cookie’s Creamery

The owner of Cookie’s Creamery named the business after his late grandmother who adored dessert.

In addition to offering a wide variety of hard ice cream flavors, there are milkshakes, sundaes, dirty sodas, freezes, floats, gourmet chocolate and, of course, cookies from Good L’Oven Cookie Shop.

Like Cookie’s legacy, the Ross-based creamery is growing. It expanded to a second, colorful storefront in McCandless with a Treesdale location scheduled to open this month. I’m glad the North Hills saved so much room for dessert.
2199 Babcock Blvd., Ross
9559 Babcock Blvd., McCandless
650 Warrendale Road, Treesdale

Ice Cream Therapy

I need ice cream. I also need therapy. I can multitask on Merchant Street in Ambridge.

This business posts plenty of eye-catching creations online, from colossal ice cream sandwiches and cheesecake slices to parfaits and sundaes. I saw a real beauty on Cinco de Mayo: a lime-mango shake topped with soft-serve, drizzled in chamoy, dusted with Tajín and finished with a lime wedge.

I really miss the fried ice cream from Tequila Junction, Station Square’s long-shuttered Mexican restaurant. I think this spicy and icy treat may heal my inner child.
400 Merchant St., Ambridge

Tastyland

Tastyland sounds like an amusement park for foodies and, judging by the photos I’ve seen on social media, it looks like one, too!

A year-round fixture on Route 66 in Greensburg since 1950, the ice cream-and-burger joint recently opened a second spot in Monroeville. With decor that’s both modern and retro, the latest Tastyland is part game room, part bar, part dessert paradise.

The family fun is located on the first floor and patrons 21 and over can head upstairs to Tipsyland for cocktails, pool tables and duckpin bowling.
1476 Business Route 66, Greensburg
4030 William Penn Highway, Monroeville