Going Out No. 3: COLD TO GO!🍦

Old and new, a few ice cream spots just for you.

Welcome! This is the “Going Out” edition of Riley’s Recs, where I review a restaurant, bar, or activity here in Portland. Every Sunday, I also share “Staying In” recipe recommendations for your week. What should I write about next? Feel free to leave a comment on this post or submit your idea here. And don’t forget to check out pdxrecs.com for even more recommendations. Enjoy!

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It feels like every few weeks or so I come across an article about the loneliness epidemic. They usually reference the same statistic (according to the Surgeon General, 1 in 2 adults are reportedly lonely) and focus on solutions like adding more public parks, bringing back dinner parties, or popularizing adult summer camp.

I have a new solution to add to the mix: ice cream dates.

Coffee is too formal. Drinking is on the decline. A full meal can feel daunting. Why not ice cream?

Don’t you want to sit on a curb as the temperature cools to a perfect 72 degrees and gossip with your friend while you focus your attention on your dripping cone and the cotton candy pink sky?

I certainly do. Which is why I went to five ice cream shops over the past two weeks, borderline high cholesterol be damned.

There are no shortage of ice cream choices in Portland. While you certainly wouldn’t be wrong to stop at Salt and Straw, here are a few new (and old) places to explore on this 100+ degree Fourth of July weekend.

Cornet Custard

4529 SE Division St

Price for a single scoop: $8

My order: Peanut Hot Fudge Sundae in a cup

Naomi Pomeroy is a Portland legend. She is most famous for her former restaurant, Beast, which focused on family-style dinners with farm fresh ingredients. After Beast closed, she opened a similar venture, Ripe Cooperative, where she served pastries, small plates, ice cream, and more. When that closed due to skyrocketing food prices, there was silence on the restaurant front (she did open a flower shop, Colibri, where she also continued selling ice cream pints).

But after nearly three years, she’s back, with a new ice cream shop on Division in the former Woodsman Tavern space and a new restaurant reportedly on the way.

Cornet Custard delivers the same high-quality ingredient promise. It’s so fresh and so seasonal that the flavors change every two weeks. As someone who lives in the neighborhood, this is exciting. But honestly, if you’re someone who won’t go on a regular basis, I’m not sure you’d ever need to know.

Because the ingredients are mostly locally sourced, it means that these scoops are the most expensive I’ve come across. For $8, you get plenty of ice cream, but you’ve been warned. If you venture into pints, they’re $17.

My scoop—Peanut Hot Fudge Sundae—was delightful and served on a cone imported from Italy. It contained ribbons of dark chocolate and whole crunchy peanuts and felt both nostalgic and new.

Alex’s scoop, Devil’s Food, contained real pieces of buttermilk chocolate cake, homemade marshmallow fluff, and a chocolate base, and was much more decadent.

I sound like a weirdo snob saying that the ice cream was a touch too cold, but it was!!! Otherwise, Cornet was great and absolutely worth a try. Maybe go after meandering through the antique store Village Merchants down the street?

Pronto Gelato

4205 NE Alberta St

Price for a small cup (two flavors): $5

My order: Malt Stracciatella and California Pistachio in a cup

Okay, I’ll say it. This was my favorite by far of the ice creams I sampled. Maybe I’m partial to gelato or maybe Pronto is just that good, but for whatever the reason, I loved it.

Pronto is the product of other long-time chefs, George Kaden, of Campana, and, Andrea Spella, of Spella Cafe. Pronto came about after Stella ice cream (not Spella) went up for sale. Kaden and Spella pounced on the opportunity to buy, and the two are now serving scoops out the window of the production facility on NE 42nd.

I had the hardest time deciding on flavors, which range from Oregon Hazelnut to Grapefruit & Campari Sorbetto. I settled on the malted stracciatella and pistachio—and so did the person I was “dining” with (hi, Madeline!).

The bright yellow lot is adorable and has plenty of seating. I highly recommend Pronto after dinner at nearby Pizza Jerk or Sure Shot Burger, or, like I said, whenever you want to catch up with a friend.

Nico’s Ice Cream

5713 NE Fremont St.

Price for a single scoop: $6

My order: Marionberry in a waffle cone with graham cracker dust

This tiny, 8-person capacity shop, located between a dive bar and a barbershop, offers a simple concept: vanilla ice cream blended with fresh Oregon berries. Specifically, Strawberry, Marionberry, Raspberry, and Blueberry.

Here’s how it works: one of the teens behind the counter will load up a machine called a Little Jem with ice cream and fresh berries. This contraption, that falls somewhere in between a drill and a corkscrew, will twirl the ingredients together until they fall in a perfect swirl into your cup or cone. If you ordered a topping, like sprinkles or chamoy, those are then dusted over the top using a plastic spoon.

You can mix the flavors or order alone, but either way the concept is straight-forward. And it totally works. I normally stay away from fresh fruit ice creams because they can end up being too icy or tart. But Nico’s has found a way to achieve the ideal balance of tangy and creamy.

If you go, I do have a few notes: the single serving waffle cone is way too much ice cream for one person, and the graham cracker topping felt like inhaling sawdust. So maybe opt for the sprinkles and the child size sugar cone like everyone else in line did.

Also, fair warning: it can take a few minutes to make each cone so you’ll stand awkwardly in the narrow space near the counter while you wait for the Nico’s team member to assemble your ice cream as you both silently listen to whatever pop song—in our case Bruno Mars’ That’s What I Like—plays on the overhead speakers.

FYI there’s also a second location on Killingsworth.

Cloud City Ice Cream

4525 SE Woodstock Blvd

Price for a single kids scoop: $4.75

My order: Circus Friends

On every last day of school my mom would drive us to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. I would always order the bubble gum flavor, spit out the bubble gum pieces into a napkin as I ate, and then eat the gum later as one mega-piece. Honestly, insane. But a great last day of school tradition that I’m nostalgic for.

Cloud City kind of feels like a Baskin-Robbins. It’s a spot that serves no-nonsense flavors like Cookies and Cream, where you can try as many flavors as you want with those little metal spoons, and peer through a foggy glass cover to choose your scoop.

In the spirit of nostalgia, I ordered the flavor with chunks of Circus Animal cookies. You know, those pink and white frosted cookies with sprinkles on them that I thought had been discontinued, honestly? The chunks were generous, and I enjoyed my kids scoop on a cone.

There’s not much more to say about this beloved neighborhood ice cream spot that’s in a strip mall, serves straight-forward scoops, and has a long line out the door.

Sugar Pine Drive In

1208 E Historic Columbia River Hwy

Price for a single scoop: $5.50

My order: Vanilla soft serve in a waffle cone with rainbow sprinkles

You’ve probably heard of Sugar Pine. Judging by the ever-increasing line, it seems like everybody has these days. I’ll still go and wait the 40 minutes because Sugar Pine serves some of the best food in town.

I honestly think their ice cream isn’t as good as their food, but it’s still worth including in this roundup. Specifically because their toppings take the cake.

If you’re a fan of cookie chunks or gooey caramel or nontraditional ingredients, Sugar Pine is for you. You can choose from toppings like Birthday Cake Crumb, Gummy Bears, and Pine Nut Honey Crunch and sauces like Blueberry Lavender, Miso Caramel, and Matcha.

Unfortunately, you either have to order your food and ice cream all at once—which means your ice cream comes out before your food—or you have to get back in the long line for ice cream when you’re done eating. Despite this rigid ordering system, we all seem to figure it out and end up okay.

This is a great place to go after a hike in the gorge or taking your dog to Thousand Acres Park on the Sandy River Delta.

Isn’t ice cream FUN?