Sacramento, CAIce Cream

Gunther's Ice Cream churns a rich sixteen percent butterfat base slowly at its Franklin Boulevard shop in Curtis Park. Flavors range across butter brickle, espresso chip, lemon custard, and blueberry cheesecake. A glowing neon sign and long neighborhood history frame a traditional scoop counter that has stayed tightly bound to the surrounding streets for generations.

Vic's Ice Cream has run as a family-owned Land Park parlor since 1947. Inside the black-and-white tile room, the case holds flavors such as boysenberry sherbet and cherry amaretto. The Riverside Boulevard shop keeps the feel of a classic neighborhood fountain, treating a well-made scoop as the whole point of the visit rather than an afterthought.

Babes Ice Cream & Donuts pairs plant-based ice cream with doughnuts in a fully vegan and gluten-free shop on J Street in Midtown. The combination makes the counter useful for anyone navigating common dietary restrictions, and it keeps the frozen scoops and the playful bakery side of the menu working together rather than treating either as a footnote.

The Parlor Ice Cream Puffs builds its signature dessert by tucking ice cream inside a warm doughnut, the namesake ice cream puff. Combinations stretch from an apple fritter base to Thai tea-inspired flavors. The Fair Oaks Boulevard shop in Arden-Arcade lands somewhere between a scoop counter and a bakery, giving the area a dessert that borrows from both.

Bakers Donuts turns glazed doughnuts into ice cream sandwiches it calls ice glazers at its Florin Road shop in Parkway. The frozen filling picks up a Southeast Asian accent through flavors such as Thai tea, ube, and pandan. The result bridges Sacramento's doughnut and ice cream habits in one compact, handheld dessert you can eat on the move.