Ice cream chef Bryan Gilmore and team have been turning out insanely good ice cream at this 50s-inspired Uptown shop since 2004, with a rotation of creative flavors like black and gold crunch, lavender honey, Creole cream cheese, and Thai basil coconut. Summer usually brings blueberry pie ice cream and winter marks the arrival of king cake ice cream. For the bold, there’s the Creole Creamery’s Tchoupitoulas Challenge — an eight-scoop sundae — to get your name on the hall of fame wall.

This colorful ice cream stand is attached to Lakeview favorite Junior’s on Harrison, and owned by the same folks. Gail’s is known for nostalgic flavors like strawberries and sweet cream, lemon ice box pie, double chocolate, and mint chip, as well as seasonal specials like satsuma sorbet. This is the place to indulge your inner child with a classic sundae. Open until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and until 9 p.m. the rest of the week (except Sunday, when it closes at 8 p.m.). A location in Baton Rouge opened in 2022.

Michael Southall crafts fresh, light flavors of small-batch ice cream without gum or preservatives at the cozy little Ice Cream 504 just off Freret Street. Plus, he makes his own waffle cones. He calls it “sitting on the porch ice cream,” and that’s the darned truth.

Now in its new Uptown home, the much-loved Piccola offers 18 different gelato, dairy-free 

gelato, sorbet, and dairy-free vegan sorbet flavors every day it’s open. Not to mention the stellar crepes, piadina (Italian flatbread), and coffee. Traditional flavors and others: sea salt caramel, tiramisu, licorice, blueberry, rose petal, king cake, biscotti, and stracciatella. Savory and sweet crepes are also an option.

This iconic family-run Italian bakery and gelateria has been pleasing ice cream fanatics for more than 100 years with classic flavors like Sicilian pistachio, stracciatella (chocolate chip), and salted caramel. Also home to a great spumoni, freshly piped cannoli, and variety of Italian cookies.

This sweet spot near City Park is known for its sno-balls, but it also has some ragingly delicious soft serve and sundaes. Plenty of outdoor seating. Dogs are welcome at Pandora’s — and treated to a sno-ball selection of their own.

This Magazine Street pastry shop is back with new owners but just as much style; New Orleans’s answer to, “What’s the city’s most Instagrammable bakery?” Sucré might be best known for macaroons, but gelato is a close second — flavors include turtle cheesecake, pistachio, and nectar cream, and sorbets include coconut basil, mango, and raspberry. The French Quarter location is now (re) open.

Like a number of hugely popular local ice cream kitchens, Parish Parlor was born during the pandemic, contributing to what has become one of the best handcrafted ice cream scenes imaginable. The LGD shop has become best known for its waffle cone varieties and ice cream flavors like bananas Foster, baklava, and king cake, but don’t miss the mint chip or lemon ricotta honey. Best of all, it’s open late — until 9 p.m. during the week and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Opened in Spring 2022, Sweet Saint is one of the city’s best new ice cream shops, a small, unexpected gem in the heart of the French Quarter. Thoughtful, complex flavor combinations are New Orleans through and through — the St. Pierre flavor, for example, is made with a trifecta of local ingredients: Creole cream cheese, Steen’s cane syrup, and O’Delice French brioche crumbles. The family-owned shop also has a French Truck Coffee chicory flavor, vegan sorbets, and the seasonal Jelly Cone Morten, goat cheese ice cream blended with a jam of the day.

This Thai-inspired ice cream chain earns raves in Gretna, with its creative mash-up of 24 different flavors along with a bevy of mix-ins, toppings, and sauces. Roule Rolled Ice Cream puts you in the driver's seat, and the choices are mouth-watering. Then it’s showtime, with picks poured on a freezing plate for chopping and rolling.

Homemade gelato flavors abound at Nola Mia, a family-owned shop on St. Claude Avenue, with regular offerings like mascarpone, stracciatella (chocolate chip), and tiramisu, as well as specials like strawberry cheesecake, wild fruit, and hazelnut. Rich and bright Italian ice flavors like cherry and watermelon are the perfect consistency, and with sorbets, milkshakes, and other Italian desserts like tiramisu and cannoli. Chef/owner Raffaele Iorio makes terrific pizza too.