ottawa foodies

I recall many years ago enjoying Lois and Frima's ice cream on Elgin St., so in yesterdays heat wave I stopped at Lois and Frima's market location for the first time in a very long while. Have to say I was underwhelmed by the product. Maybe I'm spoiled by all the good gelato and ice cream available in Ottawa these days; I had the rum/raisin flavor which was good, but didn't impress me any more than a premium quality grocery store product. The chocolate peanut butter swirl was icy, bland and subpar in my opinion.

I am a huge fan of Pascale's, and am going to visit her cart at the preston market this weekend. Last week she had ice cream sandwiches and freshly made popsicles too. Any other foodies know of good places for an ice cream cone fix in Ottawa?

looking forward to responses here. i haven't found good ice cream in ottawa. i like pascale's, but prefer to go out and enjoy an ice cream cone and not have the ice cream at home.

if you are up for a drive, or going to meech lake for a swim, stop a la cigale in chelsea. very good home made ice cream

La Cigale

ps. they even have little kid sizes available

HFF, Pascale is selling amazing ice cream sandwiches from a cart at the Preston Market on Saturdays, and I think Lansdowne on Sundays. Not a cone I know, but her sandwiches are heavenly with various flavours of ice cream sandwiched between delicious cookie bars. Warning: they are very rich, and we usually split one between two people. Also her popsicles have very interesting flavours like Avocado.

I'm assuming you are looking for hard ice cream? We regularly frequent the twisty cream in Carp - because it is our local place for soft ice cream. I don't know that it stands out, but it is our local spot. For hard ice cream I also haven't found anything really good. For store bought I have to say I really enjoyed PC pink lemonade. It shocked me that I would enjoy this, as my wife bought it as a novelty for the kids. We tend to do cones at home.

I like Dick's ice cream... can't remember who makes it but it says on their menu.

If you are up for a country drive, The Downtowne Ice Cream & Candy Shoppe in Merrickville has a great selection of homemade ice creams and gelato's. And their waffle cones are made on site too!

Our kids also get a kick (so do we) out of the neat selection of old fashioned candy, things like candy cigarettes, fun dip, pop rocks, etc. You know, real quality stuff. ;-)

And they have beautiful homemade chocolates and candies too. We go there when ever we are too lazy to make our own ice cream. Which seems to be a lot lately. :-D

Le Cigale !

I can't do ice cream but folks tell me Twisty Cream in Carp is good--so if you
are out for a drive it is on the main draG...

found a good place in Massena. Riverside Ice Cream which serves Perry's ice cream and I had a flavour called "Lemon Pound Cake" that was pretty amazing. Lemon ice cream (not gelato or sorbet) with moist chunks of buttery lemon pound cake. Usually I don't like cake/ice cream combos because I find the cake too dry/and or frozen to enjoy, but this one was soft and there was just the right amount of it. Also swirls of vanilla icing throughout. And the location is great - grab a chair and relax right on the grasse river.

La Cigale sounded so good- till I realized I do not have a car and "rely" on oc transpo most of the time to get ice cream.

I usually go to Malak pastry, but they make the gelato and sorbet in store every day.
I like their pistachio ice cream because it has no almond extract in it and actually tastes like pistachio nuts.
the sorbets have real fruit in them- not a concentrate like Truffle Treasures.

Malak also has some really different Lebanese ice cream that I haven't seen anywhere else. I was told it is made with Balsam to thicken it- it is kind of "gummy" chewy ice cream-but very rich at the same time.

a small cup is $3 and large cup $4 they are pretty generous w scoops too (and around 5-10min from my place.