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Ice cream and crushed cones from Salt & Straw.
Ice cream from Salt & Straw.
Salt and Straw

Where to Find Supremely Tasty Ice Cream in Portland

The top spots for cones, sundaes, fro-yo, and more

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Ice cream from Salt & Straw.
| Salt and Straw

With its national acclaim that rakes in tourists and its eyebrow-raising flavors that irk purists and entice the adventurous, Portland’s ice cream culture is worth the hype year-round. Still, when the sun finally emerges from its months of clouds, Portland‘s scoop wielders laugh in the face of Oregon’s very brief smoldering season, carrying everything from chilly Thai rice ice cream to cool vegan vanilla.

As many ice cream connoisseurs know, great ice cream can be found in the most unexpected places: A grocery store, a pizzeria, a nondescript office building. The ice cream hotspots on this list have one thing in common, however: They all make their own, be it a scoop of pistachio gelato or a swirl of New Zealand soft-serve. Portlanders can find more icy options via the Eater Portland dairy-free frozen treat map, which includes coconut-based ice creams, shave ice, and more.

Note: Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

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Gracie’s Apizza

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Owner Craig Melillo’s passion for ice cream rivals his skills as a pizzaiolo. Like his pizzas, his ice cream flavors change often based on what’s available from Oregon and Washington farms, as well as his own creative whims: One week you might find a lightly savory bay leaf, the next a mellow tropical sorbet, the next a warmly spiced cinnamon cereal. Regardless of the flavor, Gracie’s ice creams are consistently luscious — not sticky or tacky, not too firm, just satin smooth.

Ripe Cooperative

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Chef Naomi Pomeroy’s tiny market is also home to an even tinier frozen custard stand, with scoops of dense, rich chocolate hazelnut or malted sweet cream custard swirled with in-season strawberry jam. Customers can pop in for a scoop or bring home pints, with flavors ranging from passionfruit to cinnamon-caramel blondie.

Salt and Straw

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Needing no introduction, Salt & Straw made its name on eccentric flavors like baked bean and salted caramel turkey. Although the parlor features a rotating selection of themed flavors, classics like sea salt with caramel ribbons and freckled Woodblock Chocolate will please even the tamest eater. Although Salt & Straws can be found across the city, any visitor should be prepared to stand in line.

To make kulfi, Kiran Cheema boils down evaporated milk and sugar before steeping the mixture with ingredients like cardamom, pistachio, and chai in molds. The two-day process results in the Indian ice cream treat with its signature dense creaminess. Each pop has a story behind it — from a spirulina-infused collaboration with Hungry Heart Bakery called the Cookie Monster to the Major Mango, a tribute to Cheema’s late father-in-law, who was an army major. Cheema and husband Gagan Aulakh opened their own shop in April, where they also serve floats and falooda, a textural hodgepodge of kulfi, vermicelli noodles, basil seeds, and jelly.

Lovely's Fifty Fifty

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Known primarily for its pizzas, Lovely’s Fifty Fifty slings scoops from its nondescript ice cream counter at the front of its cozy Mississippi neighborhood locale. Still, these ice creams are no joke: Flavors like salted caramel and strawberry buttermilk come in handmade waffle cones, often made with produce from Pacific Northwestern farmers. For instance, the peach leaf uses Groundworks Organics leaves steeped in cream; the result is a supremely luxurious almond-flavored dessert. While capping off your pizza dinner with ice cream — dine-in or ordered to-go via the restaurant’s pizza phone — certainly has the makings of a good night, you can also walk up for a cone, plain and simple, seven nights a week. 

Kate’s Ice Cream

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Kate’s Ice Cream developed its cult following thanks to flavors like marionbery cobbler and salted peanut butter brittle, all of which happens to be vegan and gluten-free. In a new scoop shop on Mississippi, Katelyn Williams sells her ice cream in the former Ruby Jewel space, commemorating their move to the neighborhood with the lilac-hued Mississippi Mayhem, a cotton candy flavor packed with rotating baked goods. Kate’s 16 flavors are available scooped atop house-made, gluten-free waffle cones or in grab-and-go pints.

What's The Scoop?

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What’s The Scoop never appears to have to any crowds or much of a line, which is good news: The ice cream, although limited in flavors, features creative combinations like cereal and milk, made with soaked Cap’n Crunch. Any cone can come with creative extras like fortune cookie cones and magic dust.

Nico's Ice Cream

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While a New Zealand-imported blending machine called the Little Jem takes center stage at Nico Vergara’s shop, the resulting soft-serve textured ice cream is Oregon through-and-through: Willamette Valley Pie Co. berries are swirled into Umpqua vanilla ice cream or Coconut Bliss to order. Tropical Thursdays switch up the shop’s menu to fruit flavors like mango, pineapple, and banana. For a final flourish, opt for a dusting of rainbow sprinkles, toasted coconut flakes, or graham cracker dust or a drizzle of chamoy.

Eb and Bean

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Portland’s rising ice cream star, Eb & Bean always serves froyo in vanilla and chocolate, along with a handful of seasonal specials, including a couple non-dairy options. The magic here is in the creative, artisanal toppings, like Tom Bumble Crumble, a flaky, caramelized peanut butter, and cold brew bourbon sauce. Eb & Bean locations offer plenty of seating with colorful cartoon murals that kids will love.

Cool Moon Ice Cream

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Cool Moon Ice Cream is an underrated and almost forgotten spot, offering flavors that range from classic caramel and mint chip to elegant summer rose or earl grey. But beyond the kid-friendly options like peanut butter and marionberry jam, Cool Moon may be one of the best spots for sorbet in town, velvety with not an ice crystal in sight: the lime-coconut is not too sweet, paired beautifully with a scoop of the Oregon strawberry sorbet. This shop seldom has a long line, with large windows that look out onto Jamison Square‘s fountain — the ideal spot to sit with a cone.

Staccato Gelato

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Staccato’s whopping 120 rotating ice cream and sorbet flavors have made it a favorite for families — especially those with particular tastes (read: picky eaters). To go even more decadent, Staccato also serves doughnuts alongside its impressive slate of gelatos and sorbettos, ranging from Lucky Charms to prickly pear.

Pinolo Gelato

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Owner Sandro Paolini hails from Pisa and frequently imports hard-to-find ingredients from Italy to make the creamy, unforgettable gelatos at Pinolo Gelato. Although flavors are limited and portions are smaller most ice cream shops, each scoop packs an incredily flavorful punch; knockout nut flavors like hazelnut and pistachio particularly shine. It‘s best to take advantage of the shop‘s outdoor tables to people watch the crowds on Southeast Division.

Fifty Licks

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Compared to other ice cream shops, the artsy, minimalist Fifty Licks stands out with thoughtful details, from a small dollop of jam at the bottom of freshly made waffle cones to inventive cocktails made with house sorbet. Even with these extras, Fifty Licks always serves consistently smooth ice cream with artful flavors like Thai rice and Hood strawberry, made with berries from Canby’s South Barlow Farms. Don‘t miss the creamy vegan coconut lemon saffron and the oh-so-rich Chocolate AF.

Cloud City Ice Cream

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Those craving nostalgic flavors like cookies n’ cream and chocolate chip cookie dough head directly for Cloud City when the time comes. This Woodstock spot balances memorable classics with kid-friendly touches, like ice cream studded with frosted animal cracker cookies and red velvet mascarpone cake. Although Cloud City is located within a nondescript strip mall parking lot, plenty of families still take advantage of its outdoor seating, making the shop a lively neighborhood staple.

Holler Treats

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Ice cream in rotating flavors like chai spice, horchata, and malted milk chocolate are available in your standard cones or pints (and even floats), but to get the full Holler experience, the shop’s specialty frozen treats are a must. Pastry chef Danielle Bailey’s ice cream sandwiches and drumsticks evoke pure childhood joy, especially when enjoyed within the whimsical shop’s cartoon-bedecked walls. Holler Treats also churns out ice cream cakes that are sure to impress at any celebration.

Premium Matcha Cafe Maiko

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Maiko doesn’t offer a wide selection of ice creams, but what it does offer — earthy, borderline savory matcha soft serve — is worth an order. Offered straight or swirled with vanilla, the soft-serve also appears in parfaits, topped with shiratama mochi and layered with matcha chiffon, or as a float on top of a bed of iced matcha. Normies can stick to plain vanilla, but why would you?

Ome Calli Frozen Treats

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Ome Calli, which means “two house” in the indigenous Mexican language Nahuatl, is a nod to the owners’ two homes: Oregon and Mexico. The Beaverton shop’s frozen desserts, then, blend the best of both, using Oregon fruit to recreate flavors sold at the founder’s Mexico City heladería. The shop’s mildly sweet corn ice cream, salty-creamy cotija, and delicate mamey are all standouts, but Ome Calli’s sherbets — velvety scoops of guava, chamoy, soursop, and tamarind-chile — are an absolute must-order.

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Gracie’s Apizza

Owner Craig Melillo’s passion for ice cream rivals his skills as a pizzaiolo. Like his pizzas, his ice cream flavors change often based on what’s available from Oregon and Washington farms, as well as his own creative whims: One week you might find a lightly savory bay leaf, the next a mellow tropical sorbet, the next a warmly spiced cinnamon cereal. Regardless of the flavor, Gracie’s ice creams are consistently luscious — not sticky or tacky, not too firm, just satin smooth.

Ripe Cooperative

Chef Naomi Pomeroy’s tiny market is also home to an even tinier frozen custard stand, with scoops of dense, rich chocolate hazelnut or malted sweet cream custard swirled with in-season strawberry jam. Customers can pop in for a scoop or bring home pints, with flavors ranging from passionfruit to cinnamon-caramel blondie.

Salt and Straw

Needing no introduction, Salt & Straw made its name on eccentric flavors like baked bean and salted caramel turkey. Although the parlor features a rotating selection of themed flavors, classics like sea salt with caramel ribbons and freckled Woodblock Chocolate will please even the tamest eater. Although Salt & Straws can be found across the city, any visitor should be prepared to stand in line.

Kulfi

To make kulfi, Kiran Cheema boils down evaporated milk and sugar before steeping the mixture with ingredients like cardamom, pistachio, and chai in molds. The two-day process results in the Indian ice cream treat with its signature dense creaminess. Each pop has a story behind it — from a spirulina-infused collaboration with Hungry Heart Bakery called the Cookie Monster to the Major Mango, a tribute to Cheema’s late father-in-law, who was an army major. Cheema and husband Gagan Aulakh opened their own shop in April, where they also serve floats and falooda, a textural hodgepodge of kulfi, vermicelli noodles, basil seeds, and jelly.

Lovely's Fifty Fifty

Known primarily for its pizzas, Lovely’s Fifty Fifty slings scoops from its nondescript ice cream counter at the front of its cozy Mississippi neighborhood locale. Still, these ice creams are no joke: Flavors like salted caramel and strawberry buttermilk come in handmade waffle cones, often made with produce from Pacific Northwestern farmers. For instance, the peach leaf uses Groundworks Organics leaves steeped in cream; the result is a supremely luxurious almond-flavored dessert. While capping off your pizza dinner with ice cream — dine-in or ordered to-go via the restaurant’s pizza phone — certainly has the makings of a good night, you can also walk up for a cone, plain and simple, seven nights a week. 

Kate’s Ice Cream

Kate’s Ice Cream developed its cult following thanks to flavors like marionbery cobbler and salted peanut butter brittle, all of which happens to be vegan and gluten-free. In a new scoop shop on Mississippi, Katelyn Williams sells her ice cream in the former Ruby Jewel space, commemorating their move to the neighborhood with the lilac-hued Mississippi Mayhem, a cotton candy flavor packed with rotating baked goods. Kate’s 16 flavors are available scooped atop house-made, gluten-free waffle cones or in grab-and-go pints.

What's The Scoop?

What’s The Scoop never appears to have to any crowds or much of a line, which is good news: The ice cream, although limited in flavors, features creative combinations like cereal and milk, made with soaked Cap’n Crunch. Any cone can come with creative extras like fortune cookie cones and magic dust.

Nico's Ice Cream

While a New Zealand-imported blending machine called the Little Jem takes center stage at Nico Vergara’s shop, the resulting soft-serve textured ice cream is Oregon through-and-through: Willamette Valley Pie Co. berries are swirled into Umpqua vanilla ice cream or Coconut Bliss to order. Tropical Thursdays switch up the shop’s menu to fruit flavors like mango, pineapple, and banana. For a final flourish, opt for a dusting of rainbow sprinkles, toasted coconut flakes, or graham cracker dust or a drizzle of chamoy.

Eb and Bean

Portland’s rising ice cream star, Eb & Bean always serves froyo in vanilla and chocolate, along with a handful of seasonal specials, including a couple non-dairy options. The magic here is in the creative, artisanal toppings, like Tom Bumble Crumble, a flaky, caramelized peanut butter, and cold brew bourbon sauce. Eb & Bean locations offer plenty of seating with colorful cartoon murals that kids will love.

Cool Moon Ice Cream

Cool Moon Ice Cream is an underrated and almost forgotten spot, offering flavors that range from classic caramel and mint chip to elegant summer rose or earl grey. But beyond the kid-friendly options like peanut butter and marionberry jam, Cool Moon may be one of the best spots for sorbet in town, velvety with not an ice crystal in sight: the lime-coconut is not too sweet, paired beautifully with a scoop of the Oregon strawberry sorbet. This shop seldom has a long line, with large windows that look out onto Jamison Square‘s fountain — the ideal spot to sit with a cone.

Staccato Gelato

Staccato’s whopping 120 rotating ice cream and sorbet flavors have made it a favorite for families — especially those with particular tastes (read: picky eaters). To go even more decadent, Staccato also serves doughnuts alongside its impressive slate of gelatos and sorbettos, ranging from Lucky Charms to prickly pear.

Pinolo Gelato

Owner Sandro Paolini hails from Pisa and frequently imports hard-to-find ingredients from Italy to make the creamy, unforgettable gelatos at Pinolo Gelato. Although flavors are limited and portions are smaller most ice cream shops, each scoop packs an incredily flavorful punch; knockout nut flavors like hazelnut and pistachio particularly shine. It‘s best to take advantage of the shop‘s outdoor tables to people watch the crowds on Southeast Division.

Fifty Licks

Compared to other ice cream shops, the artsy, minimalist Fifty Licks stands out with thoughtful details, from a small dollop of jam at the bottom of freshly made waffle cones to inventive cocktails made with house sorbet. Even with these extras, Fifty Licks always serves consistently smooth ice cream with artful flavors like Thai rice and Hood strawberry, made with berries from Canby’s South Barlow Farms. Don‘t miss the creamy vegan coconut lemon saffron and the oh-so-rich Chocolate AF.

Cloud City Ice Cream

Those craving nostalgic flavors like cookies n’ cream and chocolate chip cookie dough head directly for Cloud City when the time comes. This Woodstock spot balances memorable classics with kid-friendly touches, like ice cream studded with frosted animal cracker cookies and red velvet mascarpone cake. Although Cloud City is located within a nondescript strip mall parking lot, plenty of families still take advantage of its outdoor seating, making the shop a lively neighborhood staple.

Holler Treats

Ice cream in rotating flavors like chai spice, horchata, and malted milk chocolate are available in your standard cones or pints (and even floats), but to get the full Holler experience, the shop’s specialty frozen treats are a must. Pastry chef Danielle Bailey’s ice cream sandwiches and drumsticks evoke pure childhood joy, especially when enjoyed within the whimsical shop’s cartoon-bedecked walls. Holler Treats also churns out ice cream cakes that are sure to impress at any celebration.

Related Maps

Premium Matcha Cafe Maiko

Maiko doesn’t offer a wide selection of ice creams, but what it does offer — earthy, borderline savory matcha soft serve — is worth an order. Offered straight or swirled with vanilla, the soft-serve also appears in parfaits, topped with shiratama mochi and layered with matcha chiffon, or as a float on top of a bed of iced matcha. Normies can stick to plain vanilla, but why would you?

Ome Calli Frozen Treats

Ome Calli, which means “two house” in the indigenous Mexican language Nahuatl, is a nod to the owners’ two homes: Oregon and Mexico. The Beaverton shop’s frozen desserts, then, blend the best of both, using Oregon fruit to recreate flavors sold at the founder’s Mexico City heladería. The shop’s mildly sweet corn ice cream, salty-creamy cotija, and delicate mamey are all standouts, but Ome Calli’s sherbets — velvety scoops of guava, chamoy, soursop, and tamarind-chile — are an absolute must-order.

Related Maps