Best Ice Cream Spots in NJ

When you're looking to cool down this summer, here are the best ice cream spots in New Jersey to look into...

By David LasherPublished 7 years ago • 4 min read

Ice cream and summer go together like Trump and egomaniacs. When the weather gets warm, there’s one comfort food that dessert-lovers all over the state go in search for: ice cream. Folks simply love to quench their need of having some ice cream before in the hot weather.

Fun facts you probably never knew about Ice Cream:

Today the average American eats about 20 quarts of ice cream a year―the world's highest per capita consumption, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.
June is the month that the most ice cream is produced (why I wrote the article).
California produces the most ice cream in America.
19% of Americans say they eat ice cream in bed (maybe thats why were all fat).
About 98% of U.S. families have ice cream in their fridges, at all times (that's insane).

If you need to know where to go in New Jersey to get ice cream I've got you covered. Here is a list of the top 5 ice cream spots in the NJ area according to my research on the subject matter...

Bischoff's in Teaneck

You don't have to live in Teaneck to have heard of Bischoff's. This is an ice cream institution that has scooped ice cream into cones and sundae dishes since the 1930s. The shop today boasts 40 flavors of frozen creaminess, from the classics - chocolate, vanilla, strawberry - to coffee cookie crush, peach, pistachio, chocolate fudge brownie or mint cookie crush. Enjoy in a sugar cone with rainbow sprinkles on the swinging stools or - no time? - take a pint home. You can also grab shakes, elaborate ice cream sundaes and ice cream cakes, as well as lunch in the back banquettes. Oh yes, and if all that ice cream and cake doesn't satisfy your sweet tooth, there's almost every kind of candy in the shop as well as chocolate-covered everything. The shop’s sweets and ice creams, plus its proximity to the movie theater on Cedar Lane, have made it a popular stop for more than eight decades.

FYI: Bischoff's doesn't take credit cards, nor does it have an official website.

Torico in Jersey City

This casually stylish ice cream parlor traces its roots to 1968, when Peter and Pura Berrios, from Puerto Rico, started making slushes and sorbets in a former deli. The name is a contraction of "todo rico" - "everything is delicious." Denise Berrios and her son, Steven, now make the ice cream; Christine Berrios, Denise's sister, helps run the business.

"You have to have the passion, the excitement, in the ice cream," Christine said.

Torico likes to push the ice cream envelope with such flavors as ube (purple yam), pound cake and cherry pistachio.

Favorites here: black sesame, pineapple coconut, ginger.

Applegate Farm in Montclair

Probably the state's best-known ice cream name, Applegate Farm started as a dairy business in 1848; ice cream came along in 1929, served in the former milk bottling room, the red-shingled building at the entrance to the parking lot. This is the only Applegate Farm ice cream store; locations in Nutley, Freehold and East Hanover have since closed.

There are 36-40 flavors of hard ice cream; one must is the Graham Central Station.

Also recommended: the cappuccino crunch and jimmy crack corn.

Nasto's in Newark

One of the Ironbound's great food legends, Nasto's opened in 1939 in a former brewery. Secret to its long life? "Put the good stuff in and get good stuff out," Frank Nasto III said. The blue-awninged store supplies ice cream to 750 or so restaurants around New Jersey. And don't forget about the tartuffo, spumoni, tortoni and fresh fruit sorbets in the display case.

Favorites here: honey fig, chocolate, key lime.

Zita's Homemade Ice Cream

Zita's Homemade Ice Cream, New Providence. No more ice cream! At least for three days, anyway.

That was my thought, anyway, when I walked into this ice cream store, the last of our semifinalist visits. Natalie Zagorski, Alexia Ticas and Sam Mazzucco suggested flavors (I tried seven flavors at each of our 41 semifinalists), and their taste was impeccable. My favorites: Chocolate Thunder, 91716 (vanilla ice cream, caramel, chocolate-covered pretzels, peanut butter cups, chocolate chips), the coconut special.