In Search of the Perfect Scoop

It was a hot, sultry, day in Cambridge. Our trek would take us from Bow St. to Porter Square and back to the Kennedy School.

Our mission: to find the perfect scoop of ice cream.

Our conclusion: no ice cream is perfect. But the Square and surroundings have a lot that come pretty dran close.

We noticed a significant difference in taste, texture and creaminess between homemade and mass-produced ice creams. But other than that, it was difficult to rank the different scoops we sampled from the six sinful sweet shops on our tour.

Maybe we're just a little too fond of ice cream. But we have passed the decisions along to you. You've got three months of summer to do what we did in two hours. Experiment and enjoy.

In alphabetical order, here are the place we visited. At each stop, we asked for samples of the two most popular flavors.

31 Flavors: Keep on Counting

As everyone knows, Baskin Robbins has a rotating flavor of the month, often seasonal or topical.

Our friendly 31 flavors server gave us the current and one former flavor of the month to try.

The featured flavor was Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. And, yes, it really does taste like the candy you get in the shiny orange wrapper from a vending machine. The chunks of peanut butter and chocolate in the vanilla ice cream were tasty, but often difficult to chew because they were large and frozen solid. The Reese's peanut butter cup was probably the sweetest ice cream we tried.

We couldn't really figure out what relation Baseball Nut has to America's Pastime. And we don't think it's being served at Fenway these days. But the flavor, with cashew and a rasberry swirl made the ice cream seem like a light sorbet. Although Baseball Nut had the same vanilla ice cream as the Reese's, it was significantly lighter and less sweet.

The ice cream at Baskin Robbins is thinner than the homemade variety at some of the other stores. But the great advantage of Baskin Robbins is its predictability. From Southern California to Northern Maine, you know what you're going to get from the 31 flavors. And you know your favorite flavors always going to be there waiting.

The servings at Baskin Robbins are some of the most generous. And at $1.98 a scoop, the price is at the low end of the scale.

Without a doubt, Baskin Robbins is an appealing option for a hungry summer school student studying at Lamont and seeking a quick ice cream fix.

Baskin Robbins is located at 1230 Mass. Ave. at the intersection of Mass Ave. and Bow St.

The Mother Lode

Herrell's is the mother of homemade ice creams in the Square.

Its lines are always long, and it's often difficult to find a place to sit--even with the expanded seating in the old bank vault.

Their best selling Chocolate Pudding ice cream, while excellent, is only for the true chocolate lover. It's soft, thick and rich and made of bittersweet chocolate. It could be difficult to eat an entire cup without a jug of water to go with it.

Herrell's Cookies & Cream ice cream is unique in the Square. As the manager told us, they don't blend the Oreos into the vanilla ice cream. As a result, the vanilla is pure and the large chunks of cookie are not as soft as at some other stores. The ice cream is, nevertheless, very good.

Herrell's is located at 15 Dunster St. At $2.25 a relatively small serving, Herrell's is more expensive than some. But the ice cream is gourmet.

Christina's

Christina's offers a Cambridge original: Burnt Sugar ice cream, a flavor developed by a Lesley college professor who came here from Cambridge, England. Burnt sugar tastes just like the top of a creme brule. Its texture is firm, smooth and dense--just what an ice cream should be. Like some of the other flavors we tired, it would be just as tasty in the midst of a cold, icy Harvard winter. You do need to know, though, that burnt sugar is not overpoweringly sweet--in fact, it has a bitter edge.

Christina's Guava Pineapple sorbet is the perfect summer choice. Though we couldn't taste the pineapple, we didn't mind. The icy confection doesn't contain any dairy products and it melts in your mouth. The ice cream sells for $1.50 a scoop.

Toscanini's

Nearly sick of ice cream at this point, we venture along Mass. Ave. to the recently opened Toscanini's. The shop is decorated in a minimalist fashion, but don't let the sparse decor fool you; the ice cream is complex.

The thick, homemade ice cream is delectable, although a little pricey. A micro-sundae goes for $1.90 plus tax.

Toscanini's doesn't have many flavors to select from; there are only about 10. But what they lack in variety of flavors they make up for in selection of products. Toscanini's offers shakes, coffee, yogurt, sorbet and baked goods like muffins.

The service is friendly, and their location across from Widener Gate is ideal.