Richardson’s is great! I can never remember which is which – the Richardson’s that sells their ice cream to other places, and the one that doesn’t. One gets mad about being confused with the other.
My favorites in the greater Nashua area:
Sullivan’s in Tyngsboro. My mother just moved into the retirement home near-ish here, so we’re probably going there this weekend. I don’t know how it took me years to check out (my mother says I went as a kid), except that I almost never go to the mall, and the just-over-the-state-line dispensary that I go to is in Pepperell, not Tyngs. So I’m just not over there much. But this is nice, creamy, old school ice cream. I appreciate that they have multiple coffee flavors, on top of the New England standards (Grapenut, Frozen Pudding, Orange Pineapple; most of the places on my list have at least two of these).
Chelmsford Creamery in Chelmsford, formerly Gary’s I believe. No one is ever at this place, I don’t know why. They have rickeys as well as ice cream, which not everyone does anymore. If it were closer this would be our go-to, and it features in what we call The Trifecta, which is when you get ice cream at Chelmsford Creamery and then zip over to Billerica for pizza at Stromboli’s and pierogi to take home from Polish Prince. (Our actual order of operations often differs because Polish Prince closes early. Get the sausage one! Don’t ask what’s in it or you might second-guess trying a pierogi with mayo in it.)
Johnson’s in Groton. Parking can be tricky when they’re crowded, because they also do indoor dining, so sometimes people are there a while. I’m not sure they’re any better than the previous two, in an apples to apples comparison, but in a pineapples to pineapples comparison, they have an advantage in their Hawaiian Supreme: it’s orange pineapple, but with coconut added. Everything is better with coconut.
Hayward’s in Nashua, Merrimack, or Milford. I don’t know why I so often overlook them, because they’re consistently good. It may just be that this is one of two places where, for some reason, I almost always get a malted or a frappe instead of an actual scoop of ice cream. (Kimballs is the other.) The Merrimack location has the advantage of being in the same plaza as A Lot of Thai, which might have a dorky name but has the best crab rangoon I’ve ever had and some other amazing stuff (the miang kham appetizer is a must, and the Thai iced tea is topped with a damn Thai iced tea popsicle), and down the street from House of Noodles and Sushi, which has a boring name but some of the best Chinese food in the area—I don’t know where else you can get a cumin lamb “Chinese hamburger” or scallion pancake beef wrap around here, and on top of that, they were playing Cobra Kai on their TV the last time I was there.
Mack’s Apples in Derry: they serve Richardson’s ice cream, and they constantly have several sundae specials, which are usually too big and too rich but also very good and you should get them anyway. The best is the cider doughnut sundae, because their cider doughnuts are pretty damn good and adding caramel sauce is not going to make them worse.
Ilsley’s in Weare: first off, it’s a gorgeous view, since you’re at the top of a hill on farmland. But on top of that, although the flavor selection is very limited, it seems to be one of the few places that still offers real maple syrup as a topping. We tapped our trees and gave out maple syrup as Christmas presents when I was a kid, so this is a big deal for me.
Kimballs, multiple locations, I’m only mentioning as a point of comparison. They’re constantly busy but we have better options closer. My mother and I will sometimes go on opening day. They’re fine, but kind of … only fine? What people seem to love—like with some lobster rolls or sub places—is simply the size of the portion, because that’s always the thing they rave about, instead of, you know … the flavor. (They’re fine, though, really. Just not as good as the others.)
Lull Farm: in both Hollis and Milford. Not an ice cream stand! But since they stopped carrying Shain’s of Maine after sexual harassment complaints, they started offering their own brand of ice cream in quarts, which at least occasionally includes Grapenut. Notable because almost no grocery store here carries any commercial Grapenut ice cream anymore, even though Gifford’s still makes it.
Dammit, it’s a good thing I dragged the Ninja Creami out. I’ve got sweet corn ice cream and sweet tea/peach sherbet (I hope, haven’t tried it yet) sitting in the freezer.
- It’s pretty much everywhere in every country for the last year
