It is a strange and marvelous time to be an ice cream fan. There are more excellent shops making ice cream and gelato than ever, sourcing ingredients from local strawberry fields and Italian pistachio orchards, churning the stuff with wooden paddles, and blasting it with liquid nitrogen. “Stranger Things” is now set in a scoops shop and folks are licking pints in grocery stores. (Lick your own ice cream. Licking somebody else’s is gross, and apparently a felony.)
Restaurants are upping their own game: A glass of strawberry ice cream at the recently opened Los Angeles restaurant Antico was the best thing I’ve eaten in a very long time. And if you haven’t eaten your way through Mozza’s gelato desserts, it’s about time. It’s going to be a long, hot summer, so here are 50 places in L.A. and beyond to get some excellent scoops.