Cuisine Scene: Frozen Treats

As the name suggests, Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt on the Boardwalk (429 Shoreline Village Dr) offers a wide selection of gourmet ice cream, frozen yogurt and fruit smoothies. They have splits, sundaes, and sprinkles along with 25 toppings you can add to a cone or cup, all of which has made this Shoreline Village mainstay a delicious destination before shopping, strolling, jumping on on or off a boat or bike, or heading over to visit the nearby Aquarium of the Pacific.

Long Beach Creamery (4141 Long Beach Blvd/222 E. Broadway) makes all its ice cream in-house, with more than 80% of ingredients locally sourced. Handcrafted quality and inventive flavors like Biscuits & Jam, Lemon Lavender, Berry Buttercake share freezer space with bestsellers like Saltine Dream (vanilla ice cream, caramelized saltine crackers covered in chocolate and rich fudge swirl).

Located just across from Poly High School, SnoCorner (1701 Atlantic Ave.) specializes in New Orleans-style shaved ice. Their snoballs are shaved so finely that the ice appears powder-like, making it not only easy to dig into, but also easy to mix with the more than 20 flavors offered, like pink lemonade, horchata, and watermelon. The snoballs can be pumped up even more by adding condensed milk or soft serve ice cream, something they really recommend you try.

Hug Life (2707 E. 4th St.) is an “anti-dairy ice cream ‘n stuff” store, located on Retro Row. Seeing as how it's next door to Coffee Drunk and directly across the street from Page Against the Machine, you can imagine this as the new core of another cool configuration complementing the vintage stretch of 4th Street. Employing dairy alternatives such as coconut, soy and oat milk, Hug Life makes such exciting flavors as Vietnamese Coffee, Mango Chamoy and Matcha Monsta, sacrificing nothing in the way of flavor or gooeyness. Root Beer Floats, Cookie Sammiches and build your own milkshakes, it’s all good.

Fluffy’s Sno-Balls (1208 Long Beach Blvd.) has quickly become a local success story. Recently named by Yelp as the No. 1 frozen treat shop in California–No. 5 in the nation–its popularity owes a lot to attention paid to quality and flavor. Fluffy’s 12.5-pound blocks of ice, created on site, are shaved so finely by employees that sno-balls have a uniquely creamy quality. Speaking of unique, the shop not only offers such classic flavors as strawberry, coconut and orange, but also another 50 options ranging from kiwi to dill pickle to wine cooler.

La Michoacana Heladeria Tradicional’s (1168 E. Anaheim St.) bright decor matches the hues of its ice cream, which pop from the refrigerated case in splashes of green, red, yellow, etc. Fresh fruit–strawberry, lime, mango, watermelon–is integrated into both its ice cream and paletas, the popsicle-like offerings that look familiar to many, but may occasionally feature unfamiliar ingredients. For instance, one of the shop’s most popular paletas contains chile and cucumber. It’s really good.