The 25 Craziest Ice Cream Concoctions in the Nation

The joys of summer are many, but there's nothing so simply satisfying as a sugar cone packed with cold ice cream. Gone are the days when you could reasonably chase down Mr. Softee, but don't lie, you still perk up at the sound of the truck's tinny music in the distance.

Now that you're grown, your taste in frozen treats should be equally elevated—ditch the uninspiring choices they're pushing at Baskin-Robbins. There are far more than 31 flavors in the world. Get inspired by July, National Ice Cream Month, and think outside of the cliché choices inside the supermarket's cooler with our list of the 25 Craziest Ice Cream Concoctions in the Nation.

Where: Otto
Location: 1 5th Ave., New York
Website: ottopizzeria.com

Even hardcore fans of Italian grub might find the idea of olive oil-doused gelato a bit puzzling. But trust, Mario Batali knows his way around a kitchen.

The olive oil has a subtle flavor despite its rich star ingredient, and it makes for a perfectly savory accompaniment to the tartness of the passion fruit granita and creamy lime curd that top the dessert. Macerated strawberries and a delicate rosemary brittle confirm our suspicions: Batali has outdone himself.

Where: Sunni Sky's
Location: 8617 North Carolina 55, Angier, N.C.
Website: sunniskys.com

Despite the immediate, unsavory thought the name evokes, perspiration is not actually an ingredient in Sunni Sky's infamous ice cream. However, the fear-inspiring blend of pecan peppers, Thai chilies, and habaneros—all of which are marinated in Mega Death hot sauce before being topped with a generous serving of ghost chili sauce—does force those brave enough to consume it to sweat profusely.

This uncomfortable reaction to consuming the fiery blend of peppers and hot sauce is so well-documented, the ice cream shop requires all adventurous eaters to sign a waiver before taking a spoonful of the scorching concoction. They even include a lengthy list of people who are not equipped to eat it, just in case the whole waiver-thing doesn't thwart those gutsy enough to contemplate a taste.

Where: Cones
Location: 272 Bleecker St, New York
Website: n/a

Gelato is not exactly ice cream, we know. But we thought it was worth putting pedantic details aside for a treat as uniquely awesome as Black Label-laced dessert.

Ron Burgundy would have been all about the scotch, scotch, scotch gelato Cones whips up. The dessert features whiskey-macerated kumquats, making for a high alcohol treat that will set you back a buck for just a taste. Still, we're talking about a scotch-infused dairy treat here, people. Cough it up!

Where: Mitchell's Ice Cream
Location: 688 San Jose Ave., San Francisco
Website: mitchellsicecream.com

Avocado ice cream, particularly due to the fact that it's Ghostbusters slime green, seems like it would have an Umami taste you wouldn't seek out for dessert.

But Mitchell's avocado ice cream doesn't overwhelm with salty or savory flavors. Instead, it's pleasantly sweeter than expected, reminding you that avocados are actually fruit. The avocado lends a creamy texture, making for a pleasurable mouth feel that makes Marshall's nearly-neon ice cream a unique treat.

Where: West Egg Café
Location: 1100 Howell Mill Rd., Atlanta
Website: westeggcafe.com

Some of life's most relished pleasures are the simplest. Take, for instance, West Egg Café's refreshingly straightforward dessert, the bourbon chocolate milkshake.

The milkshake is a no-nonsense blend of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. Not Tahitian vanilla or vanilla bean. Just vanilla. Not gilded chocolate or imported dark chocolate with every bean hand selected. After that, the most important ingredient, of course, is the bourbon. It adds complexity, but not too much, making for an unfettered dessert of deceptively grand proportions.

Where: Tasty Clouds
Location: 12325 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles
Website: tastyclouds.com

It's hard to imagine improving something as classic as the root beer float. And rather than trying to improve, Tasty Clouds simply alters to make a new, imaginative incarnation.

The vanilla ice cream is present and accounted for, but rather than pouring in the root beer alongside it, there is an airy tuft of root beer-flavored cotton candy on top, producing a flavor identical to the original. The only difference? No straw required!

Where: Morimoto
Location: 88 10th Ave., New York
Website: morimotonyc.com

We're a fan of vegetables disguised as more delicious things (see: fried pickles, or any tempura-style veggie, really) but asparagus ice cream might be taking it too far.

Still, when you're an Iron Chef, you can pull off even the unlikeliest of desserts. Morimoto serves up his asparagus ice cream with a straight face, even adding two chocolate-covered stalks of the stuff with no regard for its resemblance to sausage links. And you know what? We can respect that.

[Image via Yusheng/Flickr]

Where: Three Twins Ice Cream
Location: 254 Fillmore St., San Francisco
Website: threetwinsicecream.com

You know you've made it when you can guiltlessly indulge in Three Twins' port wine banana split. A truly outrageous splurge, this sundae is soaked in three rare dessert wines that bring this treat's tab up to a whopping $3,333.33.

Thankfully, the price includes a private performance by a cellist to amp your entertainment, and to ease your mind, a third of the proceeds will benefit a local charity. Tempted?

Where: BLT Burger
Location: Various (see website)
Website: bltburger.com

Fried Twinkies have been staples at state fairs for years; it was only a matter of time before they found their way into ice cream, aka the next level.

By next level, we mean an entire cream-filled Hostess snack blended up with heap of vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup, served with a extra-wide straw for a speedy take down. It's a step forward for fast food consumption, in more ways than one, and we support it wholeheartedly.

Where: The Chocolate Bar
Location: 1835 West Alabama St., Houston
Website: theoriginalchocolatebar.com

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't...and sometimes you feel like having every ingredient from every chocolate bar ever invented all at once. For those times, Candylicious Junkyard Ice Cream is what you must reach for.

With seven classic candy bars (Butterfingers, Kit Kat, Twix, Baby Ruth, Nestle's Crunch, Milky Way, and Mars) folded into white chocolate ice cream, choosing your favorite is no longer an issue. Everything you want can be found in one all-inclusive flavor! Admit it, the fat kid in you is pumping his chubby fist.

Where: Max and Mina's Ice Cream
Location: 7126 Main St., Flushing, Queens
Website: maxandminasicecream.com

The only qualm with corn on the cob? It's too difficult to eat. You can go to town on a cob and still be laboring over it well after your friends have finished several hot dogs. At BBQs, time means snagging that last burger, and you can't afford to be slowed down.

Max and Mina's understands your struggle, which is why they've cooled freshly shucked corn and whipped it into a sweet cream, making for a frozen version of your favorite summertime side that's savory-sweet and super easy to eat. It's a tiny victory, but we'll take it.

Where: Drunken Udder Ice Cream
Location: Various (see website)
Website: drunkenuddericecream.com

There are flavors you expect to see together: vanilla and chocolate, mint and chocolate chip, cookies and creme. Tequila and vanilla bean, however, are an unlikely couple.

Even more unusual is the addition of pepitas (Spanish for pumpkin seeds) and praline, an flavor usually reserved for Southern desserts. And yet. Really though, they had us at tequila. Everything beyond that was just a bonus.

Where: Pig Vicious
Location: 1001 East 6th St., Austin, TX
Website: n/a

Pumpkin is delicious is nearly every incarnation (see: Pumpkin beer), but its creamy sweetness is best suited when frozen and consumed through a straw. Yes, we're talking a pumpkin milkshake.

Now imagine this nearly perfect creation being made even better. Impossible, you say. Bacon, we say. Oh, you say. That is better. In fact, it's damn perfect.

Where: DBGB Kitchen & Bar
Location: 299 Bowery, New York
Website: danielnyc.com

If you prefer your dessert with a side of fanfare, DBGB's Omelette Norvegienne (aka Baked Alaska) is doused with a shot of herbal chartreuse liqueur and flambéed table side for the visual delight of diners who decide to indulge.

Part cake, part ice cream, this baked dessert is made with an airy almond cake that is home to a layer of vanilla and verbena ice cream, which hides another level of cool raspberry sorbet. And, of course, the entire thing is encased in freshly whipped meringue, which is browned to perfection right before your eyes.

[Image via Serious Eats]

Where: Cool Haus
Location: Various (see website)
Website: eatcoolhaus.com

Ordinarily, fried chicken and waffles pays equal attention to both savory and sweet flavor profiles, which is why we're obsessed with it. But Cool Haus gives our favorite meal a joyful shove to the sweeter side by churning heavy cream with real-deal maple syrup and caramel, and then shoving the concoction between two chocolate cookies.

Lest you be worried about the salty succumbing to the sugar, rest assured, real chicken skin, chicken stock, and sage preserve the elements you love. And the damn thing is portable. Really, what's not to love?

Where: Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium
Location: 66 Main St., Bar Harbor, Maine
Website: benandbills.com

You can put lobster on any damn thing and we would not object. Take the lobster roll, which packs a hot dog bun with juicy meat. Hot dog buns are the lowest form of bread, but folks will fork over $24 for one of those.

Still, lobster ice cream? For fanatics only, Ben and Bill's treat takes butter-flavored ice cream and folds in chunks of fresh, local lobster meat. What's next, oyster ice cream?

Where: Momofuku Milk Bar
Location: Various (see website)
Website: milkbarstore.com

Everyone knows that slurping the sugary milk leftover from your cereal is the best part of breakfast. But only Momofuku Milk Bar was inventive enough to turn that small pleasure into nostalgia-sweet soft serve.

The tiny dessert bar's creamy cereal milk ice cream nails that slightly salty taste, and also offers crushed bits of corn flake as a topping, making for a serious concoction that will have you scrambling for excuses to visit one of the Milk Bar locations.

Where: Serendipity 3
Location: 225 East 60th St., New York
Website: serendipity3.com

Serendipity once broke a world record for the decadence of its aptly named Golden Opulence Sundae. It's not the ice cream itself (Tahitian and Madagascar vanilla) that makes this treat so pricey, but the crop of toppings that sit atop the five scoops.

You won't find any rainbow sprinkles here. Instead, there's golden caviar, hard-to-find Amedei chocolate, and a 23-carat gilded leaf, all served in a $300 Baccarat goblet with an 18-carat gold spoon, all of which will set you back a cool $1,000. Bonus: You get to keep the crystal goblet as a souvenir.

Where: Humphry Slocombe
Location: 2790 Harrison St., San Francisco
Website: humphryslocombe.com

Bacon ice cream has become close to ubiquitous, leaving serious pig-worshippers in search of more unique pleasures.

Humphry Slocombe provides just that with its meaty mixture of Boccalone prosciutto, fennel seeds, and black pepper, which are whipped into heavy cream for a uniquely rich ice cream. A victory for lovers of swine everywhere!

Where: Creme De Canna
Location: 3143 Paul Sweet Rd., Santa Cruz, CA
Website: cremedecanna.com

Only in California, American's marijuana Mecca, would you find a dessert that sounds like it dropped out of Jim Breuer's munchie-inspired dream sequence from Half Baked.

Creme de Canna serves up delicious, gourmet ice cream infused with medical grade marijuana—but don't be fooled by the lighthearted name. One pint packs the potency of eight joints, which is why this elevating edible is available to card-holding patients only.

Where: Wong
Location: 7 Cornelia St., New York
Website: wongnewyork.com

Wong takes the concept of Asian Fusion to a place no asked for it to go—namely, dairy. Nothing dainty about it, the cream is infused with duck fat and allowed to soak for three days, which accounts for the overwhelmingly savory assault on your taste buds.

The duck's roasted goodness is perfectly cut by the star anise-poached plum wine it's served with, making it a multi-course experience in one dessert, much like Willy Wonka's dream of a three-course meal in a single piece of bubble gum. Yes, childhood fantasies do come true.

Where: The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen
Location: 1 South Park St., San Francisco
Website: theamericansf.com

We have a confession to make. We will eat anything that's covered in cheese. So, while we were slightly put off by the idea of cheddar cheese and ice cream co-habitating, the idea quickly grew on us.

The American's ice cream grilled cheese is made with Tillamook Sharp Cheddar cheese ice cream that's sandwiched between two crispy pieces of brioche, each spread with peanut butter and cherry preserves. It's a crazy amalgamation of your favorite things to eat when you were seven, but laced with enough walnut liqueur to demand an adult's appreciation.

Where: The Ice Cream Store
Location: 6 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, DE
Website: rehobothicecream.com

There's playing it safe, and then there's ordering an ice cream with a poisonous insect on top. You may or may not make it out alive, so you're required to sign a waiver before diving in. Really.

And the biggest surprise? It's not even the scorpion's deadly sting that demands your signature (the insect is frozen, after all). The warning is a result of the three ghost pepper hot sauces this deadly concoction is laced with. Talk about a double threat!

Where: Petrossian
Location: 321 North Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, CA
Website: petrossian.com

Foie gras' buttery decadence is often used to offset a sweet jam, but imagine if that richness was channeled into a cool, creamy evocation of the original. If what you're imagining is close to a chilled peanut butter and jelly, and you're salivating, then immediately seek out Petrossian's foie gras ice cream sandwich.

The dessert features the aforementioned foie gras ice cream between two pieces of thinly-sliced brioche, topped with raspberry jam and a hint of sea salt and honey. Seriously, could you envision anything more appealing?