Chocolate Shoppe
Jia: As a Madison native, I can assure you that the emblematic Chocolate Shoppe logo complete with cow happily licking away at an ice cream cone, has been permanently linked to the dopamine/happiness pathway of my brain.
The Chocolate Shoppe has no competition when it comes to serving delicious, traditional ice cream. When you walk into the triangle-shaped corner store on State Street, more than two dozen interesting flavors greet you. There is everything from the simple Strawberry to more inventive flavors like Superman (crazy rainbow-colored, fruity ice cream).
The flavors live up to the hype. Each flavor I have tried there has been rich, creamy and smooth, and the servers generally give you a generous helping. I urge you to try my all time favorite, Zanzibar Chocolate.
Lena: A lot of people probably don't believe there are vegan flavors at the Chocolate Shoppe, including gelato flavors (Lemon, Nectarine and Raspberry Lemon) and some soy-based flavors (Espresso Oreo and Vanilla Chocolate Chip). However the veganness"" rating is difficult to gauge here.
Although Paciugo has better gelato, it doesn't carry Nectarine gelato, one of my favorite flavors. At Chocolate Shoppe the vegan flavors are unfortunately located in the back of the café, along with the vain-attempt-at-something-healthy frozen yogurt and sugarless gunk for wimps. Vegans get pretty sick of being singled out after a while.
Overall: 3/4
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