Best Ice Cream: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams has developed a rabid cult following of ice cream aficionados across the country in the years since Jeni Britton Bauer opened the first Jeni’s location in Columbus, Ohio in 2002. While Houstonians could order pints of Jeni’s ice creams since the outfit started shipping out of state in 2006, the much raved about dessert spot didn’t have a permanent presence in H-Town until January 2020, when Jeni’s set up shop on 19th Street up in The Heights. Since then, Jeni’s has firmly ensconced itself into the upper echelons of the Houston ice cream scene with its mouth-watering treats. Made with a heavenly smooth buttercream body (except for their handful of dairy-free options) without any funky synthetic ingredients, each ice cream’s impeccable texture might be the first thing you notice upon that initial bite, but it’s the wildly creative, ever shifting list of classic and innovative flavors that truly sets Jeni’s apart.
Classic flavors include the jammy, crunchy Brambleberry Crisp, the indulgent Salted Peanut Butter with Chocolate Flecks and the sinfully decadent Gooey Butter Cake. Jeni’s is known to toss in even wilder flavors into the mix: The tangy, tart Goat Cheese with Red Cherries is one of the coolest combos we’ve come across, and the absolute wildest concoction Jeni’s has cooked up was its limited-time only Everything Bagel flavor. Launched just before the New Year in late 2020 and gone in a flash, its sweet cream cheese flavored base paired exceptionally well with the chunks of buttery, salty, garlicky streusel spread throughout. We hope it returns in the future, though until then, we’ll be more than content to stick with the standout classic flavors that put Jeni’s on the map in the first place.
373 West 19th
346-335-1394
jenis.com/houston-heights
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2021.
