I’m going to be blunt: this is the best Cookie Dough ice cream on the market. I’m confident such a statement will have the Graeter’s and Ben & Jerry’s enthusiasts cursing my name and contemplating closing their browser window right about now(those flavors are that good). Please don’t. Therefore, in the next few paragraphs, instead of simply telling you how good 2nd Street is, I’m specifically going to tell you why it’s better than the competition.
2nd Street blended a unique cookie dough base that is not only very good, but is arguably superior to any base of any Cookie Dough style ice cream on the Market. 2nd Streets’ base is “Cookie Dough” flavored, and as I’m sure it’s impossible to imagine what that might be like without guidance (I certainly did not know what to expect), I’ll say this: it is a creamy, dense premium base that does, in fact, taste strongly like cookie dough (it’s blended with brown sugar and flour), but somehow manages to specifically amplify the creamy-sweet notes , such that the legions of mix-ins are provided the flexibility to create an explosion of bliss on your palate. The competition generally only offers vanilla with chocolate chunks; nothing particularly special, comparatively an ocean of filler for a game of hide and seek with traditional cookie dough. In other words, 2nd streets base would be very good alone (and I would gladly eat a pint), but blended with mix-ins, it’s astounding. Would you honestly eat pint of Graeter’s or Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla?
In terms of mix ins, 2nd street probably matches the quantity of cookie dough pieces of the competition. Qualitatively, though, like the competition, 2nd Street's cookie dough balls are the best cookie dough balls in any ice cream; they simply are a perfected mix in; a tie. Like all the others, they are chewy, sweet, moist, and the kernels of brown sugar are palpable and dissolve on the surface of your tongue.
However, 2nd Street takes cookie dough balls even further than everyone else: not only does 2nd Street include chocolate chip dough balls, but they also include…[dramatic pause]…chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough, which are equally as good. These bad boys significantly set this pint apart from what we are all accustomed to. Although the chocolate chip paired with chocolate chocolate chip might sound similar to Ben & Jerry’s “Milk and Cookies”, “Milk and Cookies” is cookies, not dough. Which do you prefer: cookies or dough? Thought so. That said, the chocolate chocolate chip cookies offer a great contrast to the traditional chocolate chip balls within the pint, and create a mini adventure while scooping your way to the bottom of the pint. You never know what’s coming next. Ben & Jerry's and Graeter's offer very little adventure and a no contrast with mix-ins.
Further, similar to “Milk and Cookies” and unlike all other Cookie Dough flavors I’ve come across, a Cookie Dough swirl is included in 2nd Street's pint. I know its cliché’ to say that “words cannot describe “X””. In this case, though, we’re pretty much there. This stuff is a game changer. The cookie dough swirl is a soft, malleable, moist cookie dough injection of the absolute best cookie dough mix in included in any ice cream; even better than the cookie dough balls of its own pint (which strangely do not taste the same as the swirl). The swirl closely reminds me of legitimate, moist sugar cookie dough. Combine the swirl, the base, and cookie dough in one bite, and it’s quite possible you might consider leaving your significant other for a cardboard cup filled with sugar, cream, eggs, flour, milk, and chocolate.
If there is anything that you take away from my narrative above, it should be this: you want this flavor. This is one of the best ice creams I’ve ever had, and I’ve had many.
Where Winston Found It: Super Wal-Mart
Winston's Grade: A
