Ice Cream Perfected at Gannon’s Isle.

When you tell people you don’t like ice cream a few things happen. First they do a double take, then they throw some what-are-you-talking-about hand gestures and either let their mouths gape or actually chastise you out loud for such an outrage.

I know this because I’ve been ice cream averse from as early as I can remember. Whether or not I have some repressed traumatic memories surrounding ice cream I couldn’t tell you. Whatever the cause, it’s just never been my thing. Until now. One bite of a specific ice cream erased my long-held grudge. Even though I doubt you are among the ice cream haters (former or current), read on to see what caused my conversion.

Gannon’s Isle has been serving up all sorts of homemade, unique frozen treats since 1982, currently with two locations in and around Onondaga Hill. They also recently snagged first place and a Post Standard CNY front page in a ‘Cuse-wide ice cream competition. While there are certainly many competitors around, after experiencing Gannon’s own “Almond Bark” ice cream, the number drops to zero. My family pushed me to try it over the summer and I eventually gave in. Apparently I should listen to them more often.

Almond Bark, a butter fudge based hard ice cream, is very light and almost refreshing, which shattered my expectation of post-ice cream coma. It has a subtle chocolaty flavor, which is just semi-sweet enough to meet my requirements but still sweet enough to please any palate. Dispersed throughout are large, sort of dark chocolate flakes and the occasional almond. The almonds become the center of this ice cream and given the few that you’ll get (small is my maximum order), each one is like finding treasure. With the semi-sweet chocolate, light sweet butter fudge and salty almonds Gannon’s Isle have perfected homemade ice cream unlike what you’ll get anywhere else in town.

People talk about wines being perfectly balanced but I think you can use the vocab of connoisseurship for something this great. Go try a cone today before the cold weather shuts down the source of my newest addiction.

Gannon’s Isle
1525 Valley Drive or 4800 McDonald Road
Also check out their blog.