We know, we know: Ice cream? For summer? Groundbreaking. But there’s literally no better time to write about one of our favorite treats than the hottest season of the year, cliché or not. It’s practically a requirement: Before the summer’s over, you must try one of these hot (cold?) spots. And for those of you who’d rather not sweat it out with the masses in line for a sweet scoop, we’ve rounded up a DIY kit of sorts. All you need is a recipe. (Hey, we can’t do all the work.)

By Shea Gibbs, Caite Hamilton, and Maeve Hayden

SWEET TREATS

Chaps still serving up frozen goodness

Strolling the Downtown Mall with a post-dinner Chaps ice cream cone is like a rite of passage.

You’ll know you’re where you want to be when you see the blue awning, teal booths, neon signs, and longtime employee Brenda “Granny” Hawkins serving up scoops from behind the counter.

On warm summer nights, it’s not uncommon for the line of dessert seekers to wind out the door, but Granny handles it like a seasoned pro, which is no surprise seeing as she recently celebrated her 25th Chaps anniversary.

Chaps has been a mainstay on the Downtown Mall since it opened in 1985, standing strong through mall turnovers, increasing rent, and a pandemic. Tony LaBua opened the Downtown location, taking over for his uncle who ran a Chaps in a different part of town, before selling to new owners in 2022.

Today, manager Rhys Aglio and employees like Granny keep the good scoops rolling.

“We make ice cream at least three or four days a week right now,” Aglio says. “It will probably go up to five days a week in the summertime. We make somewhere around 25 flavors.”

Ask any Charlottesvillian their Chaps order, and they’re sure to have a ride-or-die recommendation. Flavors with cult followings include butter pecan, cherry vanilla, black raspberry, Four Cs (chocolate cherry chocolate chip), and pistachio.

Even more popular than the fun flavors is the tried and true trio of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.

“They’re our most ordered flavors,” Aglio says. “And vanilla shakes are surprisingly popular.”

Chaps also incorporates seasonal flavors, like peach and peppermint, into its menu, and the kitchen is always messing around with some new flavor.

“We’re always trying out random other things,” Aglio says. “We recently made a test batch of maple bacon ice cream. Last time we made it it was too much bacon and not enough maple syrup, and this time it was too much maple syrup and not enough bacon. So we’re working that out.”

One of the most exciting new additions to the menu are cake cups. The cups layer together ice cream, cake, and crushed Oreo, sprinkles, or chocolate chips, depending on the flavor. Other offerings include custom ice cream cakes, and, for furry friends, pup cups loaded with banana and peanut butter.

It’s easy to get lost in the fun of ice cream flavors, but one of the best parts of Chaps is plopping your scoops on top of one of the homemade waffle cones. They’re perfectly flavored and crisp, yet chewy. In this case, the answer’s always cone.—MH

What’s the scoop?

Cup or cone?

Rhys Aglio: That’s a hard question. Cones are more fun but cups are easier.

How do you get the perfect scoop?

Very minimal wrist movement, it’s more shoulder, it’s pulling and turning. Get your whole body in there and pull it out. Some of them are softer, some get a lot more dense, they’re colder. And it does help to know the technique.

OLD-SCHOOL SCOOPS

The OG of local ice cream shops, Chandler’s remains a hot spot

Chandler’s Ice Cream, a small stand tucked off Long Street and cherished by many, literally rolled into town on the bypass a quarter century ago.

The trailer that now houses Chandler’s began its life as Willy’s Ice Cream in Waynesboro. Jon Lee, a young family man working in the hospitality industry, was a friend of the owner, who told Lee he was building more permanent digs.

Lee quickly snapped up the creamery-on-wheels. He drove it to Charlottesville with help from friends and family and set up shoppe.

The Lees leased space fronting River Road next to Tractor Supply, anchored their newly acquired trailer, arranged a few picnic tables and whiskey barrels, and started serving up no-frills chocolate and vanilla soft serve. It was a hit.

“We like to keep it simple,” Lee says.

Chandler’s also offers some hot food, but it’s become known for its generous portions of fully loaded sundaes, creamy milkshakes, and huge banana splits. “The banana boat is the biggest seller,” Lee says. “We buy our bananas by the case, so it’s hard to say how many we go through. But people definitely look at me like I’m crazy when I buy them all.”

Chandler’s is now in its 26th year of selling “real ice cream,” Lee says, and he doesn’t expect to change things up any time soon. His eldest son, Chandler’s namesake, helps out around the business, as do two of his daughters. His wife, a local schoolteacher, provides emotional support.

Lee says Chandler’s business fluctuates with the weather, but it’s resilient during tough economic times. He’s always looking to draw customers by making the place more visible from the bypass, but he figures his low-cost treats put a smile on folks’ faces no matter how well they’re doing financially.

When he’s not at Chandlers, Lee cooks for the Dominican priests at St. Thomas Aquinas University parish and spends time with his family and beloved dogs. He loves to see customers eating their cones with their canines, and Chandler’s offers free pup cups—whipped cream in a Dixie—to all four-legged friends. That even goes for the cloven.

“Today, our first customer pulled up in his old pickup, and he had a goat in the back,” Lee says. “I handed the ice cream cone to him, and he turns around and starts to feed the goat.”—SG

PEACHY KEEN

Is it really summer if you haven’t had an ice cream treat from Chiles Peach Orchard? The juicy fruit shows up in mid-June and lasts through the middle of September, which gives you plenty of time to sample the soft serve in all its splendor: in a waffle cone, as a milkshake, or (our personal favorite) topped with a donut, aka a dondae.—CH

SMALL TOWN SCOOPS

Crozet Creamery serves up big flavors

On Christmas day in 2022, disaster struck Crozet.

Piedmont Place, a multi-use building at the heart of the small town, experienced a water main break. The businesses inside were forced to close while the damage was reversed, and, unfortunately, many of them decided to shutter their doors for good. It was a big blow to Crozet, which lost a taco shop, barbeque joint, and gym, in one fell swoop.

Crozet Creamery, however, is here to stay. The little shop that could reopened in early March, ready to get back to business serving up small-batch, handcrafted ice cream in a variety of rotating classic and creative flavors.

The ice cream joint has been a fixture of Piedmont Place, and a must-visit for daytrippers from Charlottesville, since the building opened in 2017. Manager Erik Schetlick joined Crozet Creamery shortly after it opened.

“[The owners] called me and asked if I wanted to run an ice cream shop,” Schetlick says. “Before this I had done some light ice cream work at restaurants, but I’ve always liked ice cream and eating ice cream …so I got excited at that prospect.”

Before Crozet Creamery, Schetlick had worked at local joints like Harvest Moon Catering, The Virginian, Michael’s Bistro, and The Ivy Inn. Now, he’s responsible for all of the fun, creative flavors found on Crozet Creamery’s menu.

The classics—vanilla, chocolate, java chip, birthday cake, cookies & cream, and mint chip—always have a place on the menu. While certainly deserving of a scoop or two, it’s the rotating selection of seasonal and one-off flavors that make Crozet Creamery special.

It’s hard to pick just one flavor to fill your cone or cup.

Banana Chocolate Puddin is one of the most popular flavors, alongside birthday cake and cookies & cream. The limited-run flavor is made with roasted bananas, vanilla wafers, and dark chocolate. Peanut Butter Swirl is another adult favorite, and features vanilla ice cream and creamy peanut butter, with Reese’s Pieces folded in.

“Once the summertime hits and the fruit season comes, a lot of people look forward to [our fruit flavors],” says Schetlick, who uses berries from Critzer Family Farm and peaches from Henley’s Orchard in flavors like strawberry and Critzers Cobbler, a blackberry ice cream with a butter folded in.

Skittles Sorbet is popular with the kids, the Arnold Palmer sorbet is one of the most requested flavors, and there’s always at least one dairy-free option on the menu. Other funky flavors that have made appearances in the past include Chai Tea and Sour Cream Blueberry Donut, which mixes sour cream ice cream, chunks of sour cream donuts, and a blueberry fruit swirl.

As for a specialty, it’s hard for Schetlick to say.

“Our specialty … I mean, obviously it’s ice cream, but I feel like it’s more than that. It’s such a great little community here, tons of families and kids. People come in here and have a great time. Our specialty is almost like happiness. It’s kind of what we do.”—MH

What’s the scoop?

Cup or cone?

Erik Schetlick: I think I’d go cone. … I think cone is better.

Favorite flavor?

Probably Banana Chocolate Puddin or Critzers Cobbler.

How do you get the perfect scoop?

Practice and have a good scoop. The key is not to dig down deep, you want to let it roll itself up. You don’t want to try too hard. Some people like to make a little “s” shape with their scoop and it kind of gets the thing to roll up on itself. Some people like to just kind of snowball it. It all depends on the ice cream too, some are a lot softer than others.

FRUITY FUN

La Flor Michoacana’s traditional Mexican treats

At some point in our lives, most of us have stood at the counter of an ice cream shop waffling over the choice of cup or cone. It’s an important decision that definitely impacts the ice cream-eating experience. At La Flor Michoacana, the answer is neither cup nor cone, it’s paletas.

Paletas are a traditional Mexican frozen treat, like ice cream in popsicle form. It’s the best of both worlds—the perfect portion that’s easy to eat on the go and doesn’t drip.

It’s been nearly eight years since the owners of La Flor Michoacana brought the sweet treat to Charlottesville. While on vacation in Cancún, Claudia and Birza “Jamie” Polnia tried paletas for the first time.

“I was so impressed, it was my first time having authentic and homemade ice cream in popsicles in Mexico,” says Jamie. “We started thinking, what about this business in Charlottesville?”

The couple came home, and Jamie started researching how to make this new dream a reality. He found a two-week course at a university in Mexico City to learn the recipes and technique, and back he went.

“It was learning every day. I met people from Brazil, Canada…it was a fun experience,” he says.

Jamie bought the proper machinery while he was in Mexico, and once he was home, he and Claudia began making test recipes and samples in their home and giving the bars away to friends and family. Now, they’re working out of a storefront and a separate production facility, producing 3,000 bars a day.

Every morning, they head out to the grocery store to buy fresh fruits, which they use to craft some of the 30 ice cream flavors and over 60 bar flavors they offer.

The flavors that make use of those fresh fruits are some of the most popular—and for good reason. Colorful bars like guava, passion fruit, and avocado are unique for their fruity, refreshing taste while maintaining a creamy, ice cream-like consistency.

Customers looking for a sweeter treat frequently order the blackberry cheesecake, Oreo cookie, and tres leches, and vegans can have their pick of one of the largest dairy-free menus of flavors in town. Occasionally, Claudia and Jamie will make some seasonal and fun one-off flavors, like pumpkin in the fall.

“Once he made a spinach and pineapple bar,” says Claudia. “I joke and say it was my detox juice bar.”

Business is booming, and, in addition to running the store, Jamie and Claudia are busy catering across the city and supplying wholesale bars to places like Foods of All Nations. This is also the first summer they’ve set up at the Ix Farmers Market, and soon they’re adding a new packing machine to their set-up, making it easier for them to keep Charlottesville well-stocked with fun, fruity bars of goodness.—MH

What’s the scoop?

Cup or cone?

Claudia: Bar!

Favorite flavor?

Jamie: Blackberry cheesecake.

Claudia: Passion fruit.

Sonya Clark

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