Crescent Ridge Dairy Bar Makes National Ice Cream Hot Spot List

The ice cream at Sharon's has become part of more than the local flavor.

Crescent Ridge Sales and Marketing Manager Brad Pond discovered this while reading his e-mail recently.

Food & Wine magazine has added Crescent Ridge to its online-only slideshow of the Best Ice Cream Spots in the U.S.

Pond says a friend's e-mail alerted him to the news.

"Food & Wine Magazine is a fantastic publication," Pond says.

"That is quite an honor."

The slideshow notes Crescent Ridge's signature item as "Black Bear (red raspberry ice cream with chocolate chips and chocolate raspberry truffles)."

"The ice cream here is made in small batches from a 40-year-old recipe," the entry states.

Food & Wine Digital Features Editor Alex Vallis said the magazine has run the slideshow exclusively online, and been updating it, since last summer.

Freelancers nationwide suggested ice cream hot spots, which Food & Wine staff researched and narrowed down, Vallis said.

"As soon as we hear about a very cool place, we're always very excited to explore it," she said.

Vallis said eating ice cream in full view of a working farm, including cows, is part of what makes Crescent Ridge cool.

Pond says Crescent Ridge was unaware until seeing the slideshow that Food & Wine had someone "sitting at our picnic tables, enjoying some ice cream."

"I've already had (four) customers sign up for home delivery" since word of Crescent Ridge's latest accolade got out, Pond adds.