Daniel B.
Yelp
After just one visit and two scoops of ice cream I'm gonna call it...
Milk & Froth is the best ice cream in Ann Arbor.
But wait, there's more. It's also better than that beloved place in Ypsi which recently closed its doors. Yes, and also better than the gelato made by A2s famous Z. These are bold statements, I know. And I'm sure the townies don't want to hear that the newcomer from the big city might displace the beloved local institution around the corner.
There is room for both places, even in the downtown corridor, and I welcome the new arrival for a variety of reasons.
1) It's open all. year. round. That's right. Ice cream every month, for twelve months. Just like God intended. Eating ice cream in February is a joy, because you can walk down the street with your cone in your gloved hand eating it at a leisurely pace since it is in no risk of melting whatsoever. Just ask any Bostonian. That's another four season ice cream town. Are the folks in Beantown tougher than those of us who live around the Motor City? Probably. But we can learn a thing or two from them and squeeze some more joy out of winter.
2) Texture. There is a quality about truly great ice cream that I have been missing since moving to Michigan. And that is the dense, sticky, and almost elastic pull of a well churned custard. The scoops at Milk & Froth had the texture down in spades. I could tell from my first bite that I had found the ice cream for which I had been longing.
3) Flavor and inclusions. Every shop has winners and losers. Personal preferences are fascinating things, but also part of the diversity of life that keeps things interesting. If everyone loved the same flavored ice cream, think how boring the world would be. That said, intensity and depth of flavor, in addition to thoughtful, well distributed inclusions are far less subjective. Gazing into the bin of Honeycomb was mesmerizing, with all of those glorious chunks of honeycomb brittle, and I'm going to have to go back for a scoop very very soon.
The maiden voyage was reserved for two flavors.
One scoop of their perennially popular "Sea Salt Butter Cake" which honestly didn't sound like a winner to me. But the interplay of salted ice cream, butter scotch, and bits of soft butter cake were both delicious and unique. More than anything, I think this worked best when paired with another sweeter flavor to serve as foil to the salt.
The other scoop hit on some personal favorite flavor combinations. "Malt Cherry Chocolate" was malt ice cream with tons of delicate chocolate shavings, mixed with roasted Michigan cherries. Dang that was delicious. But I am also a malt freak. On its own, and being super critical, it was just a hair on the sweet side. But with the salted ice cream, the two were just perfect.
For anyone who might be skeptical about my state of mind while enjoying these scoops, given the glowing nature of this review, I would like to provide the following context. I had no preconceived notions of this shop. I had never heard of them before, and was not anticipating their grand opening. Heck, I wasn't even hungry. I had just finished a massive brunch, but felt like I needed to try a couple of scoops "for science". Knowing nothing about Milk & Froth I was also deeply suspicious about a place that billed itself as "craft ice cream". My mother-in-law asked me what that meant. I told her that it meant it was expensive.
Maybe that last part is still true. I don't know. A bowl with two scoops set me back $8. But you know what? Given how good this was, I'm already looking forward to my next visit. That Honeycomb is on my short list, and maybe the chocolate hazelnut too?
The staff was super friendly and the space is visually striking. My kid thought the music being piped in didn't quite match the vibe. I didn't notice. I was entirely transfixed on the ice cream, as you could probably tell.
