Everybody’s talking about fro-yo. But remember ice cream? That stuff of childhood memories: cold, sweet and sticky, the highlight of a hot summer’s day.

I’ve had excellent ice cream in unexpected places across the city, like a French chocolate shop or a Vietnamese natural wine bar, not to mention the many restaurants and bakeries creatively riffing on gelato and soft serve. But nothing awakens inner childlike delight more than a trip to one of the city’s great scoop shops, gelaterias and ice cream windows, where the rituals of poring over the day’s flavors and sampling as many flavors as is socially acceptable are almost as important as the sweet stuff itself.

I went off in search of ice cream greatness, which in this overachieving city was no small feat. Seventy-six establishments and a whole lot of tiny spoons later, I’ve made a list of 18 exceptional destinations with their own singular blend of quality, charisma and pure deliciousness. Are there surprises? Yes. Unexpected omissions? Definitely. But one thing we might all agree on is this: Any way you scoop or swirl it, ice cream is as good as happiness in a cone or cup.

What happens when you cross a children’s boutique with a neighborhood ice cream parlor? You get A La Mode Shoppe, where plush Jellycat stuffies watch over tubs of smooth, locally made ice cream in fun signature flavors like Cooks (vanilla ice cream with chocolate and vanilla cookies) and Partly Cloudy (blue spirulina-tinted cotton candy ice cream dotted with mini marshmallows). Good news for those with allergies: This is a completely peanut-, seed- and tree nut-free space.

360 East 55th Street (First Avenue), Manhattan; 917-639-3401; alamodeshoppe.com

Nowhere in Brooklyn are you more likely to be sitting next to a 6-year-old than at a scoop shop like Brown Butter Creamery. Here, Myriam Nicolas caters to neighborhood kids of all ages with a seasonal menu of small-batch gelato and sorbet. Standouts include classics like fudgy dark chocolate, and musky Bourbon vanilla freckled with vanilla bean seeds. On special occasions, Ms. Nicolas, who was born in Haiti, pays homage to the African and Caribbean diasporas with flavors like spiced bissap or kremas, which has notes of coconut, spice and a touch of rum.

375 Tompkins Avenue (Putnam Avenue), Brooklyn; 347-365-7197; instagram.com/brownbuttercreamery

Putting Caffè Panna on an ice cream list is like talking about this great basketball team called the Knicks. Heard of ’em? The stacked and drippy sundaes at this trendy walk-up window tend to go viral, but daily scoops like Red Flag (vanilla sweet cream with buttery graham crumbles and strawberry jam swirls) and Cookies ’n Panna are the reason Hallie Meyer’s sensationally good ice cream won over so many New Yorkers when the shop opened in 2019. Better yet, skip the line and order a pint online for pickup.

Multiple locations, Manhattan and Brooklyn, caffepanna.com

Gelato reaches new heights of sophistication at this minimalist shop in Williamsburg. The ingredients here are purchased from small, family-owned farms around the globe, and the daily menu is written with a chef’s sense of provinciality, like macadamia nuts from Mahina Mele Farm in Hawai’i and rhubarb from Samascott Orchards in New York. The flavors change often, but tea-infused options, which have included jasmine and white peony, work particularly well. Don’t be fooled by the serious setting, sampling is highly encouraged.

227 Grand Street (Driggs Avenue), Brooklyn; no phone; commonmeadows.com

East Village | Moynihan Train Hall | Greenpoint

Ever dream of quitting your day job to open an ice cream shop? Well, that’s exactly what David Yoo did when he left a successful career in design to open Davey’s Ice Cream in 2013. His cheery, teal blue shops capture the carefree feeling of being a kid again thanks to stellar homemade versions of classic flavors like cookies and cream and vegan Rocky Road, generously loaded with mix-ins. Other popular scoops like fresh strawberry and strong coffee really live up to their names. Keep in mind, you can turn any flavor into a milkshake or a sundae.

Multiple locations, Manhattan and Brooklyn, daveysicecream.com

Eddie’s Sweet Shop is the quintessential American ice cream parlor of a bygone era. Stepping into this timeworn shop is like entering a living museum buzzing with multigenerational families sitting at old wooden tables tucking into scoops and sundaes in vintage silver coups. Not much has changed since the Citrano family opened Eddie’s in the 1960s, like the fact that the ice cream is still made in-house. Flavors are sweet and simple, such as chocolate, coffee and rum raisin, which leaves plenty of drama for the toppings. Hot fudge, fluffy whipped cream and a cherry on top are nonnegotiable.

105-29 Metropolitan Avenue (72nd Road), Queens; 718-520-8514; eddiessweetshop.shop

Upper West Side | Greenwich Village | NoLIta | West Village | Williamsburg

Born in the Southern Italian city of Bari in 1880, Gelateria Gentile began serving its smooth and silky gelato to New Yorkers in 2014. Staple flavors like stracciatella and cioccolato are reliably good, but the menu of roughly 20 ever-changing flavors is full of hidden gems like the limone sorbet, as sweet-tart and refreshing as a glass of lemonade. Fashion your own Italian summer with the store’s famous granita in flavors like coffee or apple. Can’t decide between a cone or a cup? Try the best-of-both-worlds wafer cup.

Multiple locations, Manhattan and Brooklyn, gelateriagentile.com

Lower East Side | Upper East Side

Il Laboratorio del Gelato is your favorite chef’s favorite gelato thanks in large part to Jon Snyder, the Willy Wonka-esque mastermind behind the store’s encyclopedic catalog of more than 300 flavors. The archives can get weird with creations like Cheddar cheese and wasabi, but the scoop shops mainly carry the hits, up to 48 of them, from the silkiest dark chocolate to a toasted white sesame flavor that tastes more like sesame than the seed itself. The design really leans into the idea of a lab, with pristine stainless-steel surfaces and a periodic table-inspired labeling system.

Multiple locations, Manhattan, laboratoriodelgelato.com

Look no further than this vibrant shop drenched in orange paint on Nostrand Avenue for a taste of the spiced and sun-ripened flavors of the Caribbean. The rotating selection of housemade treats may include ultracreamy soursop, tart sorrel rum sorbet and the city’s best version of a nutmeg ice cream — an ode to the spice island of Grenada. The owners, Khalid Hamid and Shelly Marshall, grew up in Trinidad and they buy some of their ingredients from Labay Market, the neighborhood go-to for island-grown ingredients. And yes, they make Popsicles, too.

670 Nostrand Avenue (Saint Marks Avenue), Brooklyn; 347-365-6737; islandpops.com

When Ayanna Quint couldn’t find an old-fashioned ice cream shop close enough to home, she decided to open one herself, naming it after her mother, Julia Jean. The flavors here may be familiar, but everything Ms. Quint makes is touched by magic — and will surely become the gold standard by which you measure all other ice cream. Butter pecan gets its savory edge from a salted ice cream base. Orange sherbet is like the best Creamsicle you’ve ever had. Even the pistachio and coffee flavors are world class. Like any scoop shop worth its weight in sprinkles, there are toppings and drizzles galore with which to craft your perfect sundae.

202 Clinton Street (East Broadway), Manhattan; 212-814-8757; julia-jeans.com

L’Albero dei Gelati is an Italian gelato walk-up window in Brooklyn with an avant-garde approach to flavors. Anything can be a source of inspiration here, especially if it’s fresh from the farmers’ market. Monia Solighetto and her husband, Alessandro Trezza, moved their family gelateria from Lombardy, Italy, to the tree-lined streets of Park Slope in 2013. They quickly became known for their no-holds-barred gelato flavors made with local ingredients, from luscious sweet blueberry to savory farmstead butter with a touch of Sicilian sea salt.

341 Fifth Avenue (Fourth Street), Brooklyn; 718-788-2288; alberodeigelati.com

Patrick Cruz and Kawana Jefferson first opened their ice cream shop in the “lost borough” of Yonkers, N.Y. At their new uptown scoop shop, Mr. Cruz, who is Dominican and Puerto Rican, churns up fun, culturally relevant flavors like Dominican vanilla or bizcocho, a shout out to the yellow cake staple of birthdays and baby showers. The Grape Nut flavor tastes oaty and milky like the last dregs of a cereal bowl. Toppings here are all free, be it a drizzle of olive oil or a sprinkle of Tajín, and while there isn’t any seating, Fort Tryon Park is not too far away for an ice cream stroll.

4791 Broadway (Cumming Street), Manhattan; 646-285-4042; lostboroughicecream.com

West Village | Hudson Yards | Carroll Gardens

Pooja Bavishi changed the ice cream game when she opened Malai on Smith Street in 2015 with South Asian-inspired flavors like masala chai and rose with cinnamon-roasted almonds. Her more recent repertoire is no less evocative and spice-forward with flavors like vegan passion fruit cilantro sorbet and a cardamom-scented shahi toast ice cream. Ms. Bavishi’s pints are sold nationwide, but the seasonal soft serve is a must-try, scoop shop-only treat.

Multiple locations, Manhattan and Brooklyn, malai.co

The city’s best hazelnut gelato is hiding in plain sight at this quirky little shop attached to the Italian gourmet grocer Travelers Poets & Friends. Recessed silver tubs contain gelato and sorbet in greenmarket-driven flavors like peach and apricot, alongside classics like velvety nocciola studded with Piedmontese hazelnuts. The cioccolato, made with 70 percent Valrhona cocoa, is thick and chewy like a brownie with the dark intensity of a solar eclipse. And it’s vegan.

461 Sixth Avenue (West 11th Street), Manhattan; 212-767-0006; paminadolcegelato.com

Chinatown | Lower East Side | Kips Bay | Downtown Brooklyn | Long Island City | Flushing | elmhurst

There was once a time when ube was a novelty flavor in an ice cream shop. Thankfully, those days are behind us (even Baskin-Robbins got in on the scoop). But nobody does it better than Soft Swerve, founded in 2016 by Michael Tsang and Jason Liu, two friends who grew up in Chinatown. Their ube soft serve made from real yams is satiny smooth with that singular vanilla and white chocolate flavor. Black sesame is just as creamy and not too sweet. Ice cream flavors like almond cookie and Hong Kong milk tea give these nostalgic taste memories a delightfully fresh spin.

Multiple locations, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens; softswervenyc.com

NoLIta | NoMad | Morningside Heights | Greenpoint

The best soft serve is uncomplicated. Kids know this, your local Mister Softee driver knows this and Softside’s founder, Noam Grossman, knows this. That’s why the menus here are short and sweet — four flavors, a couple hard-shell dips and some fun toppings. Mix and match or go with a house sundae like the Riff featuring voluptuous swirls of the smoothest vanilla doused in olive oil. Or a classic like the Bruce with chocolaty brownie bits, hazelnuts, glossy hot fudge and light-as-air whipped cream rosettes. Preface your dessert with a slice at Upside Pizza, Mr. Grossman’s chain of slice shops that are always next door.

Multiple locations, Manhattan and Brooklyn; no phone; instagram.com/softside

Every March, Kate Covey opens her scoop shop for the season with select flavors of ice cream from Gifford’s in Maine, like Chocolate Lover’s and Moose Tracks (vanilla ice cream with fudge swirls and mini peanut butter cups). The real star of the menu, however, is the housemade soft serve, which Ms. Covey turns into some pretty cool treats, like ice cream “nachos” with waffle cone bits and hot fudge sauce. Or the iconic flurry sundaes, a machine-swirled mix of soft serve and up to two toppings. Get it before November, when the Screen Door closes for the winter.

Multiple locations, Brooklyn and Queens; thescreendoorbrooklyn.com

It’s hardly surprising that a group of bartenders known for making drinks that taste like cold pizza or mango sticky rice would flip the script and open a cocktail-inspired soft serve shop. The slick décor and marble countertops at Unnecessary blur the line between cocktail bar and ice cream shop, as does the menu. The Dirty Martini is a statuesque twist of dry vermouth- and vodka-infused soft serve atop Babbi wafer cones from Italy, garnished with a briny green olive. There are four rotating flavors on any given day, though not all of them contain alcohol. Other muses have included the Garibaldi cocktail and the minty grasshopper.

66 Delancey Street (Allen Street), Manhattan; no phone; unnecessary.nyc