The inside scoop on ice cream

If you remove the cherry from a sundae, strip off the whipped cream, hot fudge, and the nuts, what are you left with? The ice cream, of course. Or as Michael McGarry would say, the most important part of the sundae.

But not all ice creams are equal. That's why Mr. McGarry spent two months traveling and tasting his way across the Midwest. His goal: compile a list of the best places for ice cream, frozen custard, and gelato in the region, so that travelers with a sweet tooth will never have to go without. His new book, "Midwest Scoops" (Fancy Pants Press, $12.95), is just hitting stores. (East Coast and West Coast guides are also available.)

If a travel guide for ice cream lovers sounds a bit odd, consider the high cost of gasoline this vacation season. Not to mention the disappointment when a good-looking scoop of chocolate - or vanilla - sets you back $4 and then turns out to be just a bland, sticky trickle running down your chin.

But there are ways to avoid such disappointing encounters, McGarry says. Simply follow the aficionado's check list: Ask, watch, sniff, and sample.

The first two are obvious enough. Ask local residents which shops they would recommend, and then look at how much foot traffic they get. A steady stream of customers is a good sign. So is the scent of freshly baked cones. The reason: Any shop that makes its own cones is likely to put great care into making its own ice cream, he says.

If you're still not sure you should plunk down your money, take a good look at the tubs of ice cream. "If there is a banana flavor, and it's bright yellow, they're using artificial flavors and colorings," he says. "If it has a grayish hue, then it's actually made from bananas. The same is true with pistachio ice cream. You don't want it to be bright green."

Finally, ask the counter help for their recommendations, and for a few samples. "Taste before you order it," he says. "It's your right and your duty to do that." Most shops will gladly give out three samples per person, as McGarry learned during his research. Five is pushing it.

Once you've ordered, sit back - or stand - and savor the moment. "Ice cream just makes you happy," McGarry says. "You can't be mad while eating ice cream."

Indeed, most people wax poetic, or at least nostalgic, about favorite ice cream stands. McGarry remembers one boyhood summer when he and his father ate banana splits three times a week at Gifford's in Bethesda, Md. Each was "large enough to feed a family of five."

But it was in Rome a few years ago that McGarry, a skinny guy, had what he calls his "pivotal ice cream moment." Make that a gelato moment. While his wife visited museums, working toward her PhD, he earned advanced proficiency in the sweet treat. "I was knocked back by how good it was," he says. He even wrote a book about the best places to buy gelato in Italy.

What impresses him in the US is how far the artisanal ice cream movement has come. More and more ice cream artists, as he calls them, are experimenting with new flavors and taking the time to find the freshest seasonal ingredients. (One woman he knows makes strawberry-rhubarb ice cream.) Others will roast nuts by hand, for example, and buy cream only from small small local dairies.

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