The Truth Behind Why There Are Barely Any Dairy Queens In Los Angeles

If you were driving down the street and passed by a Dairy Queen, you probably wouldn't think twice about it. Dairy Queen's a pretty recognizable name in the fast-food industry, with over 4,300 locations across the United States, making them a common sight all over the East and West Coast. But among other things you might not know about Dairy Queen, it doesn't seem to have that much playing power in Los Angeles. 

Of course, there are a few Dairy Queen locations in and around LA, to be sure. It's just that Dairy Queen doesn't seem to be as popular here as it is in other cities. Why is that? It's because in LA, the ice cream is more artisanal, so the shops are much more high-end. In Los Angeles, the concept of the average neighborhood ice cream parlor has become something that feels more exclusive. A fast-food restaurant like Dairy Queen, while being pretty good at what it does for the most part, just doesn't offer the small-batch, artisanal ice cream Los Angeleans crave. It would be like putting a McDonald's in a town full of high-end steakhouses.

But among the best places to eat in LA, why are their ice cream parlors so exceptional? To fully understand what makes the ice cream market in the City of Angels so unique, we have to examine just what exactly goes into the ice cream itself.

Anyone can tell you that the three foundational ingredients in any ice cream are milk, cream, and sugar. Without these three basic ingredients, ice cream as we know it wouldn't exist. While the Los Angeles ice cream industry does indeed incorporate these ingredients into its ice cream, it also places a much higher focus on premium ingredients. Think of milk from pasture-raised, hormone-free cows, butterfat, hand-whipped cream, organic fruits, fair trade chocolate, and so on. Los Angeles ice cream is renowned for being incredibly high-quality.

But milk, cream, and sugar alone does not an ice cream make. Los Angeles ice cream is also known for being rather open-minded when it comes to adding in more "choice" ingredients, or ingredients you may not have even expected to see in your standard ice cream. Depending on which ice cream parlor you visit, you may find anything from olives and goat cheese to popcorn, and even bourbon and cornflakes in your house-made waffle cone. In a place like Los Angeles, you have to do everything you can to make a name for yourself.

Of course, we can't just tell you about the Los Angeles ice cream scene without dropping a couple names. While there are many parlors, shops, and companies that each play a role in making Los Angeles one of the most popular places to get ice cream, there are a few that have truly made an impact.

It's very easy to fall under the belief that ice cream is an "all-American" treat. But you'll be surprised to learn that one of the most famous ice cream parlors in Los Angeles – Mashti Malone's – serves up a specialty known as "Persian ice cream." 

Cucumber, rosewater, mango, sour cherries, and pistachio are just some of the ingredients that make up owner Mashti Shirvani's array of frozen treats. In an interview with VICE, Shirvani explains, "When you taste my ice cream, you can taste that [it's] natural. I am a chef, so for me it is important to use high-quality products. Sure, they are expensive, like my lavender, which is organic from France, but I don't really care about money, since I sell in volume. I'm happy."

If you're looking for soft-serve ice cream, you may want to visit Magpies Softserve. This ice cream company offers soft-serve in classic flavors like chocolate and vanilla and specialty flavors like orange creamsicle, corn almond, and strawberry lemonade. The company also sells "soft-serve pies," which combine ice cream, fruits, and candies into a cookie or graham cracker crust. Many of the soft-serve flavors are also vegan!

It's important to keep in mind that, although these two ice cream companies are remarkable in their own right, they represent a tiny fraction of the artisanal, ingredient-focused, upscale world of Los Angeles ice cream.