More than 80 years ago, Sarah Rukab started selling small batches of booza—a stretchy ice cream that gets its elasticity from mastic gum—door-to-door in Palestine. In 2018, Rukab’s descendant Fadi brought the recipe to Houston, where he opened his own Mediterranean ice cream shop in the Galleria area. Today, Booza serves more than 20 flavors, including orange blossom, Turkish coffee, rosewater, and a lemon-mint sherbet, plus frozen pints available online for delivery nationwide.

Here’s the kind of place the whole family will want to linger. This retro, incredibly pink ice cream parlor and diner serves Carvel soft-serve, boozy milkshakes, smash burgers, and all-day Southern breakfast. Best of all, it comes with a dream backdrop filled with clouds, unicorns, and swings so you can live your sweetest ice cream dreams.

This Ohio-founded national chain has earned a following in Houston for consistently creative, creamy flavors like salted peanut butter with chocolate flecks, brown butter almond brittle, gooey butter cake, and darkest chocolate, along with dairy-free offerings like cold brew with coconut cream. Pints are also available for delivery.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams also has locations in the Heights and CityCentre.

When you want the traditional Indian kulfi, there’s Kwality. Flavors abound, including Alphonso King Mango and the wondrous kulfi falooda, made with rose, malai, and tukmaria (watercress seeds). Go cone, cup, or falooda, for a cold drink made with basil seeds and vermicelli.

Kwality Ice Cream also has locations in Sugar Land and Richmond.

This Austin-born chain makes small-batch, seasonally inspired ice cream, with milk and cream sourced from Texas dairies, peak-season ingredients, and rotating flavors, without artificial ingredients or preservatives. Find approachable staples like honey vanilla bean, horchata, Caramel Salt Lick, and roasted beets and fish mint, as well as seasonal options, such as a Lady Bird lavender crisp that honors Texas's most beloved wildflower.

Lick Honest Ice Creams has locations in Autry Park and West University Place.

Rebecca Dirden Swindle's ice cream brand is rooted in the flavors of the African diaspora that tell a story, all available by the pint. Start with Buckshot, a caramel ice cream loaded with Ethiopian praline and chocolate stracciatella inspired by Black cowboy culture, and Zobo, a hibiscus sorbet that draws on West African tradition. Currently available online with pickup in the Heights, PLK1848 is as much a cultural education as it is a dessert.

Place your orders online, and you'll receive the pickup location via email.

A walk-up bakery and ice cream shop, Tiny's has built a reputation on exceptional chocolate chip cookies and housemade ice cream with rotating flavors. Classics include Birthday Cake, fresh strawberry, and the ever-popular Milk & Cookies, made with Mom’s Vanilla ice cream and chocolate chip cookie chunks.

Tiny's Milk & Cookies also has locations in Heights, River Oaks, and Memorial.

With Houston’s large Latino population, it’s no surprise that our Mexican food scene extends beyond tacos. Explore Treats of Mexico’s housemade traditional treats such as nieve de garrafa, mangonadas, and aguas frescas, alongside imported candies like Pulparindo, mazapán, and more.

Josh DeLeon's small-batch ice cream operation is now more accessible than ever, with walk-up flavors available at Pudgy's Fine Cookies, and more pick-up order times. DeLeon's flavors run the gamut, including comforting weekly staples like cookies and cream and more adventurous, chef-driven combinations that reward the curious palate. It's still underground in spirit, just easier to get your hands on.