Best Local Ice Cream: Screamin' Mimi's

With flavors like Galaxy and Milky Way, Screamin' Mimi's is clearly out of this world. Lines sometimes extend to the sidewalk at this popular downtown Sebastopol ice cream parlor, located within a corner building with a pink façade, apple-green awnings and painted ice cream cones tempting passersby.

Screamin' Mimi's features 16 all-natural ice cream flavors and eight dairy-free sorbets that rotate with every visit. The cool, creamy desserts made with fresh, local ingredients have been earning them local and national awards ever since the place opened in 1995.

Owners Kurt and Maraline 'Mimi' Olson have been handcrafting the flavors in small batches since day one.

'That's why it's so consistent. It's only been the two of us for 20 years,' said the shop's namesake.

It all started with Mimi's Mud, an espresso-based ice cream with Belgian chocolate chips, chocolate cookies and homemade fudge, the hands-down favorite that outsells vanilla, the nation's top flavor, by a mudslide.