It’s summertime here in the Bay Area and that calls for day trips to San Francisco for both locals and tourists alike.

With so much to do in “the City by the Bay,” it can be difficult to decide where to go first, especially in the summertime. Mitchell’s Ice Cream is the place to go for a nice cold treat.

Mitchell’s Ice Cream opened in 1953 by brothers Larry and Jack Mitchell, whose family had a history of being in the dairy business since the late 1800s.

While it started off as just an average local ice cream parlor, it began to catch the attention of people beyond the Bay Area for its gourmet ice cream. It is still run by the Mitchell family today.

Mitchell’s Ice Cream has gained recognition and awards throughout the decades.

It was voted “Best Ice Cream Parlor in the Bay Area” by readers of the San Francisco Bay Guardian from 1996 to 2004. It was featured in 2003 on Food Network’s “Roker on the Road” and in 2004 in Travel Magazine’s “Ice Cream Palaces.”

It is also the winner of numerous awards at various California state fairs.

The treats it has to offer draw people to its parlor, especially during the summer where it tends to be quite crowded.

However, when not surrounded by a 360-degree wall of customers, Mitchell’s Ice Cream is a 60’s style ice cream parlor in a new millennium setting.

All around the parlor are a wide variety of options one can choose from — such as ice cream served in cones and cups, sorbets, a variety of sizes in take — home buckets of ice cream, milkshakes, sundaes, cakes, pies and they even serve the Filipino dessert halo-halo.

They serve a wide variety of standard flavors such as vanilla, banana, Oreo, orange sherbet, New York cherry, chocolate and more.

However, what’s equally as interesting is the variety of tropical flavors served as both ice creams and sorbets, such as pineapple, mango, avocado and even ube — a purple yam.

Mitchell’s Ice Cream — made fresh everyday — goes out of its way to serve customers the best quality frozen treats.

They expand their selection of tropical flavors by importing fruits found outside the United States.

For their more traditional creations, they tend to start off with a 16 percent butterfat base.

So no matter which places in San Francisco one plans to visit, Mitchell’s Ice Cream is a great place to add to the list.

With it being summer, it’s good to have a scoop or more of ice cream- the way it should be made.