Summer time in Montreal is a great time to be here – beautiful weather (for the most part), great festivals and outdoor activities to enjoy. Summer time also means ice cream and the need to have some great ice cream shops to enjoy. Down in the sud-ouest, there really haven’t been any creameries of note save for Glaces aux Havres by the Atwater Market, however that has changed with the opening of Cremerie Dalla Rose in St-Henri.
Started up by two alumni of Nora Gray, Michael Dalla Libera and Nick Rosari, Dalla Rose is located on Notre-Dame Ouest which may now be my favourite strip in Montreal food-wise – next door to Rustique, Tuck Shop, Adamo, Arthur’s (visit to come very soon!), Bar de Courcelles and Tejano. The parlour is a simple walk-in counter service – a sparse but bright room (liked the tile work on the floor to create the queue line) with no seating inside and a relatively small menu on the wall. You have the option of either ice cream by cone, by cup or inside a sandwich using in-house baked cookies. You can also just order the cookies without ice cream.
Dalla Rose uses organic dairy products for the ice cream and the flavours apparently will vary from week-to-week and season-to-season. Regardless of the flavours I tried, I found the ice cream to be rich, creamy and very smooth in consistency. At the same time, it feels firm enough. When the ice cream is put in the middle of the cookies for the sandwich, the ice cream isn’t so soft that it melts away too quickly. You don’t have to rush your enjoyment of the sandwich. On my few visits over a couple of weeks, I tried a few different options. First, I tried a cup of both kaffir lime leaf and Quebec strawberry ice cream. The strawberry ice cream has a great flavour that feels both strong but natural. It doesn’t overwhelm. I really enjoyed the lime leaf flavour as well – the lime is tart but nicely subtle to the point of surprising me. Lime ice cream is often very overpowering but this was more refined. Very nice.
On another visit, I tried the classic vanilla and chocolate flavours. The vanilla was very nice – the specks of vanilla bean telling you you’re getting the real deal – sweet and almost milky. The chocolate was nice and dark in color – tons of chocolatey goodness. A perfect pair as they should be!
On my second follow-up visit, I decided to get a sandwich of cookie ice cream between a set of vegan peanut cookies. The cookies were stiff enough to hold the ice cream but soft enough to actually make it possible to eat the sandwich as an actual sandwich – instead of the usual “suck up the ice cream and then eat the softened cookies” afterwards. Liked the flavour of the peanut cookies and the cookie ice cream – great vanilla with pieces of cookie mixed in.
Dalla Rose is a great addition to the sud-ouest. Summer still has a ways to go so when you are walking around the Canal or elsewhere in the Sud-Ouest, don’t forget to walk over Dalla Rose for a scoop. They will cool you off nicely!
Cheers!
Cremerie Dalla Rose
4609 Notre Dame Ouest
Ramblings from the Complex Mind of a 30 Something 
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