“I went with coconut,” Obama said as he walked out of the shop. Licking his cone, he said: “This stuff is terrific. Excellent. I strongly recommend it.” 

Ice cream artisan Linda Parker shows her local pride, as when she adds Maine sea salt to caramel ice cream.

We’re pretty sure that President Obama would have gone for the beet ginger sorbet, or the apple parsley perhaps, if he hadn’t gone for the coconut ice cream at this popular Maine ice cream eatery. Eat Drink Lucky editors love nothing more than to get a scoop and walk down to the water to sit in the summer sun. We’re waiting for Mr. President to join us later this summer.

Yes, the blueberries are hand-deseeded and the basil comes fresh from Downeast Maine.
Like we needed to ask...

Summer means peak season for two of my favorite things: eating ice cream and visiting the beautiful Maine coast. Thanks to Mount Desert Island Ice Cream, one of the top artisanal ice cream producers in the nation, you can do both in one visit to either Portland or Bar Harbor, as well as at restaurants throughout the state

Cinnamon-cardamom. Chocolate-wasabi. Thai-chili. Mt Dessert gives you unexpected pairings in the most creative and savory combinations.

This relative newcomer sits on Bar Harbor Green in a setting one customer described as "gloriously small town." Pick a bench and enjoy a cone, or try a tasting flight: four one-ounce scoops of different flavors. The small-batch producer uses premium, organic ingredients, both for old-standby flavors and many bolder ones like Blueberry Basil sorbet...

Once you’ve had your fill of boutiques and galleries, you can always escape to the beach, to the trails, to the carriage roads, or even to the peaks of Acadia. Wherever you venture, it is comforting to know that a scoop of blueberry-buttermilk from Mount Desert Island Ice Cream awaits at the end of the day.

Located in Bar Harbor, ME, Mount Desert Island Ice Cream is known for its inventive flavors (Callebaut Chocolate Wasabi, anyone?) made from local ingredients.

“New Englanders were eating very good ice cream at a time when parts of this country that now fancy themselves experts had barely mastered indoor plumbing. For a new shop to make waves here - and in a place where ice cream-obsessed Bostonians are known to vacation...