Scoop DeVille is a wonderful little casual ice cream shop on Chestnut Street in the Rittenhouse area of downtown Philadelphia. In an age where Coldstones and Dairy Queens are a dime a dozen, it was nice to find a local ice cream shop. There motto is, "Life is Short... Eat Dessert First!"

When you walk in, you immediately feel that this is a family-owned place, with lots of memorabilia and Philadelphia fanfare on the wall to keep you entertained. The menu for Scoop DeVille is hand written on an extremely large chalkboard, and boy is it a large menu.

The shop, of course, specializes in ice cream and frozen yogurt. All the major ice cream flavors are represented, with a remarkable list of candies, cookies, fruits, nuts, and more that can be mixed in with your combination right before your eyes. The prices are fairly reasonable, with several different sizes of ice cream. The shop sells chocolates and candies for purchase, as well. They have several house favorites, and I tried "Kaeli's Kraziness", which includes vanilla ice cream , Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, strawberries, and bananas, all mixed together in a blender. Very tasty.

Scoop DeVille also has a second location at the University of Pennsylvania. They appear to have won a "Best of Philly" award a few times, and seem to be well connected with the community.

Scoop DeVille was a very tasty and fun stop after dinner during our stay in downtown Philadelphia, and I would highly recommend it!

Scoops DeVille is a great place to get ice cream and candy in center city. Here you will find a very unique ice cream experience. Have you ever wondered what mint-chocolate-chip-banana-walnut-caramel ice cream would taste like? Well, then this is definitely the place for you.

You start by choosing from many ice cream bases and then choose any number of toppings to add to it. The list of toppings includes fruits, candies, nuts, and traditional toppings. The list is very extensive. Then you choose your size. Everything you want is placed in a cup and run through a machine that makes your very own specialized ice cream flavor. This is your chance to be Ben or Jerry for the day.

If you are not that creative, then choose from one of many popular combinations on display. I recommend nutty bananas foster or apple pie ala mode. If you have the chance to make it this little scoop of heaven while you are in Philly, you will be very pleased. If you don't think that it is worth walking a little out of the way, you are very wrong. For an amazing treat not far from City Hall, Love Park, and on the way to Rittenhouse, please take my recommendation; you will not regret it. You may even decide to move to Philly just for the ice cream.

Pay very close attention when trying to find this place; it is small and easy to pass, although they often have a sandwich board sign in front on the side walk.