Best Bay Area ice cream? And the winner is...

Pleasanton's Meadowlark is a drive-through dairy dating back to the early 1900s. They serve vanilla and chocolate soft serve as well as seasonal flavors as well as more than 20 flavors in to-go quarts. (Photo: Meadowlark)
Fenton's Creamery owner Gregory Scott Whidden points to the iconic restaurant's sign on Nov. 17, when the Travel Channel filmed a segment for its "Food Paradise" show.
The Fentons Creamery's Valentines Day pre-fixe menu includes its signature sundaes like the Black and Tan.
Photograph by George Sakkestad Willow Glen Creamery employeeâ€™s Kasayla Jones and Tim Lamour hold up a few of their ice cream and yogurt creations. Both were hired in the past year.
Photograph by George Sakkestad Willow Glen Creamery employeeâ€™s Kasayla Jones and Tim Lamour work the front counter. Both were hired in the past year.
Humphry Slocombe ice cream is saluting the 40th anniversary of San Francisco'siconic Beach Blanket Babylon with an ice cream flavor that capturesthe show's whimsy and fun. The roasted banana and apple ice cream isspiked with frosted peanuts, an homage to recurring charactersBanana Carmen, Snow White and Mr. Peanut.
Salt & Straw's Gingerbread Cookie Dough ice cream features cookie butter made from molasses cookies that is swirled into rum royal icing ice cream. It is available Nov. 24-Dec. 28 (Salt & Straw).
Salt & Straw's Peppermint Cocoa ice cream features homemade peppermint patties chopped and mixed into rich chocolate ice cream with a dash of pure peppermint oil (Salt & Straw).
Milkcow's Tony Lai adds pistachio crumbs to the Santorini at the Milkcow Cafe in Fremont. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
A variety of soft ice creams are available at the Milkcow Cafe in Fremont, Calif., on Wednesday, May 17, 2017. The popular South Korean franchise serves organic soft ice cream with all sorts of crazy toppings. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
Tony Lai adds soft ice cream while making the Santorini at the Milkcow Cafe in Fremont, Calif., on Wednesday, May 17, 2017. The popular South Korean franchise serves organic soft ice cream with all sorts of crazy toppings. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
Soft serve ice cream topped with egg puffs is one of the items on the menu at the Milkcow Cafe in Fremont. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
Uji Time
Uji Time's famed fish-shaped cones, called taiyaki, are a take on the traditional Japanese dessert in the shape of a fish. (Photo: Uji Time)
The line for ice cream is out the door and down the street at the Penny Ice Creamery in downtown Santa Cruz on Thursday afternoon. The company with 120 employees is the Small Business of the Year in Bill Monning's State Senate district. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)
(photo Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Area News Group/July 27, 2016 Nathan Tsang creates an ice cream treat for a customer at Icicles. Icicles, a custom ice cream shop, recently opened on Lincoln Avenue in San Jose. The line for ice cream was around the store at 10pm on a warm Wednesday night.
Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Tan Tran, left and Dhezyric Santiago, right, prepare rolled ice cream at Icicles in Willow Glen in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. Icicles serves Thai-style rolled ice cream. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
Rolled ice cream at Icicles in Willow Glen in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. Icicles serves Thai-style rolled ice cream. At right is Aldwin loquillano. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
(Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Lit Leong, owner of Icicles, shows off a rolled ice cream with toppings at Icicles in Willow Glen in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. Icicles serves Thai-style rolled ice cream. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group
At Lafayette's Smitten Ice Cream, the sweets are churned and frozen before your eyes. (Doug Duran/Staff)
Smitten Ice Cream's Brrr machine churns fresh, organic ingredients into creamy ice cream before your eyes. (Photo: Audrey Ma)
Smitten Ice Cream's chocolate is made with TCHO's 60 percent cacao and topped with spicy caramel. (Photo: Audrey Ma)
A menu on display inside Rocko's Ice Cream Tacos on May 29, 2018, in Santa Clara. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
An exterior view of Rocko's Ice Cream Tacos on May 29, 2018, in Santa Clara. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group
Rocko's Ice Cream Tacos founder Lori Phillips demonstrates filling ice cream in a waffle taco on May 29, 2018, in Santa Clara. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group
A vanilla with milk chocolate and rainbow sprinkles ice cream taco is served at Rocko's Ice Cream Tacos at the 7th annual Taco Festival of Innovation, at History Park in San Jose, California on Saturday, May 26, 2018. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)
Milkbomb
Milkbomb Ice Cream in San Francisco's Potrero Hill often sells out of its ice cream doughnut sandwiches. In summer months, the wait in line can be up to 45 minutes. (Photo: Scott Trude Fagley)
Milkbomb Ice Cream's bright Instagram-worthy creations include, left, ube and green tea ice creams on a toasted coconut cone and, right, Thai tea ice cream on a brown cinnamon cone. (Photo: @teeheetiff)
Warm temperatures in the East Bay made for a line out the door at Ici ice cream parlor on College Avenue in Berkeley, Calif., Monday, April 20, 2009. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)
Italy's Amorino Gelato is known for its rose-shaped scoops, which are served up at the chain's only Northern California location, at the Livermore Outlets. (Photo: Rosemary Mark)
Mr. Dewie's Mocha Chip almond milk frozen dessert, ready for hand packing, seen Thursday, March 15, 2012 in Oakland, Calif. Brothers Andrew and Ari Cohen launched the company about four months ago. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)
Basil ice cream is a reader's go-to favorite flavor at Nature's Microcreamery and Soul Cafe in Niles. (Photo: Si Hyun Kim)

By Jessica Yadegaran | jyadegaran@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: September 26, 2018 at 2:59 p.m. | UPDATED: September 27, 2018 at 9:38 a.m.

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Meadowlark Dairy in Pleasanton has won our Best Bay Ice Cream contest against Marianne’s in Santa Cruz, 71 percent to 29 percent.

One month ago, we asked readers to nominate their favorite Bay Area scoop shops and launch our bracket-style competition, which you voted down to the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, a Frozen 4 and then these top two ice cream spots.

A bit about Meadowlark: It was founded in the early 1900s and was the first certified dairy in California. It has been a drive-through since 1969, serving small, medium and large ice cream cones in vanilla, chocolate and a few seasonal flavors. Quarts come in a few dozen flavors, including spumoni, rocky road and cookie dough.

Manager Brett Vandenberg was excited to hear the news. “We were watching the contest pretty closely and asking our customers via social media to vote,” he says. “It’s kind of surprising (to win) given the competition but also very exciting.”