Booza

You won’t find ice cream like Booza’s anywhere else in Houston. Using a family recipe passed down from Rukab’s Ice Cream in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, which opened in 1941, the Galleria area Palestinian shop Booza serves, well, booza, an ice cream from the Levantine region made with mastic, a resin from the mastic tree, and orchid flour called sahlab. Both make the ice cream sticky, stretchy, and a little less rich than other kinds of ice cream. When scooped while especially cold, the ice cream stays connected and pulls. Inside, the shop smells like a bakery crashed into a perfume counter, and serves flavors like aromatic orange flower water, earthy pistachio, and sweet rose, as well as chocolate and vanilla. Get some in a cup or cone, or even top of a banana split.

photo credit: Quit Nguyen