This past weekend, local ice cream maker Gifford’s Ice Cream reopened its Chevy Chase retail location at 21 Wisconsin Circle, which will now be managed by Artfully Chocolate Kingsbury Confections (ACKC). Gifford’s four retail locations were closed last summer when it was discovered that Luke Cooper, the Baltimore-area investor who purchased the retail business, was selling Hood Ice Cream as Gifford’s product.

The reopened location features Gifford’s ice cream, as well as expanded display cases with the same chocolates sold at ACKC locations. We have our fingers crossed that they will be a pickup spot for the phenomenal macarons from Michel Patisserie.

The Chevy Chase reopening is just the first step in an expansion plan that includes a strategic partnership that will see Gifford’s Ice Cream served in other ACKC locations, used in milkshakes at BGR: The Burger Joint, and sold at retail outlets along the east coast.

While we’re excited to see Gifford’s back in business, there are interesting questions about if we’re tasting the shop’s original recipes. Some say you can still taste the original recipes at Cal Headley’s York Tropical Ice Cream in Rockville — and we’re certainly not averse to a taste test.