Four-year-old Henry White, a resident of Pelham, N.Y., visiting the South County area this week, enjoys a cup of ice cream at St. Clair Annex in Watch Hill. The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

Back when my wife and I reviewed restaurants for The Journal, we also wrote stories in which we chose, through lengthy and arduous research, the region’s best pizza, hamburger, all-you-can-eat chicken and mall food.

But never was I tempted as I was over the last few weeks, during my search for South County’s best ice cream.

Tempted to add the hot fudge and the Reese’s Pieces, even though this was supposed to be all about the ice cream. Tempted to try just one more interesting-sounding flavor, though I had decided to stop at two at each first-round destination — one chocolate-based and one fruit-based — to avoid busting both the budget and my waistline. (I also avoided cones, choosing dishes instead, both for weight-control reasons and because cones distract you from the flavor of the ice cream.)

Tempted, finally, to keep adding places to check, so that this search might never end.

But end it must — if only because so many of the places our readers nominated are seasonal, and choosing a winner after they close for the year wouldn’t make much sense.

My quest sent me in search of smooth, rich ice cream whose flavor jumped off the spoon — the kind of taste sensation you know when you hit it. I found good ice cream at many South County spots, one great flavor at several, two great flavors at a couple.

The places with two great flavors I visited a second time, comparing both another chocolate- and another fruit-based flavor. For good measure, I added a scoop of vanilla, which some ice-cream aficionados regard as the acid test of an ice-cream parlor.

And so, I found a winner. But along the way, I also discovered something to admire in almost every place I visited.

The winner: Watch Hill’s St. Clair Annex has been going strong in one incarnation or another since 1887, and for good reason. This comfortable sandwich shop with the wood-lined dining room, just steps from the beach and the Flying Horse Carousel, has the very best ice cream I tasted.

Ginger Fruit, a special the first time I visited, sounds like an odd combination, but after a taste I had to get a scoop — it’s a startlingly fresh-tasting mixture of ginger flavor and tiny pieces of candied ginger root. And Chocolate Almond Fudge, my other choice from the list of 32 hardpack flavors (there’s soft-serve, too), had the flavor of a good candy bar, wonderfully creamy, but with bits of fudge providing a nice textural change.

On my return visit, it was Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup — with the same good chocolate base, but big chunks of candy — and Banana Nut Chip, with chocolate chips and a fruit flavor as bold and natural as that in the Ginger Fruit. (That may be because, owner George Nicholas says, the restaurant uses fresh fruit in making its ice cream.) The Annex’s Vanilla, meanwhile, had a satisfying richness.

Nicholas, the latest in a direct line of family owners from what started more than a century ago as The Boston Candy Kitchen in nearby New London, Conn., smiled when he learned the Annex had won. But the attention is nothing new for him — there’s a wall of newspaper clippings, photos and awards at the back of the restaurant.

“We have always made the product the best we can, and then priced accordingly,” he said. “In other words, we don’t scrimp on our quality. … [But] we are conscious of not overcharging people.”

And indeed, the prices — a single scoop for $3, a double for $4.25, and sundaes $4 to $5 — are not at all out of line with those of other South County ice cream spots.

The Annex opens at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast, seven days a week — “You can have a piece of pie and ice cream for breakfast, if you’re on your game,” Nicholas says with a chuckle, though there also are more conventional choices such as eggs and pancakes — and the grill stays open until 8 p.m. But the ice-cream window is open until 9:30 or 10:30, depending on how much business there is.

As for the future, George’s son, 24-year-old James Nicholas, is already in training to run the place and keep this a family affair.

“He wants to,” his father said. “He enjoys working here. He likes the business.”

St. Clair Annex is at 141 Bay St. in the Watch Hill section of Westerly. There’s free two-hour parking on the street, or in a lot on the right just before you get to the Annex. The restaurant usually opens for the season on Mother’s Day, and always closes on Columbus Day.

For more information, call (401) 348-8407) or go to www.stclairannex.com.

The worthy runner-up: The Sweet Spot, at 256 Great Island Rd. in Galilee, blew me away in the first round with a Rum Raisin that had lots of plump raisins and almost-streusel-like thick cinnamon-sugar patches (not very heavy on the rum, but so intriguing), and Dirty Grasshopper, an improbable combination of coffee, mint and Oreos whose oddball blend of flavors was a scrumptious surprise.

On my second visit, Chocolate Brownie was so rich as to be a meal in itself. But the Cherry Vanilla had only a hint of cherry flavor, and the fruit was just a bit crystallized; the Vanilla was only average, though it would be fine topped with fudge or butterscotch.

So, despite three excellent house-made flavors, this little ice-cream parlor-and-bakery — I looked with interest at an ice-cream-filled cannoli in a display case — finished just out of the money.

It’s in a sweet spot, all right, facing the harbor, on the first floor of the building that houses Champlin’s Seafood Deck. As you walk toward it, gulls wheel overhead, and the good salt smell fills your nose.

The Sweet Spot has just a couple of tables and a small counter inside, though there are four more tables outside, and the rocks at harborside beckon. But it was the uncommonly good ice cream that made me want to go back and work my way right down their flavor list.

And if you don’t see the flavor you want, there’s a suggestion box where customers can offer their own ideas.

Closes for the season around the beginning of October, depending on the weather. Call (401) 782-1646.

Great gelato: There’s lots to like about Nana’s Ice Cream & Gelato Café, at 28A Pier Market Place in Narragansett — the big, comfy black leather couch where you can eat your treats; the fun, cartoony mural of Narragansett Town Beach and The Towers by Eric Hammerschmidt; the fact that they’ll deliver to the beach (call (401) 782-2705). And the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough ice cream, one of 30 flavors from Attleboro’s Bliss Dairy, is good, with the ice cream flavorful and nicely creamy and the pieces of cookie dough chewy and substantial-feeling.

But even better was the Passion Fruit gelato — one of 16 flavors available — from Gelato Giuliana in Connecticut, its flavor bright and true, its texture smooth and inviting. And the gelato’s not just for eating on the premises: you can rent a gelato cart, with six flavors, to make your party tastier. Just call owner Diane Mann at (860) 798-6655 or e-mail nanasgelato@aol.com.

Nana’s has historically closed at Columbus Day, Mann says, but this year, she’s going to try to stay open all winter. For more information on Nana’s, try nanasgelato.com.

Great deal: Krueger’s Café, at 7510 Post Rd. in North Kingstown, offers this sweet deal: Buy eight of any item except quarts and cakes, and the ninth is free. The Ice Cream Lover’s Card is especially fine when you consider that this three-table shop with a bench outside makes its own 40 flavors of ice cream (including a very good Belgian Chocolate Chunk, creamy and rich, with just-hard-enough chocolate slivers to set it off) and 12 flavors of gelato, plus a couple of sugar-free ice cream choices and two sorbets. Open year-round; (401) 294-4115.

Success story: Brickley’s Ice Cream started in 1994, when Steve and Christina Brophy left Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., and moved to Rhode Island to open a business. Now there are three Brickley’s — the flagship at 921 Boston Neck Rd., Narragansett, (401) 789-1784; a smaller outlet at 322 Main St., Wakefield, (401) 782-8864; and a window at Belmont Market in Narragansett’s Pier Marketplace, off Beach Street, (401) 284-4186. The Boston Neck Road and Wakefield stores are open from March through mid-to-end-of-October; the Belmont window closes after Labor Day weekend.

Brickley’s large selection of creamy house-made ice cream includes Orange Pineapple, featuring tiny shavings of fruit, and Malted Milk Ball, with nice chunks of chocolate candy. There’s an ATM at each location — important, since Brickley’s takes only cash and checks — and a large Igloo cooler filled with cold water stands on the counter to cleanse patrons’ palates on Boston Neck Road and in Wakefield.

Unusual consumer-friendly practice: Brick Mill Dessert Café, 542 Kingstown Rd. in Wakefield, not only offers tastes of its 16 house-made ice-cream flavors, from Fresh Banana to Dark Chocolate; my server asked which of two flavors I wanted on top. The order in which you eat more- and less-intense flavors can be important, and I’ve never known another ice-cream shop to ask this question. Plus, the shop has board games so customers can while away rainy days. Open year-round. (401) 284-3433; brickmilldesserts.com/

Shady spot to eat: There’s no indoor seating at the Inside Scoop, 30 Ten Rod Rd. (Route 102) in North Kingstown. But you can take your cone or cup, chosen from among 45 house-made flavors such as Apple Pie and Chocolate Walnut, to one of three picnic tables under a large, leafy tree. Open weekends after Thanksgiving; closes Christmas and reopens in March. (401) 294-0091; www.insidescoopri.com.

Even shadier spot: Seven picnic tables stand in a small grove outside Lickety Splits, 39 Kingstown Rd., Richmond, making for a lovely place to eat right off Route 138. The hard-pack ice cream is from Bliss Dairy, including such interesting flavors as Extreme Chocolate and Cherry Moose Tracks, which offers chocolate in a cherry base. There are 24 flavors of soft-serve, too.

There are two other Sweet Spots, both in Wakefield, a year-round place in the South County Commons shopping center off Route 1, and one at 1922 Kingstown Rd. that’s open from March to mid-October. The store in Richmond is open from March to the end of October; call (401) 539-9047.

A sense of humor: The Original Vanilla Bean, at 757 Matunuck Beach Rd., is just down the street and around the corner from Theatre By The Sea. Perhaps that’s why — along with 51 flavors of ice cream, sorbet, sherbet and frozen yogurt from Bliss Dairy, including such exotic names as Dinosaur Crunch and Mango Tango — the shop also has such theatrical-sounding events as Crazy Hat Night, PJ Night and Sports Night.

Opens the Friday before Memorial Day; closes Labor Day. There’s no phone or Web site, but you can contact owner Rich Paolo at (401) 334-8959, which rings at his Pamfilio’s Deli & Catering in Cumberland, or through rich@pamfilios.com.

Excellent customer service: I loved the German Chocolate Cake, one of 38 house-made flavors at The Ice Cream Factory, 6710 Post Rd., North Kingstown (open March 1-Dec. 21; call (401) 885-8640). Creamy chocolate was laced with caramel, plus bits of chocolate cake — and was that a hint of coconut?

But the Frozen Pudding, though it had that classic almost-rummy taste, was a bit crystallized, as though it had thawed, then re-frozen. I hesitated a moment, then returned to the window and explained the problem.

“It’s in the corner, and it sometimes does freeze,” the woman at the window said with concern. “Would you like something else?”

I asked for Cherry Vanilla — the ice cream, it turns out, is cherry-flavored and -colored, as well as having big pieces of maraschino cherry — and was surprised to see 2½ scoops replacing the one scoop of frozen pudding.

“I’m sure that’s too much,” I said, but my server was undeterred.

“I want you to be a satisfied customer,” she said.

I was.

arosenbe@projo.com