Sundae Drives - Three Ice Cream Road Trips

Spring and summer inspire road trips on hot days. Here are three great ice cream shops within a one-hour drive of the capital city in case you need some fresh scenery and cold ice cream.

Tom’s Ice Cream Bowl
532 McIntire Avenue, Zanesville
740.452.5267
www.tomsicecreambowl.com
(Closed every Monday)

(70 E to the State Street Exit in Zanesville)

Tom’s is tucked away in a residential neighborhood. The staff is decked out in white hats, white aprons and black bow ties. The interior looks untouched since it opened at the current location in 1950. Tom’s feels like a Soda fountain from the past. Bill Sullivan bought the business from original owner Tom Mirgon in 1984. A portrait of Tom still watches over the business from a spot just above the soda counter. You can also get a good sandwich, Ben Heggy’s chocolates and Tom’s famous roasted redskin peanuts to go with your ice cream (which is often served in a big soup bowl). In 1998,Tom’s was listed as one of the nation’s 10 best ice cream spots in USA Today.

 

Velvet Ice Cream, Ye Olde Mill
11324 Mount Vernon Road, Utica
1.800.589.5000
www.velveticecream.com
(SR 62 N to SR 13)

Since 1817, several different mills have stood in the stone foundation of Ye Olde Mill. (One downside to the location, the Mill has a tendency to burn to the ground most recently in 1986 and 2004). The Mill has always served as a meeting place for friends and families in the area. The Dager family understands the importance of tradition; they have been making ice cream since 1914. Velvet chose the Mill to be the symbol of their company. You can see the mill on each container of Velvet makes. The Ye Olde Mill is open from May to October. Tours of the ice cream factory are from 11 AM to 3 PM. The Mill also serves as the hub for the annual Utica Old Fashioned Ice Cream Festival which is Memorial Day Weekend.

Young’s Jersey Dairy
6880 Springfield-Xenia Road, Yellow Springs
937.325.0629
www.youngsdairy.com

(I 70 W to SR 68 S)

Young’s is a family entertainment destination, which would have made P.T. Barnum a bit jealous. The cornucopia of attractions includes: a farm-themed eighteen hole miniature golf course, a driving range, batting cages, farm animal petting barn, a full service restaurant, bakery, gift shop, and a corn maze. However the biggest attraction is ice cream, sometimes more than 3000 gallons per week is served. Much of the ice cream ends up in the Moovelous Milkshakes that consist of two to five dips of rich French Vanilla. All of the standard flavors are available as well as some farm themed creations such as Cow Patty - chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and other goodies mixed in. Considering Young’s started as a 10 x 10 room for selling milk to the public in 1958 – no need to cry over spilt milk at Youngs…but a dropped scoop of ice cream - would be a very sad event.

A Small Byte on Small Plates at Columbus Fish Market

I go to great lengths to avoid corporate eating - but sometimes it happens. When this does occur, one of my favorite spots is Columbus Fish Market - my favorite Cameron Mitchell Restaurant (and I am allergic to fish!).

I dropped into the Crosswoods location (the staff there are consistently great). I like to dine at the bar to avoid the wait and on occasion - to get my belly rubbed. On my last trip I discovered my best cheap food find of 2007. The Fish Market offers small plates of food at the bar - all are under $3. The downside - you can only get this deal after 4 PM (I guess to prevent me from dropping in for a cheap lunch every day). For $2.95, I had three perfectly cooked Buffalo Style Shrimp with a big clump of Blue Cheese Cole Slaw. This is the best appetizer I have had in this decade for the price.

(these were cheaper than my class of wine - a glass of Goats Do Roam)

(Buffalo Shrimp with Slaw - photo taken Batman style - Pow!)

Vegetable Fries with Chipotle Ketchup (strong on the ketchup, weak on the chipotle) were also sampled. The sauce needs some work - but the fries are fine on their own. The pre-fried vegetables are/were green beans, carrots, zucchini, red peppers and maybe a few other long style veggies, all perfectly breaded and cooked. This appetizer was well worth the price but it is a small fry compared to the Buffalo Shrimp.

An intriguing choice among the small plates was a Codwich Slider with Cheddar Cheese - I was almost willing to have an allergic reaction to try that one.  There is also an oyster special on Wednesdays - served as you like them. These small plate bar specials have been around at least 8 months, per Shawn the bartender. Better late than never for me but I feel the need to head back to make up for lost time!

Columbus Fish Market

40 Hutchinson Ave

(Crosswoods)

614.410.FISH (3474)

1245 Olentangy River Road

(Grandview)

614.291.FISH (3474)

Columbus Fish Market Web Site

Jeni’s Ice Cream Sandwiches - so good.

 

This is my favorite way to spend $4.50 - an ice cream sandwich from Jeni’s Fresh Ice Cream in Grandview.

 

Four ice cream flavors are featured in the sandwiches. My favorite is Pistachio. The cookie ingredients mirror and complement the ice cream flavors. It is the perfect ice cream experience inside a slightly chewy and rich cookie. This has been one of my favorite cravings of 2007 with no sign of abating. The macaroons are made fresh in Jeni’s kitchen from her own receipe (it had to be tweaked so the cookies could withstand the cold of the freezer).

Sidenote: (Jeni was featured in the recent issue of Columbus CEO).

Jeni’s Fresh Ice Cream

1281 Grandview Avenue

Grandview Heights

614.488.2680

Jeni’s website

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Serving Suggestion:

An ice cream term I use often is sweat: my definition - letting the ice cream thaw a bit to the point where it is just starting to drip and begins to have the consistency of a milkshake. The science of ice cream supports that this is the best way to eat ice cream - if you have the patience to wait about 3-5 minutes after you get your scoop or dish.

Since Jeni’s ice cream sandwiches are frozen - you can truly have the “sweating” experience without suffering. When I pick my ice cream sandwiches up - it is typically a 15 minute drive back to Clintonville (THE Clintonverse - to some) so by the time I get to my house, the sandwich is the perfect temperature and consistency.

Enjoy! And let me know which sandwich you like the best.

The macaroons in the ice cream sandwiches are so good I thought they were from Pistachio Bakery but Charly Bauer was nice enough to let me know of the error of my ways. It is a still a good time to plug Pistachio Bakery (my favorite) (( Pistachio via Sopressata - some thoughts on Pistachio from a great new blog)).

Pistachio Bakery

680 North Pearl Street (behind Betty’s)

(moving to German Village in September)

Short North

614.220-9070

 

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Other Ice Cream News

Scoop 1:

Why did Graeter’s Rocky Road Ice Cream disappear?

All of Graeter’s ice cream is Kosher. Kosher marshmallows are too expensive and hard to find to make the volume of Rocky Road Graeters needs.

Scoop 2:

Hartzler Dairy Ice Cream in the Columbus Metro Area.

Hartzler Dairy in Wooster, Ohio makes many organic diary products including ice cream. You can sample these at Urban Coffee.

Urban Coffee
7838 Olentangy River Road (SR 315 North, past I 270)
Columbus, OH
614.436.2326

Stan Zafran - Denise’s Ice Cream Man

Denise’s Homemade Ice Cream
2899 North High Street
Clintonville
614.267.8800

I was working on an article about the best Ice Cream in Columbus for C-Bus Magazine at the end of March. When I e-mailed Denise’s owner, he insisted I give him a call. When I called him, he told me to drop by. If you talk to Stan Zafran, you are going to talk about ice cream. If ice cream happens to be your topic he is going to have you make ice cream. He will ensure you make a mess of yourself in the process - if fact if you don’t, then he is a bit bummed out.

I showed up around noon - I knew Stan is talkative and passionate about his ice cream so I figured we would spend about three hours together - it was more like six. First Stan had me sample every flavor - kind of an ice cream flight - a la Sideways. Stan taught me about the elements of ice cream - specifically - what makes good ice cream. Then we got to work. I made Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Pistachio. It was messy but I loved it. It reminded me of my first job at Knight’s Ice Cream.

Here is the scene of the Crime, an ice cream maker..

 

..and the results of my efforts

 

Stan and I discussed a lot of things while we were working together - Boston (his old stomping grounds and where Denise’s originated) vs. Columbus, doing business in Clintonville, Midwestern demographics, etc., but mostly we discussed ice cream. Creating a flavor is an art - but making the taste cross the line from good to great ice cream is a science. Stan approaches ice cream making like a craftsman with some mad scientist thrown in for good measure. He has the creativity to create inventive combinations (like Chocolate Sorbet and Burnt Sugar) mixed with the precision to make sure that all of the best ingredients blend together at the right time in the right way. If you have not tried Stan’s labors of love, make sure you drop by Denise’s - you will find flavors you never thought of - and you will find something you will like to lick.

Try two of the newest flavors Canteloupe and/or Blueberry (when Stan e-mailed me about Blueberry he described it as Kickass Blueberry, - it is). If you can - see if you can combine a half scoop of both for a perfect spring treat.

I have been doing some follow up sampling at Denise’s - my favorite flavors are currently Carrot Cake and Thin Mint Mint Oreo. Yum.