My sense of geography has improved greatly since I began searching for ice cream everywhere I go. It’s always an amazing thing to tie together pieces of maps when you drive the length of a road. At this end of Waltham Street, I found a Cinnamon Nutmeg cone as my pot of gold.
Rancatore’s is the sister store of the Belmont shoppe. Owned by Joe Rancatore, this is prime real estate in downtown Lexington. With three coffee shops close enough to throw a cone at, the clientele includes a lot more kids – be it friends of employees or moms with families.
Much like the Belmont store, the inside is an explosion of red and black checkerboards that serve as a great contrast to the ice cream and other treats that they serve. There’s a freezer case full of pints and half gallons for dads on the run. With lots of tables, a bathroom roomy enough to change a baby in, and even a water fountain with napkins right next to it, they really do make for a clean and friendly environment (though they were having a problem with the paper towel dispenser, and it seems that no one had wiped down my table since the last customer left).
I made it through an array of samples before I settled on the cinnamon nutmeg. It seems like the sort of flavor that may not have much longevity, whereas the others I was contemplating had food reviews about them painted on the walls. Sometimes the chance to try something takes precedence (though truth be told I didn’t even contemplate a taste of their pumpkin – will someone do something fun with this? add chips? oatmeal cookie pieces? pie crust?).
The nutmeg here has a very wierd presence. Instead of providing the kick that it does to an eggnog, the extremes of both spices are blunted a bit in the mix. At the same time the flavors are the ideal bridge from the apple pies of September and October until we hit that yule drink. The spices provide a texture within the cream which helps make this a constantly surprising cone. The subtlety of the flavors was enough to carry the cream on their own, without any bells or whistles at all.
Walking around in the cold, I made it up to the Flick to see what was showing and discovered a new Mike Leigh film in theaters now. My brother and I went the next day to see Happy-Go-Lucky. Whereas Naked followed the life of a nihilist in a cold world, this tracks an ebullient grade school teacher smiling at that world around her. A marvelous film that mirrors Chekhov’s collision of humor and horror in the spirit of a driving school instructor.
other review: Rancatore’s in Belmont
Cone – micro $2.60 small $3.75 medium $4.60 large $5.20
Sundae – micro $4.25 small $5.50 medium $6.00 large $7.50
Frappe – small $3.60 large $5 extra thick $6.25 malt $5.75
Rancatore’s Ice Cream
1752 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA 02420
781 862-5090
Open year round
Hours 10a-11p
