Banana Boat – Revere MA

Today was one of those days. The sort when you show up and realize that if you don’t make a real effort to do something that you may melt in the summer heat and be found as a puddle days later. So we hopped in the car and found the mall AC too warm so we kept driving until we could get the ocean between our toes. And a Black Raspberry cone in my hand (and a Rainbow Jimmy-encrusted Mint Chocolate Chip for Ivy).

After wandering around the Cambridgeside Galleria for an hour and finding nothing remotely worth purchasing and a grungy ice cream shop that made me not want to have a cone, Ivy and I hit the road. We really had no destination in mind as I got on Rt 16 and headed east. We passed Richie’s slush and a new Chandler’s store, but for some reason, I stopped at neither. It wasn’t until I turned off at Beach Street that I had any thought we’d make it here, and right at the intersection where the beach was presented before us was the delightful Banana Boat.

I love when an ice cream stand proclaims its origins on the side of the building, because there is probably nowhere on the internet that I’d’ve been able to research this place and find that it began in 1977. It has the feel of an older place than it is, and given the architecture, it is wholly possible that a different ice cream joint had resided here before that point in time. It’s ringed by a parking lot whose borders are defined by a similar paint job as the building, and tucked against the edges are a few very blue picnic tables and  a blue bench.

Of course most people are just as apt to walk across the street as they are to sit there with a cone in hand. With one of the largest beaches in the metro Boston area, Revere Beach may not be mistaken for California or southern France, but it is a great place to get some sand between your toes. I took off my shoes and cuffed my jeans and we frolicked at the water’s edge. The cold water was just the thing that I’d been looking for all day long to normalize my body temperature.

The ice cream that they scoop up here is Hood, and they don’t spend much time with any bells or whistles when it comes to the flavor selections. Of the fifteen choices, the black raspberry seemed to be screaming at me and the single server working the window combined with the line growing behind us made me not try any samples. I even forgot to double check if the Peanut Butter and Moosetracks were two flavors or one since it was written oddly on two separate lines while all of the other flavors fit on one. The black raspberry was simple and perfect for staring at the beach on a hot summer’s day.

Can someone explain why when I go to eat a cone with someone else that invariably my cone starts melting immediately while theirs makes it through until the end. Even from the picture above, you can see my cone already losing it all around the outside and dripping on my thumb. I knew I was in trouble when I got drips when I handed over my cash. Somehow I always seem to pick the flavor that is warmest, and black raspberry can be a mess. Thankfully a combination of napkins, sand, and salt water washed most of the mess away.

Cone – kids $2.80 small $3.50 large $4.25

Sundae $5.75

Frappe $4.90

Banana Boat‎

700 Beach St, Revere, MA 02151-2619

781 289-4777

Open April-October

Daily 11a-11p weather permitting

Banana Boat online