After playing softball in the rain and mud, my desire to adventure around the state for ice cream was low. A nap raised my spirits a bit and I decided to get out of my house before it was too late. I wound up at this place that I had spied a few weeks ago and got myself a Peanut Butter cone.
Nelson’s is right in the heart of Winchester Center. If you took a train to get here, all you would need to do would be walk down from the raised tracks and this would be right in front of you. It’s open early and late, and even right before closing time they seem wholly willing to fire up the grill for the smallest of orders.
With very limited information on the internet, it seems as though this place may have recently changed ownership, if not the name itself. The corner location right on the rotary in the center of town makes it an immediate landmark and a quest for quality ingredients is helpful as well. What is weird is that the only thing in the bakery that doesn’t appear fresh are the baked goods, but that likely has as much to do with me arriving at the end of the day as anything.
Nelson’s Bakery doesn’t make their own ice cream, but what is significant is that this is the only scoop shop that I have found that is supplied by Puritan Ice Cream in Roslindale. Most of Puritan’s supply goes into restaurants and other locations where the maker is wholly obfuscated, but the owner here told me that he was friends with them and thus he uses their ice cream and they are willing to let him.
I sampled both the peanut butter and the rum raisin ice cream. The rum raisin needed more rum for my palate, so I opted for the peanut butter, which was really a peanut butter cup more than anything. A creamy milk chocolate ice cream, this had a dense swirl of peanut butter and candies in the mix. Peanut butter in ice cream can get really heavy, and this was, but only a chilly September night, this is the sort of thing that can be just right.
As nice as it was to get a cone, the sandwiches here are ridiculous. I wasn’t sure that I was up for one, but when I saw this on the menu, it seemed imperative: “Grilled chicken, prosciutto, grilled portabella mushrooms, artichoke hearts & capers.” If you think that sounds decadent and delicious, you need to go try one because it is even better than you imagine.
Cone – small $2.75 medium $3.25 large $3.95
Sundae – regular $4.25 large $5 special $6.25
Frappe $4.25 extra thick $4.75
Nelson’s Bakery
2 Mount Vernon St, Winchester, MA 01890-2704
781 729-8890
Open year round
Daily 9a-10p
