Prospect Cafe – Waltham MA

There’s nothing as miserable as a Check Engine light coming on in your car. The only thing worse is when you find out that the reason is far more complex than merely the need to replace a gas cap. After a stop at AutoZone for a free diagnostic, I figured an oil change might clarify things even more. While my car was being prodded by mechanics, I walked across the street for a Skor frozen yogurt.

This area of Waltham is full of mechanics and body shops and just about every destination for post-industrial repair. What you’re not expecting to find here is anyplace beyond a corner store for food. Prospect Cafe isn’t much more than a local pizza joint when you walk in the main door, but when you peek on the other side a menu board full of flavor options for frozen yogurt presents itself.

If you look at the awning outside, it does indeed say ice cream, but inside there is none of that, just yogurt. The cafe has a full menu of sandwich options and caters to nearby Bentley students with pastas, pizzas, calzones, wraps, and salads as well. The full array of organic salads on their gourmet menu is a good sign that despite what things look like outside, this is a very suburban locale.

Prospect Cafe underwent ownership changes in the past few years and alientated some of their clientele and found a new audience all at the same time. Inside a bunch of simple tables and chairs are overpacked into the two small areas in front of the counter. When I went in, there was no one else around and I sat at the table in front of the television where the idle employees were watching Spike.

After a sandwich, I ordered a Butterscotch cone. I was firstly vetoed in the fact that they didn’t have any cones. The second change was my own as I watched the guy grab a handful of butterscotch hard candies and made a quick switch to toffee. He cracked the bar and dropped it into an extruder which pushed out a freshly mixed concoction. The yogurt had none of the tang that many more recent fro-yo spots promote, instead it seemed like a simple soft serve. Despite my love of dairy, I’m not a fan of real yogurts, so this did me just right.

Returning to my car, it seemed as though a few different mechanics we in agreement that the problem was going to be a $900+ fix. As much as I want a healthy vehicle, I decided to ask around and I found a guy who only works on Beetles who told me that the issue is usually a smaller part that isn’t quite so dire to my wallet. I’ve got an appointment Tuesday morning to find out, but it may curtail my driving all around tarnation this weekend for the last scoops of Summer. It’s supposed to rain torrentially anyway.

Cup plain $3.50 additional flavor +$.75

Sundae $4.75

Yogurt Milkshake $3.86

Prospect Cafe & Pizzeria

137 Prospect St, Waltham MA 02452

781 736-7979

Open year round

Daily 11a-11p

http://prospectcafe.net/

Gigi Gelateria – Boston MA

Yesterday, I mentioned a phone call from my friend Gabe who arrived in town seemingly at random. We met up for lunch and went to an alleged seafood place in Allston whose only seafood offerings were rubbery shrimp. When his other plans got delayed for a few hours, I decided we ought to head to the North End and cleanse our palates. I got a Strawberry cone and he got a Chocolate Hazelnut gelato.

[pix pending]

Gigi Gelateria seems to have taken over Hanover Street. In addition to the main shop here in the middle of the block, there’s a side entrance on Parmenter Street that leads to the same shop. Both cases face the street beckoning to people to get a simple cup or a cone. Now there is also a location at the corner of Cross street welcoming people to the North End as well.

The gelateria is part of Frank De Pasquale’s food empire that rules the roost over here. He’s the guy that also owns Bricco, Trattoria Il Panino, Mare, Express, Umbrio, and News. Needless to say if this were anywhere but the North End,  he’d have the market completely cornered. As it is he’s doing pretty well for himself. That’s why he brought Giovanni Gigliotta to be his Maestro de Gelati and keep this area cool.

There’s an inside shop for people that want to sit down and enjoy their gelato out of the rays of the sun, but it seemed like most people were forgoing the space that used to be an Italian market to walk the streets and enjoy the sun on this peculiarly nice August day. We walked down to the Rose Kennedy Greenway and sat at the edge of the grass. It was fun to try to explain how great this spot can be to someone who hadn’t ever been here when this was just an expanse of raised concrete. Even the fountains spraying plumes of water into the air were ideal for washing the drippings off of my hands.

After a sample of some combination of flavors with an Italian name I couldn’t recall, and being told that I couldn’t get the lemon in a cone because it was a sorbet, I chose the strawberry. The gelato didn’t seem as dense as it often can often be, but it was packed nicely into the cone. The strawberry seemed to be fighting for its identity which sort of threw the balance off here. Around the pieces of fruit themselves, the consistency was icy and lumpy like a sorbet can be and then the cream took over the other spots, ultimately rendering this more like a creamsicle than anything else.

[pix pending]

Walking around the North End, things started to seem exceptionally odd. People were setting up folding chairs and even the meter maids were laughing with the people who had parked in front of the main doors to the fire station. Television trucks were set up at a few intersections and reporters were interviewing people gathered in the park around the Paul Revere statue. Since Patriot’s Day is in April, I first guessed that maybe Fox had just messed up their months that start with the letter A. The truth was that people were getting ready for the Ted Kennedy funeral motorcade. When we got in the car, the radio was full of traffic reports updating us where the cars were between Cape Cod and here. We made it out abot about the last moment we could as the cops began closing off the ends of the street.

Cone $4.95

Gigi Gelateria

272 Hanover St, Boston, MA 02113-1804

617 720-4243‎

Open year round

Daily 10a-midnight

http://www.gelateriacorp.com/

Birthday Cones: Rota Spring Farm – Sterling MA

Sometimes in the quest to find as many different variations on taste as possible, it’s easy to neglect making return visits to your favorites. As I have mentioned before, the reason I started this blog was in part to try to find something that I thought might compete with Rota Springs. Even after dropping Indian Pudding from their regular menu this year, this is my favorite place for a cone. I had a Pistachio scoop on top of a Mint Chocolate Chip, and my dad had Coconut Caramel.

As you can see from the picture the new barn annex on the stand is now up in its full and painted glory. There’s a farm stand starting to take shape inside with some luscious and cheap produce. The fences around the goat herd have been moved further away from the building and there were a bunch of kids out there feeding the bottom of their cones to the animals. This is the first time that I had made it back out here since they opened for the year back in March, and seeing as today was my birthday and I had the day off, I determined that my lunch would be my favorite cone.

We had detoured through Worcester to have actual lunch with my brother, but he headed back to work rather than follow us for a cone. The best part of the diner was the linked jukeboxes. With a bunch of weird compilations and two songs for a quarter, I got Joe Tex, the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, the Pozo Seco Singers, and Lee Dorsey broadcast to all of the patrons. Even more strange was a random phone call right after from a college friend from Missouri who just got in town and is the only person I’ve ever known to actually care about the Peanut Butter Conspiracy.

My dad wove his way through all of these area back roads and came at Rota Spring from the opposite end of the road than I always do, so it was even more fun to see it appear as we hit a bend in the road. Once I looked at the menu, I knew what my dad was having since he’s a coconut fiend and that was one of the current special seasonal flavors. The other was a peach, but since I’d just had one in Duxbury, I decided to look for other options.

Ultimately, I guess I was feeling a bit green. What other impulse would make a man get two scoops with mint chocolate chip and pistachio. The pistachio came in first and with its fresh nut meats provided a strong base, while the mint and chocolate got to serve as an aperitif knocking it home and making me pine for an afternoon in the hammock. The cows weren’t out in the sun to watch as we ate, but Rota is really not lying when they claim “a herd of flavor in every scoop.” This is what makes is all worthwhile.

Right before I left I was chatting with a friend on line. I think were now determined to bring a posse of people out here in a van in the fall to spend some time in apple picking country. And indulge in the Indian Pudding ice cream when it is finally back on.

Original review: http://weallscreamforicecream.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/rota-spring-farm-sterling-ma/

Slight return: http://weallscreamforicecream.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/sprung-rota-spring-farm-sterling-ma/

Cone – kiddie $2.43 small $3.10 large $4.05

Sundae – 1scoop $3.81 2scoop $4.52 3scoop $5.24

Frappe $4.05 extra thick $4.52

Rota Spring Farm

117 Chace Hill Road, Sterling MA 01564

978-365-9710

Open from March to mid-November

Open daily from 11:30a-9:30p

http://rotaspringfarm.com

Farfar’s – Duxbury MA

There is an autographed photo of Joe Perry on the wall above the cash register. That’s a true sign that we’re in Duxbury, though this coastal country village doesn’t really seem like the place of local rock icons. With patriotic bunting hanging from the awning, we had no idea what to expect when we turned the corner and I got a Peach cone and Sam a Grapenut one.

With Sam’s mom serving as our dispatcher, we’d intended to honor her efforts by stopping at her namesake ice cream place, Jan’s in Marshfield, but it’s gone. When Farfar’s appeared in front of us, I knew that we’d found a suitable replacement. This place has a storied history but I was expecting a stand rather than the colonial cape style building that housed it.

As far as that storied history goes, it’s mostly a matter of myths and legends and people remembering it from when they were kids, so it’s tough to get any accurate determination on just how old this place is. It’s so unassuming as you step up on the wooded porch, but as soon as you turn the corner and see the barriers set up to direct pedestrian traffic through, you know full well that this is an institution (plus what place could charge $8+ for a sundae if it wasn’t).

In back is a full porch with a faded wood finish and a combination of tables and benches and chairs to accommodate any group of people you may have brought along. There’s even a section of tiny plastic chairs for preschoolers imagining they are out on a bona fide ice cream date. The only flaw back here was the positioning of the water fountain. I guessed wrong and had the stream of water shoot straight at the front of my pants rather than into my mouth.

After a couple of chocolate-based cones, the appearance of peach on the seasonal special menu jumped out. The lines here also quelled our impulse for samples, but that just made it even more of a treat when I had my first bite. I’m not sure what distinguishes this as a “Danish” ice cream, but the rich and creamy texture didn’t even yield with the presence of the fruit where ice crystals are most likely to appear. It was a heavenly treat that was so dense and well packed that it may be the best looking cone that I’ve had all summer. That the flavor matched its appearance was all the better.

After this flurry of dairy, we both were in need of real food and some beach time, so we drove along the coast until we found a beach we could access for free ($15 parking for Duxbury Beach sounded terrible to both of us). We wound up in Brant Rock, a coastal area in Marshfield where we found a rock and roll diner called the Rock Lobster with sandwiches named for classic rock songs. Sam got the Aqualung, but I was more in the mood for fries and chose a simple cheeseburger basket instead. From here we walked to the beach and played a game of catch where we heaved the ball into the stratosphere until our efforts summoned a rainstorm. That was a good sign it was time to go home.

Cone – regular $3.25 large $4.90

Sundae – small $4.75 medium $6 large $8.10

Frappe $4.15

Farfar’s Danish Ice Cream Shop

272 Saint George St, Duxbury, MA 02332-3811

781 934-5152

Open year round

Hours ?a-?p

Farfar’s online

Dairy Twist – Pembroke MA

With our intention being to make out way to the beach, Sam and I were sidetracked by a pink roadster that was emblazoned with fiery green ice cream cones. Not the sort of sight that you expect to see anywhere, but it served as an alert to the ice cream place tucked back from the road into the trees. I got a Bear Claw cone, and Sam had a Caramel Cashew Crunch.

Despite the vintage of the vehicle that drew our attention, the font on the sign above the ice cream stand is a better way to gauge the age of Dairy Twist. According to the old folks who were eating cones next to us, this place was opened sometime in the 1990s, and is on its second set of owners. The only other ice cream place they  claimed to ever go to was Peaceful Meadows, but even that seemed as though it was a rarity.

There were kids playing in the adjacent wooded lot, but most people were sitting in the shade that was provided by the seating area. That area only had benches and no tables, but it’s not as though anyone actually tries to balance a cone on a table so that isn’t much of a big deal either way. The only thing that people seem to complain about here is the parking, but there is a access road that runs along Rt. 53 that gives people a place to pull off along the side.

The lines here seemed to grow quickly around us, and while this is no Kimball’s in regards to the crowds, the three windows here never slowed down in the middle of the afternoon. That busyness put a damper on my sampling tendencies, so I didn’t even wind up getting a look at the ice cream pizza that Sam was trying to get me to have. The most we did was ask our scooper what exactly Muddy Sneakers was (a white chocolate with loads of stuff in it).

I had focused on my primary target and tried out the bear claw. I’m not sure why it has that name, as it has no elements of almonds or pastry as you would expect in a breakfast of the same name. What it did have was a remarkably dense and creamy chocolate ice cream loaded up with chocolate chunks, an extremely thick caramel swirl, and fresh pecans. Maybe black bear claw would have been a better name, but it really didn’t matter what they called it, it was still great. Sam was a bit disappointed with his cone as we were expecting a caramel ice cream base rather than vanilla with just a swirl (they had a Black & Tan special that did start with caramel). When he slipped and lost the bottom scoop to the gravel, it just meant it was time to move on, not complain and try to bargain for more of a cone.

The best story overheard here was a sighting of Aerosmith eating and taking off on motorcycles. I think every story on the South Shore involves Aerosmith. It is particularly tough to imagine most of them being able to still sit astride a hog, when these days they can’t even stay on stage at a motorcycle rally.

Cone – kiddie $2.60 small $3.35 large $3.95

Sundae – small $4.05 large $4.55

Malted Milk Shake $4.25

Dairy Twist

580 Washington St, Pembroke, MA 02359-2314

781 826-5955

Open April-Halloween

Daily noon-9p

Dairy Twist online

Peaceful Meadows – Whitman MA

Last Summer, Sam and I took an ice cream tour up to Hampton Beach and found places on the way there and the way back. So far this Summer, the only trek we’d really made was down to Hyde Park, so we were way overdue when we realized we both had the day off. We set off toward the South Shore and started here with a Dutch Chocolate Almond cone for me and a Coconut Chocolate Almond for him.

Sam had been to this place a long while ago and sent me a text message full of exclamation points for both the flavors and the girls working the counter. While the teenage girls don’t do the same things for me as him, I knew that his taste buds were in the right place, so this was our first target. Driving down Rt. 18 it was quite a sight when the barn’s silo rose from amidst a sea of strip malls.

Peaceful Meadows has been a farm since 1920 and opened their ice cream stand in 1962. It’s a fabulous throwback to see a farm in the middle of a modern commercial district. With an expanse of fields, roaming cows, and an adjacent dairy store that even offered egg nog in August, this really is a peaceful alternative to the hustle and bustle that surrounds it.

The ice cream is made here at the Whitman location. There are also stands in both Middleboro and Plymouth that scoop out Peaceful Meadows signature flavors. Walking behind the stand you can peek into the milking barn – though the only thing inside was a single calf – and over to the feeding area adjacent to the fields. The cows had already made their way through the hay and seemed to be mooing to get up to the barn for another milking as we worked through our cones.

A sample of the Dutch chocolate almond convinced me quickly and I went with a whole cone of that since they had no special seasonal flavors on display. The chocolate was divinely smooth and packed full with almond pieces of all sizes. The chocolate was milky and rich without leaning too dark. There’s something about seeing the cows around that increases the flavor. Maybe it’s just a contrast to the wafting manure smells that are redolent of my grandpa’s old farm, but I think there really is something special when your dairy supply is that localised.

At this point I was satified and almost ready to call it a day. How could other spots compete? But we’d done some advance researching and had good ideas where we ought to aim so we kept on, figuring the least we could do was head toward the ocean and dip our toes in.

Cone – small $2.75 large $4

Sundae – small $4.20 large $7.15

Frappe $3.70 x-thick $5.10

Peaceful Meadows

60 Bedford St, Whitman, MA 02382-1816

781 447-3889

Open year round

Daily 10a-10p

http://www.peacefulmeadows.com/

Ice Cream Showdown – Somerville MA

Finding out that there is going to be a gathering of some of the best local ice cream shoppes at the end of the hottest week of the Summer seemed like a real blessing. It wasn’t until the day before the Ice Cream Showdown was going to happen that people started flooding my inbox with notices about it, and my friend Tom and I pointed our way to this Somerville Ave parking lot.

With only a Facebook page to tell folks that this was really happening, it seemed as though the biggest buy in their advertising budget was actually for sidewalk chalk. All around Union Square were pictures of ice cream and arrows directing folks where to go. It seems like no one had an idea of what to expect here; when we arrived Christina’s and Toscanini’s were already gone, and b.good’s shake cart was shut off.

Despite some serious underestimations of the crowd, the other locations were still going strong. Arlington’s Chilly Cow was dishing out their frozen custards to a quick moving line of people. They had two people scooping to keep lines moving and offered up both vanilla and coconut options. Given the size of the choices I tried both of them, and even dug the coconut which sometimes is very evasive for me. The enjoyment was more widespread for the custard than I assumed, because they were named Best of Show at the end of the afternoon in a poll of people who voted at the admission table when they left.

Wheeler’s had almost no lines at all. You couldn’t really tell if they were dishing out their vegan wares at all some of the time. When I checked out the sample the first time, I got the tiniest scoop of their curry ice cream. Maybe they were keeping samples small because of the possibility that folks might not like curry, but I usually get larger samples at stores when I’m trying to choose flavors. When I went back the salted chocolate (with pieces of Somerville’s Taza Chocolate in it) had thawed enough to scoop and I did get a more reasonable sized taste. There’s not much need to complain about the size though, both of these really packed a punch.

By the time we got to J.P. Licks, the only choice that remained was the fresh mint ice cream. Now, the truth is that I’d got a frappe of this flavor when I was in Jamaica Plain earlier in the week. The sentiment I had then was echoed and amplified here: this would be twice the ice cream if it were a Mint Julep ice cream and infused with bourbon. When I had the frappe, I was dreaming of alternating sips between the two, and this afternoon there was a liquor store open right across the street. Somehow I kept myself in check and opted for sober ice cream.

Coop’s Microcreamery was the newest entry here and had the longest lines. The lines were the result of one person scooping, and the newness was due to a recent defection from Herrell’s and the opening of something new. The options here were the most interesting as they seemed to be throwing out some experiments to see how the crowd enjoyed them. I was truly bummed that the black licorice flavor ran out between the time I got in the line and got to the front of it. I get to sample both the mango sorbet and the OMFG chocolate, which were both loaded with flavor- a definite sign of someone who had ideas that were repressed while working with Herrell’s and was now ready to take over. This ice cream is available locally at the Allston Cafe.

Cases of dry ice were there to keep everything cold, but the crowds outscooped the cooling resources by a long shot. As a small local celebration of small local ice cream makers, this was a success. Next year they may need to find a larger space for this if word gets out. that’s what we’re hoping.

Bread & Lily – Newton Highlands MA

I rolled over this morning and checked my email, and Andy was looking to go out to do brunch since painters started on his house early in the morning. We ended up making an adventure of the day (spending as much time in air-conditioned environs as possible), and this spot in Newton Highlands offered up a pretty fine Ginger ice cream cone.

Bread and Lily is a new restaurant run by two brothers, Arron and Ben Cutler, that had its Grand Opening on June 16 after a soft opening in April. The cafe focuses on sandwiches and salads, has a few fine entrees, and a case of fresh pastries and baked goods all made on site. It’s just a block from the Newton Highlands stop on the Green Line for those intimidated by thoughts of leaving the city.

While recent residents may recognize this location most recently as having been the home of Ice Cream Works, which married the concepts of French pastries and  fresh ice cream. However, the history of this site is even more steeped in local ice cream lore as this was the location of The Little Shop – the first Brigham’s store back in 1924. Now it’s just a nice storefront with a great brick patio expanse in a posh suburban area.

Inside most everyone else was interested in lunch. Andy had a pulled pork sandwich with fresh potato chips alongside that looked delectable (all I had was one chip near the end). After I finished my cone, I got a black currant lemonade that may have been my best beverage of the Summer had I not had a bunch of Hawaiian ice at the Bolton Fair last weekend. The ice cream was the highlight of it all, despite a mere eight options plus two of each frozen yogurt and Italian ice.

I had a taste of the ginger and was floored, but also sampled the Caramel Chocolate Swirl. The swirl was a bit icy, so it made my choice simple when I opted for a whole cone of the ginger. The ice cream was a clean rich sweet cream that was overloaded with the sharp fresh flavor of ginger. In fact there were small particles of ginger peppered through the mix – nothing big enough to chew, but instead like blasts of  flavor. It’s particularly nice, when a small shoppe like this puts effort into all of the little things. It’s even better when the results are this great.

After a nice brunch at Pie, Andy and I found a bunch of other stuff in the Newton area. We ventured as far as You Do It Electronics in Needham (I almost bought a CB mic and a bunch of piezos, but realized I should work out what I needed first), and also made stops at Baza the Russian market (they were out of the bear sausage again!) and the New England Mobile Book Fair (where I did get Jarry’s Visits of Love).

Cone – small $2.95 medium $3.95 large $4.95

Bread & Lily

2 Hartford Street, Newton Highlands, MA 02461

617 969-1234

Open year round

Monday-Friday 8a-7:30p, Saturday 8a-5:30p, Sunday 8a-2p

http://www.breadandlily.com

Freeze – Waban MA

The way the lights played on the red awning above the door to Freeze when I finally located it after winding my way through Waban, it seemed as though I wasn’t going to get anything cold here. The kids seated in front smiling as they took their last bites of ice cream confirmed there would be frozen treats inside, and I found myself a Red Raspberry Chip cone.

Freeze @ Waban Square is how this place is officially titled, having applied for a new business license in Newton this Spring. They opened up a couple months ago and finally showed up on my radar when a few people posted brief but ecstatic reviews on Google. The ice cream parlor is tucked into a corner next to Village Bank in Waban Square directly across from the Waban stop on the Green Line’s D Train.

Owner Cheryl Pruett had the desire to open an ice cream shoppe in this area, and when the space opened up, she already knew the ice cream that was going to be served here. Her cousins run Trombetta’s Farm in Marlboro, and were more than happy to find another outlet for their ice cream. There’s also Italian ice here, but it comes from the Pennsylvania-based Via Veneto.

With an inviting color scheme and open space, this shoppe is a comfortable place to sit and eat ice cream with friends and family. You almost expect the shelves to be full of toys and a group of teenagers to be squabbling over a Scrabble game in the corner. However, this is a business, and a thriving new one on this hot August night. For those that aren’t familiar with Waban, it’s actually part of Newton, heck it’s actually a subset of Newtonville, and had it not been for a stolen street sign, it would have been pretty simple to find.

The kids out front recommended the Cookie Dough, and I also sampled the Blueberry. The cookie dough actually had flavor in the dough, and the blueberry was rich and real (but too soft after an excruciatingly hot day), but I decided that the red raspberry chip was a good compromise between those options.  The fruit flavor was spectacular with the fresh raspberry seemingly picked right from the vine, and the chips of chocolate provided a wonderful counterbalance. The idea of a new ice cream shop in the metro Boston area bringing farm fresh ice cream to local palates is just what this Summer needed.

Since this is a new shoppe, there are still questions that will persist, but it’s the sort of place that I’m very excited to see, as opposed to shoppes that just plug in and provide the same flavor and brand options as their neighbors. Freeze is the sort of place that makes ice cream fun, and it might be twice as good when everything isn’t already clearing the 90 degree mark. (Winter plans are up in the air as far as exactly when the store will remain open, with thoughts to close in December and January, though Trombetta’s does make their ice cream year round, so who knows).

Cone – 1 scoop $3.45 2 scoops $4.35 3 scoops $5.25

Sundae $5.75 super $6.50

Frappe $5.25 extra thick $5.95 malted $5.95

Freeze @ Waban Square

87 Wyman St, Waban, MA 02468-1516

617 340-6365‎

Open Spring-December

Daily 11a-10p

http://www.freezeatwabansquare.com

Johnson’s – Groton MA

My next door neighbors moved to Groton when I was in elementary school, but we never made that many trips to visit them after that. I remember once going up there and having my first exposure to De La Soul’s 3 Feet High And Rising. This time I was just looking for food and a Bada-Bing Cherry Chip cone was a nice bonus.

Johnson’s existed back then, and this was where they went for ice cream whenever a trip to Kimball’s wasn’t in order. In 1991, this place was sold to current owner Richard Santiano, who made a few modifications to the shoppe, but kept things in place much as they had always been. This classic roadside drive-in restaurant doubles as an ice cream parlor when the temperatures rise.

I haven’t found many places with the amount of seating options that Johnson’s offers. For the cone seeker, there are two outdoor windows and a parking lot that provides some nice views of the nearby fields. But if it is views that you are looking for, I recommend that you climb to the third tier of seating on the opposite side of the store. There are four distinct seating sections here that keep rising and rising. While there are some umbrellas to deflect the results of any bad weather, there is also a counter indoors with a full seating section of finished benches and tables as well.

I wasn’t really looking for ice cream when I found this spot while driving along 119, but there is something about the words dairy bar that stir this impulse in my left foot to hit the brakes. In truth, I started with a meal, but I made it back to my car before I walked back over to the window. I sampled the Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip, but despite the name, the chocolates were far more milky than dark.

Pop culture naming of flavors is usually a novelty, but since Ben and Jerry’s has been satisfied with naming their variant after a deceased Deadhead, riffing on The Sopranos for bada-bing cherry chip seemed perfectly ok. While cherrys always seem to bring out a few ice crystals around the fruit, this ice cream did a great job of wiping out that as an issue with a very creamy and smooth scoop. The chocolate pieces were everywhere, in thin layers that kept suprising long after chips every do.

Initially, I went inside and sat for a Chicken Cutlet Club sandwich. It came as a wonderful double-decker held together with those long toothpicks, quartered and covered in a mound of french fries. Something about the combination of fresh chicken cutlets, bacon, and tomatoes just sends me head over heels.

Cone – kids $? medium $? large $?

Sundae – small $? large $?

Frappe $4.65 extrathick $4.95

Johnson’s Drive-In Restaurant & Dairy Bar

164 Boston Rd, Groton, MA 01450

978 448-6840

Open year round

Hours 8a-9p

http://www.johnsonsdrivein.com/