Thursday, July 12, 2012

Another Time Ice Cream Parlor



Another Time Ice Cream Parlor is located at 100 Parkway Ave in Lanesboro, MN.  It is in the old downtown area of Lanesboro.  The place has ice cream and chocolate so there is not a lot of seating.  Most people were eating their cones outside.  



The ice cream parlor serves Bridgeman's Ice Cream.  They have sixteen different varieties of ice cream.  The ice cream is served in cake cone, sugar cone, waffle cones or a bowl.  A single scoop is 2.39, a double 3.39.  You need to add 90 cents for a waffle cone.  


I had the Red Raspberry ice cream on a sugar cone.  The ice cream had little raspberry seeds and had a nice creamy texture.  The raspberry flavor popped in my mouth.  This was one of the best ice cream cones I have had this summer.

We were able to taste samples of a number of ice cream flavors the shop served.  I found the Bridgeman's ice cream to have strong flavor and a creamy texture.  A good national brand.


I was the only one to get ice cream at Another Time Ice Cream Parlor.  Someone wanted to try a dark chocolate ice cream from another place.  I am sure that we will review that place at another time.

Our rating system will be from 1-5 with 5 being the best:

Price:           4
Taste:           5
Service:       5
Ambiance:   4

Total score:  18





Sunday, June 24, 2012

Sweet P's Ice Cream and Candies


Sweet P's Ice Cream and candies is located at 707 Main Street NW in Elk River, MN.  The store is in the old downtown area near Highway 10 and County Road 42.  It is an old time candy store and ice cream parlor.

The ice cream is made on-site.  They had sixteen different flavors the day we stopped.  There are free samples of ice cream to help you chose the right flavor.  The ice cream is served in cake cone, sugar cone, waffle cones or a bowl.  A single scoop is 2.49, a double 3.29 and the Sweet P's sampler is 5.29.  You will need to add 50 cents for a sugar cone and one dollar for a waffle cone.


I had the Black Cherry ice cream on a sugar cone.  The ice cream was creamy and had good flavor.  It had the right amount of cherries in the mix.  Having had a number of cherry ice creams this summer, I would rate the flavor in the middle of the pack.  It was nice but not great.

L had the Chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone.  She really enjoyed the flavor.  It was a 4.5 on a scale of 1-5.  She had a sample of the root beer ice cream and would recommend it to root beer lovers.  It had a strong root beer taste.

S had the Cake batter ice cream on a sugar cone.  She enjoyed the flavor and it was filled with lots of sprinkles in the ice cream.  She a little disappointed about the number of fun ice cream flavors that were available.

A had the Strawberry ice cream on a sugar cone.  He enjoyed the flavor.


Sweet P's Ice Cream and Candies is definitely worth the drive on a hot summer's afternoon.  The ice cream was good and the prices were reasonable.  The shop has plenty of seating with tables inside and outside.


Our rating system will be from 1-5 with 5 being the best.

Price:          4
Taste:         4
Service:      5
Ambiance:  5

Total Score:  18


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Pumphouse Cearmery







South Minneapolis has a lot of neighborhood business areas.  One of my favorite is 48th and Chicago.  There is the Parkway theater, Turtle bakery, a couple of restaurants and the Pumphouse Creamery.  The Pumphouse Creamery is located at 4754 Chicago Avenue. 

The shop itself is small.  There is one table, a window bench and the ice cream counter.   A single scoop of ice cream is 3.20, a double is 5.10 and a five scoop sampler of 4.20.  The ice cream is served in a bowl or a homemade waffle cone.  The ice cream counter had 20 different flavors of ice cream.  The ice cream is made on-site using local ingredients and the recipes are posted on the wall.


I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy the Passion Fruit, Orange, Guava Sorbet.  It did not have a strong flavor or a pop.  The sorbet tasted flat.  It seemed to be missing something that day.  The waffle cone tasted bland and did not hold the sorbet well.  I almost lost my sorbet to the floor twice.

L had the Chocolate ice cream.  She thought it was creamy and loved the dark chocolate taste.  She is a fan of very dark chocolate.  She did not like the waffle cone either.

S had Coffee with Almond Toffee ice cream.  She thought it was great.  It was three votes against the waffle cone.  She said that she would never have it again.




I was a little disappoint with the Pumphouse creamery.  If we stop by again, I would definitely pick an ice cream in a bowl.  They also make sundaes, malts, and shakes.  It is worth the trip, if you are strolling down the Minnehaha parkway on a hot summer's day and need a treat.

Our rating system will be from 1-5 with 5 being the best.

Price:          3
Taste:          3
Service:      4
Ambiance:  4



Total Score:  14

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Grandpa's Ice Cream




Grandpa's Ice Cream Web site

Our next stop was at Grandpa's Ice Cream in Fridley, MN.  Grandpa's Ice Cream is located at 1258 East Moore Lake Drive.  It is in the strip mall next to L.A. Fitness. 

We were greeted by the very friendly staff when we entered the door.  They shared with us how the ice cream was made and offered us samples of any of the ice creams.  Grandpa's Ice Cream makes their ice cream on-site.  They use an Italian ice cream maker called a Carpigiani.  The server at the store told us that they have experimented with a number different ingredients to make some wonderful flavors. There were 32 different flavors the day we visited.  A single scoop of ice cream is 3.35, a double is 4.55 and a bowl of three mini scoops is 3.99.


I had a mini bowl with three different ice creams.  The Mango pineapple was creamy and had chunks of pineapple.  The Rum Cherry had nice big chunks of cherry and I really enjoy the flavor.  The Butter Pecan had lots of pecans and the flavor was great.  The theme here is a lot of good sized ingredients added to the ice cream.  I think the combination makes for a great ice cream experience.

L had the Chocolate and Mint Chocolate chip on a sugar cone.  She rated the Chocolate ice cream a 4.  The Mint Chocolate chip was a 3.  I liked the Mint Chocolate chip.

S had a mini bowl with three flavors: Mango pineapple, Brownie and Coffee.  She said that the Mango pineapple was good.  It had good size pineapple chunks.  The Brownie was full of many yummy flavors.
 
M had a bowl of Salty Caramel.  She loved it.  It was perfect.  The others thought it was too salty.


We enjoyed the sitting area.  It had a old ice cream parlor theme.  I thought the following poster says it all.


Our rating system will be from 1-5 with 5 being the best:

Price:           4
Taste:           4 
Service:       5
Ambiance:   5

Total score:  18
 
 

 

Saturday, June 2, 2012






Tip Top Dairy Bar

We have passed through Osakis, MN many times on our way to the cabin.  I have always wanted to stop by the Tip Top Dairy Bar.  The Tip Top Dairy Bar serves soft serve ice cream.  It is like a Dairy Queen but on a smaller scale.

I know that soft serve ice cream may not qualify as real ice cream, but I feel that it should be included as part of our summer ice cream tour.  These small places have a fun atmosphere and are a big part of a community.




The soft serve cones come in the following sizes:  kids-1.15, small-1.50, meduim-1.75 and large-2.25.  They make sundaes, shakes, malts and cyclones.  The soft serve comes in vanilla and chocolate.  They have a machine that will give you a twist which includes both.

Each day, they use one machine to make a fruit soft serve.  They make raspberry, pineapple and orange.  I was lucky enough to get the raspberry.  The cone has a strong fruit flavor and I really enjoyed it.  The serving size was perfect.  They use a standard cake cone that was ok.

L had a Chocolate malt.  The malt was a little disappointing.  It was not mixed well and was a little runny.

S had a Coffee cyclone.  It was very yummy if you like coffee and chocolate.  She said that it is a must get if you are in the area.

M had a Hot Fudge Malt.  It was very rich but was not out of the ordinary.  

Use zoom to see the menu!
I enjoy my visit to the Tip Top Dairy Bar.  We will be making the stop again.  Part of the adventure is finding these small town treasures.

Our rating system will be from 1-5 with 5 being the best:

Price:         5
Taste:         3
Service:      4
Ambiance:  3
 
Total  Score:  15


Tuesday, May 29, 2012



Selma's Ice Cream Parlor


Our second trip was to Selma's Ice Cream Parlor in Afton Minnesota.  Afton Minnesota is south of I-94 on County Road 18.  We were attending the Afton May Fair festival.  The festival is a sidewalk sale with music, crafts and food vendors.  After walking around the town we had a picnic in the park.  The ice cream parlor is across the street from the park.

The ice cream parlor has a good size serving area with tables on the left side of the building.  The service was fast and cheerful.  A single scoop of ice cream is 3.25, a double is 3.75 and a triple is 4.25,  They have a list of all the flavors available that day on the wall behind the counter.  There must of been 35 flavors available the day we were there.  The serving sizes are big.


I had a single of the Rum Black Cherry on a sugar cone.  It is my favorite and will be featured a number of times on this blog.  I enjoy the strong  flavor of the ice cream and there were plenty of cherries.  The ice cream has a rich and creamy texture.  The sugar cone was just a sugar cone.

L had Zanzibar Chocolate on a sugar cone.  It was wonderful. She gave the flavor a 5 out of 5.  

M had Carmel Collision on a sugar cone.  Both she and L gave the flavor a 5 out of 5.  M liked the large variety of ice cream that was available.

S had Toffee Crunch and White chocolate raspberry truffle on a sugar cone.  The White chocolate raspberry truffle had small truffles and the Toffee Crunch had tiny pieces of toffee.    It was a generous serving size and the all the ice creams tasted good.  She recommends the Carmel Collision or the Toffee Crunch.



Our rating system will be from 1-5 with 5 being the best:

Price:           4
Taste:          5
Service:       5
Ambiance:  4

Total score:  18


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Grand Ole Creamery


                                                       Grand Ole Creamery Web Site

Our first trip was to the Grand Ole Creamery in Saint Paul, MN.  The Grand Ole Creamery is located at 750 Grand Avenue.  Grand Avenue in Saint Paul has a lot of fun restaurants and shops.  It is like a mini small town in the middle of the city.

The line for the shop was out the door when we arrived.  The service has fast and cheerful.  A single scoop of ice cream is 4.25 on a cone, 4.75 on a waffle cone(which they make on-site) and 5.00 for a bowl with five different scoops.  They have a list of all the flavors available that day on the wall behind the counter.  There must of been 30 flavors available the day we were there.  The serving sizes are big.


I had the bowl with the five different scoops.  The Rum cherry was great.  It has a strong flavor and a rich cream.  The French Vanilla was a solid choice for a standard scoop.  The Raspberry lemonade Sorbet is not an ice cream but the flavor explodes in your mouth.  The Mac Daddy had a nice crunch.  I am not sure about the Black Walnut.  It was at the bottom of the bowl and mixed with all the other flavors. 

 
L had Chocolate and Birthday Cake ice cream.  The Chocolate was OK and the Birthday Cake was a little sweet.


M had Chocolate Fudge Brownies.  The ice cream was really rich and she had a hard time finishing it. She found out that even though there are lots of flavors online not all of them are offered every day and was a bit disappointed.

S had German Chocolate and Strawberry Cheese cake on a waffle cone.  She really enjoyed both.  The waffle cone was worth the extra money.

All in all,  our first outing was fun and the ice cream was great.


Our rating system will be from 1-5 with 5 being the best:

Price:         3
Taste:         3
Service:      4
Ambiance:  4

Total score:  14



Thursday, May 10, 2012

Our family will be reviewing Ice cream shops this summer.  We are looking forward to posting reviews of the places we visit.  It's hard work, but we feel the world needs to know.