Whether it's heaped on a sugar cone
or smothered in sprinkles and chocolate syrup, we love our ice
cream.
We eat 24 quarts of it per person per year -
more than any country in the world - and about one-quarter of that total is
consumed on those be-good-to-yourself visits to an ice-cream shop.
The Harrisburg area is blanketed with ice-cream
shops. When The Patriot-News Co. recently polled readers on their favorite
ones, no less than 31 different shops were
mentioned.
From the crunchy-topped "jigger" parfaits
at Mount Gretna's Jigger Shop to the banana splits at Annie's in Campbelltown,
midstaters clearly know what they like and where they like to go to get
it.
Some people would almost rather fight than
switch away from their trusty ice-cream shop, judging by the nature of some of
the calls.
"I'd walk to Carlisle for a Massey's
frozen custard," claimed one caller, Harrisburg's Sharon
Madden.
For others, a visit to a favorite ice-cream
shop is more than a sweet treat but a family affair or a walk down memory late
- or both, as Newville's Gladys Henry relates:
"I'm
61 years old, and as a small child, my dad would take us to 'The Igloo' on a
hot summer evening or for a Sunday afternoon drive. This was always a big treat
for my brother and me. I've taken my four children and eight grand-children to
The Igloo."
It also was clear from the poll's 236
calls and letters what midstaters value most in an ice-cream
shop.
Time and again, the phrases "friendly service"
and "cleanliness" came up.
It's obvious we also like lots of different choices of
flavors. The more the better.
And more than
a few readers said it was "big helpings at a reasonable price" that let them to
their favorite place.
So just which shops topped the
poll? Three stood out.
The top vote-getter was Ice
Cream Heaven, a tiny, two-window, takeout-only shop at 6220 Derry St.,
Rutherford. |
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Out of 31 shops we came #1
and #3
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This article is not just the opinion
of one reporter, it is based on opinion of 236 people! |
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Here are the top finishers in The Patriot-News Co.'s "Best
Little Ice-Cream House in Harrisburg" poll:
| 1. |
Ice Cream Heaven (51
votes) |
| 2. |
3B Ice Cream (36) |
| 3. |
Toots' Treats (35)
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| 4. |
Baskin-Robbins (22) |
| 5. |
Galloping Goose (17) |
| 6. |
White Mountain Creamery (14) |
| 7. |
Annie's (13) |
| 8. |
Reeser's Soft Ice Cream (10) |
| 9. |
Rakestraw's (6) |
We might be eating more exotic ice-cream flavors
such as "death by chocolate" and "chocolate chip cookie dough" these days, but
none of them have managed yet to overtake plain old vanilla.
Based on
1993 retail-sales data from the International Ice Cream Association, here are
our favorite ice-cream flavors:
| 1. |
Vanilla (28 percent) |
| 2. |
Fruit flavors (15 percent) |
| 3. |
Nut flavors (14 percent) |
| 4. |
Candy mix-in flavors (13 percent) |
| 5. |
Chocolate (8 percent) |
| 6. |
Neapolitan (7 percent) |
| 7. |
Cake/cookie flavors (7 percent) |
| 8. |
Others (8 percent) |
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24 Flavors System
24 Flavors
System
We have only two customers in
Harrisburg area and they came in first and
third!
True
vanilla is 28%
But why not go after the other 72% with a 24 Flavors
System. |
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Here's the scoop on Ice Cream
Heaven
Location: 6220-C Derry St.,
Rutherford
About the shop: It's located in
the left end of a building that also houses a separate pizza and sub shop, next
to the Rutherford Café. New owners Don Douglas
and Kim Malatesta just took it over in April and added a new machine that makes
27 flavors of soft ice cream.
It's takeout
service only from two windows, but there are seven outdoor tables that Ice
Cream Heaven shares with the pizza shop.
Best
sellers: Black raspberry is a favorite flavor, and the peanut butter and
chocolate-chip cone is the most popular of eight cone
choices.
Prices: Small 4-ounce cone is $1.
Eight-ounce sundae (only size available) is
$1.95.
Also on the menu: Shakes, sundaes and
several ice-cream novelties, 44 flavors of slush drinks and a limited food
menu, including French fries and barbecue.
Hours:
Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 10
p.m. Open April through October only.
Reader's
comments: "They keep adding and adding flavors, and the decision gets
harder and harder!" (Cindy Lang, Hummelstown)
"I'm
an ice-cream connoisseur, and they have the best ice cream around." (Rhonda
Friese, Harrisburg).
[Don Douglas and Kim Malatesta recently took over
management of Ice Cream Heaven in Rutherford.]
[Some of midstaters'
favorite ice cream flavors include, from left to right in front, mint chocolate
chip, cookies and cream, and pink teaberry, and, from left to right in back,
vanilla and chocolate peanut butter cup.] |
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Our 1st of only 2 customers came in First!
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Shops savor flavor of
success
Don Douglas
and Kim Malatesta just took over the business in April, and they've been
attracting swarms of people with a new machine that lets them make 27 flavors
of soft ice cream.
The machine adds flavored
syrup on a per-serving basis to Brookwood Farms vanilla soft ice cream. The
syrup is then gently mixed in with a machine that works much like a low-speed
milk-shake mixer.
The shop also has eight choices of
cones, 44 flavors of slush drinks ("Everything from champagne to
tuttti-frutti," says Douglas) and a variety of other frozen
concoctions.
"It's the best thick, rich ice cream,
and the people are very friendly there," said Linda Kelly of Hershey, one of
the readers who voted for Ice Cream Heaven.
"You can always get a different flavor," added Sandra
Mellinger of Harrisburg. "It's very smooth and probably the creamiest ice cream
I've ever tasted."
The second favorite shop
was 3B Ice Cream, which serves about 30 flavors of hand-dipped, hard ice cream
at five different locations around the area.
Claude
Weiss opened the first 3B shop along Peters Mountain Road northeast of Dauphin
in 1969 and since then has added ones at 2199 Colonial Road in Lower Paxton
Twp. (1972), at Clark and Market streets in Duncannon (1982), at 4701 Derry St.
in Swatara Twp. (1989) and at Mechanicsburg's Eastgate Plaza earlier this
year.
3D serves mostly Turkey Hill hand-dipped ice
cream plus four flavors of low-fat frozen
yogurt.
Josh Rissinger, the chain's general manager,
says it's nothing for the Colonial Road shop alone to go through 300 gallons of
ice cream on a typical summer Sunday.
"We run six
windows there, and we could still use about four more", he
says.
"They serve the biggest 'small' cone you'll
ever see," said Ruth Hoffman of Harrisburg, who frequents the Colonial Road 3B.
"They also have pleasant, fast service and a nice outdoor atmosphere with
picnic table and lots of parking."
"My family has
loved it for years," said Hummelstown's Beth Fitzpatrick of the Derry Street
3B. "We spend at least one night a week there… The cones are huge, the
service is great, and you can sit out on the deck and catch lightning bugs when
you're done. It's wonderful!"
Finishing a close
third was the Toot' Treats shop, which sells both hard and soft ice cream at a
free-standing building at 4612 Carlisle Pike, Hampden Twp.
[At left,
checking the scenery outside of the 3B Ice Cream shop on Derry Street is Josh
Rissinger, the chain's general manager, while pictured below is the owner of
Toots' Treats, Tom Miller, offering up a sampling of some of his best
sellers.]
Tom Miller just opened the shop a
little more than a year ago with the idea of creating an old-fashioned,
hometown atmosphere.
He's
using the same machine as Ice Cream Heaven to create 24 flavors of
made-to-order soft ice cream, plus 24 flavors of no-fat frozen yogurt.
He also offers 24 flavors of hand-dipped,
hard ice cream, including low-fat and sugar-free varieties. Most of the hard
ice cream is Rakestraw's.
"When I got the soft ice-cream machine, I went from selling
65 percent hard ice cream to 65 percent soft ice cream," says
Miller.
For an ice-cream shop, Toot'
(Miller's high-school nickname) also carries an unusually large variety of
soups, sandwiches and other foods.
Besides the
variety, readers liked Toots' Treats because "you're served by the owner and
not by a bunch of kids who are working there for the summer and could care
less," as one anonymous caller said.
"You can get 24 flavors and can get nonfat yogurt in the same
24 flavors," said Kathy Peifer of Harrisburg. "They give old-time,
old-fashioned service. It's a slice of the '50s in the
'90s."
Our "Best Little Ice Cream House in
Harrisburg" poll showed that ice cream is not something most of us are giving
up these fat- and calorie-conscious times.
National
marketing studies bear that out as well. According to International Ice Cream
Association data, 98 percent of U.S. households still eat ice cream and related
frozen desserts.
What has happened is that the
industry has split into two distinct markets - those seeking lighter
alternative and those who put taste above all
else.
A new survey from Baskin-Robbins, the nation's
largest ice-cream chain, found that these two markets are now almost equal - 44
percent favor "unbridled indulgence" and 42 percent want lighter
alternatives.
Women are more likely than men to go
the light route, Baskin-Robbins found, while those age 25 and under (especially
males) are most likely to splurge.
"People are
definitely becoming more health-conscious," says 3B's Rissinger. "Out of all
our flavors, two of our yogurt flavors - peach and black raspberry - are in the
top 10.
On the other hand, many of us apparently are
still having a hard time giving up that rich, creamy, full-fat
version.
At first we had a lot of people come in and
ask if we had yogurt," says Ice Cream Heaven's Douglas. "We'd say, 'No' and
some would walk away, but most would say, 'OK, then I'll have a mall regular
cone.' So we put in yogurt.
"Then people came in
and asked if we had yogurt, and we'd say, 'Yes.' But most still said, 'OK, I'll
have a small regular cone'. So we got rid of the
yogurt."
Here's what readers had to say about their
next six favorite shops (in
order):
Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream. 3401 Walnut
St., Susquehanna Twp. "The service is great, and it's very clean and friendly,"
said Jeff Straley of Mechanicsburg. "It's a nice little neighborhood ice-cream
shop."
"Their ice cream tastes better than any I've
ever had anywhere," said Nancy Flynn of Mechanicsburg. "We need one on the West
Shore."
Gallopin Goose. 100 Newberry Commons,
Newberry Twp. "It's a nice clean little shop, and the ice cream is homemade,"
said Kathy Charles of Fairview Twp. "It's a cute little place to
go."
"They make their own ice cream, and it's the
best around," said Laura Dubbs of Newberry Twp. "And there's always someone
with a warm smile to greet you and talk to
you."
White Mountain Creamery. 3619 Simpson
Ferry Road, Lower Allen Twp., and 4361 N. Front St., Susquehanna Twp. "It's
all-natural ice cream made on the premises," said Joe Magnelli of Harrisburg.
"It's the richest, best ice cream I've ever tasted…and I've been all over
the country."
"They've got fantastic cantaloupe ice
cream, a wonderful choice of chocolate ice cream and fabulous waffle cones,"
said Franz Niedermeyer of Mechanicsburg.
Annie's.
Route 322, Campbelltown. "Annie's gives you the most for your money in the
area," said Judy Hummel of Hershey. "All the locals go to Annie's, and all the
tourists go to the Dairy Queen in Hershey."
It's a
wonderful little shop that serves just soft ice cream," said Jane Farrell of
Harrisburg. "The raspberry is out of this world, and the vanilla and chocolate
are the best I've eaten anywhere."
Reeser's Soft
Ice Cream. 880 Old Rossville Road, Lewisberry. "They produce a bunch of
different flavors of soft ice cream, including extraordinary peanut butter,"
said Kathleen Riley-King of Manchester.
"It's the
best ice cream east of the Mississippi," added another caller who didn't leave
his name.
Rakestraw's Ice Cream. 313 s.
Market St., Mechanicsburg. "It's the best ice cream around," said Jonelle
Edwards of New Cumberland. "It has good texture, and it's not overpoweringly
rich or creamy."
"The shop has an old-fashioned feel
and home environment," said Kim Brown of Mechanicsburg. "It's a nice little
cozy corner in the center of Mechanicsburg." |
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#1
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#2
#3
Our
2nd customer came in Third!
One vote short of SECOND! |
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Top ice cream spots
continues…
Name: 3B Ice
Cream
Locations: 2199 Colonial Road, Lower Paxton Twp.; 4701 Derry
St., Swatara Twp.; 1430 Peters Mountain Road, Dauphin; 521 N. Market St.,
Duncannon; Eastgate Plaza, Mechanicsburg.
About
the shops: They're all owned by Claude Weiss, who got the local chain
started in 1969 when he opened a 3B along Peters Mountain Road. All but the
newest store - the Eastgate Plaza one - are free standing
shops.
The original Dauphin shop has outside benches
but no indoor seating: the Colonial Road and Duncannon shops have outside
benches and tables but no indoor seating; the Derry Street shop has indoor
seating for 40 and an outside deck for 30, and the Mechanicsburg shop has
indoor seating for 30 but no outdoor seating.
All
the shops, though, offer the same generous helpings of about 30 flavors of
hard, hand-dipped ice cream.
Best sellers:
Death by chocolate is the hottest flavor lately, followed by mint chocolate
chip and chocolate peanut butter.
Prices: A
"small" 9-ounce cone is $1.65. A 16-ounce sundae (the only size available) is
$2.73.
Also on the menu: All shops offer
Slush Puppies, sodas and packaged snacks. Except for the Duncannon store, 3Bs
also offer several types of subs. The Derry Street and Mechanicsburg shops also
offer pork barbecue, soups and salads in addition to ice cream.
[Brandy
Fulp eats a dish of ice cream from the 3B Ice Cream shop on Derry
Street.]
Hours: Daily from 11 a.m. to 10
p.m, (except Colonial Road shop, which is open until 11 p.m.). The Duncannon
and Dauphin shops are open April through August and on weekends only in the
fall. The other three shops are open April though
November.
Readers' comments: "They are very
friendly, service is fast, the ice cream is delicious with a large variety of
flavors, and most of all, the cones are huge. One makes a meal." (Alice
Sherman, Shermans Dale.)
"Their portions are very
very generous, and their price is right." (Stephanie Green,
Harrisburg.)
Name: Toots' Treats
Location: 4612 Carlisle Pike, Hampden
Twp.
About the shop: A free-standing shop
opened in April 1994 by former Red Lobster manager Tom "Toots" Miller, who's
almost always on duty.
Sells
24 varieties of Rakestraw's hand-dipped, hard ice cream and 24 flavors of soft
ice cream. The same 24 flavors also are available in soft no-fat frozen
yogurt. There's inside seating for 30 and outside seating for another 30
at table and benches.
Best sellers: Chocolate
peanut butter cup and chocolate chip cookie dough are favorites in hard ice
cream. Peanut butter, cheesecake and espresso are favorites in soft ice
cream.
Prices: Small two-dip cone is $1.30.
Small soft ice cream cone is 85 cents. Small sundae is $1.40.
Also on the menu: Sundaes, shakes, splits,
ice cream pies and cakes, Slush Puppies, sandwiches, bagels, soup, tacos,
burritos, nachos, pizza and cappuccino and
espresso.
Hours: Monday through Thursday from
8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11
p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. It'll be open year-round this
year.
[Mihaela Silva enjoys a vanilla ice cream cone from Toot's
Treats.]
Readers' comments:
"A large assortment of flavors and a kind of
small-town, homey atmosphere." (Gene Church, Camp
Hill)
"It's the best soft
ice cream and yogurt, and you can get any flavor you can imagine."
(Karen Prickett, Harrisburg) |
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#2
#3
Note:
Both our customers were in their first year in business.
The shop that
came in second has been there for 25 years! |
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