Grand Ole Creamery
I finally visited Grand Ole Creamery, a St. Paul ice cream institution! It's 30 years old and was the first ice cream parlor in St. Paul to serve super-premium ice cream! I haven't heard much about Grand Ole Creamery, so I didn't really know what to expect.
Kyle and I drove over to the St. Paul location on Monday night. We parked a few blocks away and walked over to the shop. They have a giant ice cream cone for a sign, so there was no missing it, but the door was set back from the sidewalk so I almost walked right by. The ice cream freezer/display was to the right immediately as you walked in the door. There was only one other family in line with us, but because the line was so close to the door it felt suuuuuper crowded. There wasn't a lot of room to wander the counter to look at all the flavors. I felt too rushed and like I was taking up too much space as I asked to sample a couple flavors. I could see how this could become an issue on days the shop gets really really crowded. Also, it was really dark inside.
I decided to get a split single scoop in a handmade waffle cone, and I chose Taro and North Country Crunch as my two flavors. Taro is self-explanatory, and North Country Crunch was a malted chocolate base with toffee (Heath?) pieces. The girl described the flavor to me, but I didn't listen too carefully because I figured I would look up the description on the website later. I couldn't though, because they don't have flavor descriptions on their website! Oh well.
Oh my god, the portions were fucking huge! Sorry for the language, but that's the only appropriate way to describe the massive amount of ice cream I was served. Kyle got a single scoop and it was as big as his head. The split single scoop was even bigger. I swear it was more than a pint of ice cream.
The texture was amazing. The ice cream was incredibly dense and thick . I had to work super hard to pry a bite off. Seriously, you cannot lick this ice cream (until it starts to melt), you cannot bite this ice cream (makes your teeth too cold), you have to kind of gum off pieces of ice cream. Despite this is was still incredibly creamy and not at all hard. I think it's the best texture I've ever had from a scoop shop.
Now, for the flavors. I'll start with Taro, because it was kind of underwhelming. I love bubble tea, and Taro is my absolute favorite flavor to get. Actually, it's not just bubble tea, Taro anything is amazing, so I was super excited to see this flavor in the lineup. Unfortunately it didn't have a strong taro flavor. I got hints of it occasionally, but I wanted in your face Taro. Also, it kind of tasted liek banana, which was weird.
North Country Crunch, on the other hand, was phenomenal. I don't know where the name came from, but maybe from the movie North Country about northern Minnesota starring Charlize Theron aka Rita aka Mr. F. I may or may not have a serious crush on Charlize Theron. This base of flavor struck the most amazingly perfect balance between chocolate and malt. It was a light chocolate with tons and tons of malt. Because there was so much malt it was walking the tightrope between sweet and savory/smoky. There were toffee pieces mixed in to the base. I think the girl told me they were Heath bars, but I'm 90% sure they're not. Heath bars are pretty sweet and chocolatey, but these mix-ins were much heavier on the toffee than the chocolate. Also, it was a really deep, dark, smoky toffee flavor. This flavor was amazing.
Another stand-out was the cone! I rarely get cones, because I find them incredibly stressful. What if my ice cream drips!? What if, god forbid, MY ICE CREAM FALLS OUT OF THE CONE ONTO THE GROUND!? Don't worry, I've thought this situation through. No question, I would eat the ice cream off the ground. Judge me as you will. Grand Ole Creamery described their cones as 'hand-rolled, malted waffle cones.' I've never thought to make malted waffles, but I'll have to now. The cone was thick and light and crunchy and perfect. It was sweet with the tiniest hint of malt. I would seriously go to Grand Ole Creamery just to get a cone with no ice cream in it.
Kyle and I drove over to the St. Paul location on Monday night. We parked a few blocks away and walked over to the shop. They have a giant ice cream cone for a sign, so there was no missing it, but the door was set back from the sidewalk so I almost walked right by. The ice cream freezer/display was to the right immediately as you walked in the door. There was only one other family in line with us, but because the line was so close to the door it felt suuuuuper crowded. There wasn't a lot of room to wander the counter to look at all the flavors. I felt too rushed and like I was taking up too much space as I asked to sample a couple flavors. I could see how this could become an issue on days the shop gets really really crowded. Also, it was really dark inside.
I decided to get a split single scoop in a handmade waffle cone, and I chose Taro and North Country Crunch as my two flavors. Taro is self-explanatory, and North Country Crunch was a malted chocolate base with toffee (Heath?) pieces. The girl described the flavor to me, but I didn't listen too carefully because I figured I would look up the description on the website later. I couldn't though, because they don't have flavor descriptions on their website! Oh well.
Oh my god, the portions were fucking huge! Sorry for the language, but that's the only appropriate way to describe the massive amount of ice cream I was served. Kyle got a single scoop and it was as big as his head. The split single scoop was even bigger. I swear it was more than a pint of ice cream.
The texture was amazing. The ice cream was incredibly dense and thick . I had to work super hard to pry a bite off. Seriously, you cannot lick this ice cream (until it starts to melt), you cannot bite this ice cream (makes your teeth too cold), you have to kind of gum off pieces of ice cream. Despite this is was still incredibly creamy and not at all hard. I think it's the best texture I've ever had from a scoop shop.
Now, for the flavors. I'll start with Taro, because it was kind of underwhelming. I love bubble tea, and Taro is my absolute favorite flavor to get. Actually, it's not just bubble tea, Taro anything is amazing, so I was super excited to see this flavor in the lineup. Unfortunately it didn't have a strong taro flavor. I got hints of it occasionally, but I wanted in your face Taro. Also, it kind of tasted liek banana, which was weird.
North Country Crunch, on the other hand, was phenomenal. I don't know where the name came from, but maybe from the movie North Country about northern Minnesota starring Charlize Theron aka Rita aka Mr. F. I may or may not have a serious crush on Charlize Theron. This base of flavor struck the most amazingly perfect balance between chocolate and malt. It was a light chocolate with tons and tons of malt. Because there was so much malt it was walking the tightrope between sweet and savory/smoky. There were toffee pieces mixed in to the base. I think the girl told me they were Heath bars, but I'm 90% sure they're not. Heath bars are pretty sweet and chocolatey, but these mix-ins were much heavier on the toffee than the chocolate. Also, it was a really deep, dark, smoky toffee flavor. This flavor was amazing.
Another stand-out was the cone! I rarely get cones, because I find them incredibly stressful. What if my ice cream drips!? What if, god forbid, MY ICE CREAM FALLS OUT OF THE CONE ONTO THE GROUND!? Don't worry, I've thought this situation through. No question, I would eat the ice cream off the ground. Judge me as you will. Grand Ole Creamery described their cones as 'hand-rolled, malted waffle cones.' I've never thought to make malted waffles, but I'll have to now. The cone was thick and light and crunchy and perfect. It was sweet with the tiniest hint of malt. I would seriously go to Grand Ole Creamery just to get a cone with no ice cream in it.
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