It happened in 1904: Latrobe, Pennsylvania. “Doc” Strickler, an optometrist, cut a banana lengthwise, added three different scoops of ice cream, topped it with strawberries, raspberries, crushed pineapple, marshmallow syrup, chopped nuts, and pitted black cherries. That was the first Banana Split. It was a hit, and Strickler eventually bought the pharmacy/soda fountain downstairs from his office.
Nothing sounds better than some great ice cream on a hot Valley summer day! I recently learned about a very special ice cream food truck based out of Fresno called Jay’s Specialty Ice Cream! The owner is a Fresno State graduate named Janel Haas. Recently, we chatted with Janel to learn more about the truck and how it came to be.
After the death of her best friend’s mother, Riley Rhodes returned to her hometown of Penniman, Connecticut, to help Caroline recover and assist in running the late Elizabeth “Buzzy” Spooner’s Udderly Delightful Ice Cream Shop. Scooping out delicious layered confections in waffle cones is a delight on its own, but it also gives Riley an escape from a career mistake. Her job as a librarian and travel blogger had actually been going well, but it was a snafu working undercover for the CIA that revealed a lack of judgment and misplaced trust.
2020—I can see clearly, now…as I look back at The Great Food Search 2019. Over thirty-five different places where I’ve eaten over the year. Which were the best? My top five?
In summer, thoughts turn to ice cream, and the Great Food Search has industriously worked its way through ice cream shop after ice cream shop, just to let you know what’s out there. Here are some of the usual suspects…and a few of the unusual ones.
If you’re looking for the scoop on where to enjoy the best handmade homemade ice cream California has to offer, you’ll find it at Fresno’s own Ampersand. Located in the heart of the historic Fresno High neighborhood, local owners Jeff and Amelia Bennett have followed their vision of creating a unique place where great ice cream and community meet.
I wanted to catch up with a former co-worker of mine, Guiseppe Maione, the founder of Alchemy Creamery which produces vegan, gluten free and kosher ice cream in New York City. This is a very busy season for him, especially with the hot and humid weather that New York has been experiencing recently.
When I first moved to Santa Cruz, Marianne's on Ocean was the place to go for locals and the obligatory stop on the way home from a long day in the sand and sun for tourists. That was 30 years ago, and it's still a hot spot with a line out the door day and night. Joining that wonderful institution is a new breed of ice cream shop.
One of my fondest childhood memories of summer is homemade ice cream. For no particular reason, other than it was hot, Mom would mix up a batch of ice cream and Daddy would get the old White Mountain, hand-cranked freezer out of the tank house. The filled freezer container would go in the wooden bucket, and Daddy would layer in the ice and salt, and finally the cranking mechanism.
Face it, we live where you can not only fry an egg on the sidewalk in the summer, your Teflon spatula will probably melt while you’re at it! What you need to survive the heat is something cool, frosty, and yummy…..AHA! I have a few suggestions for this Food Quest.
