Mitchells Homemade - Incredible Ice Cream

If you are looking for the top ice cream in Cleveland you have to go to Mitchells Homemade with locations in Beachwood, Solon, Rocky River and Westlake. The stores are bright and modern decorated in white and light colored wood with multicolor accents. But the reason to go to Mitchells is not for the decor, it is for the decedent ice cream that is loaded with premium ingredients and flavors. I find Mitchells ice cream to be very rich and dense. The flavors are bright, which is necessary since the ice cream is dense and rich. Among my favorites are the double chocolate chunk which puts large hunks of premium bittersweet chocolate into an incredibly chocolate ice cream; carmel fudge brownie, which has brownie pieces swimming in a sea of vanilla ice cream with an incredibly flavorful carmel sauce and key lime pie, which has graham cracker crust pieces to offset the sweet and tart key lime ice cream. The flavors are well though out and balanced, as an example, the carmel sauce is taken to a little darker stage then most places, which gives you just the hint of the burnt sugar taste to offset the sweetness. Prices at Mitchells are not cheap, with a single scoop running over $2.50 and a double scoop coming in at just under $4.00, but you get a very high quality product, served in a good portion and you are supporting local ownership. Mitchells of course offers a wide variety of drinks, sundays and other ice cream treats. You will also find pints of their ice cream for sale at Heinen's and in certain high end local restaurants. Mitchells is probably not an everyday stop, as you are getting a product with alot of calories and fat, but for an every once in awhile treat it is hard to beat; the calories and fat make for one of the best tasting ice creams you will find anywhere. Go out and exercise and burn off enough calories so you can stop by and get some.

Frozen Dee-Lite Cafe - Old Fashion Take Out

For the past couple of years whenever I have been out East on Route 422, usually headed to or from Nelson's Ledges, I have always been interested in the big take out place at the fork in the road in Parkman, Ohio. So since Sunday was a nice day I hopped on the motorcycle and headed out that way. Turns out the place is called the Frozen Dee-Lite Cafe, its address is 16508 Main Market Rd, Parkman, Ohio (see map here). A long building with an orange/red steeple on top, it is hard to miss. The set up here is interesting, there are a series of windows along the outside wall where you place your orders, behind the windows is the kitchen and then there is an enclosed dining area with a bunch of tables so you can eat inside, but you have to order outside. The menu is actually quite extensive, with everything from burgers to pizza to Cincinnati style chili. And there are a whole lot of ice cream choices, both soft serve and hard ice cream. I tried the clam strips and an order of the sweet potato fries. The clams were a portion of typical frozen clams, nicely fried and served with a typical tarter sauce. While nothing to make a trip for, they were pretty good. The sweet potato fries were very nice, although they were served as more of a desert, topped with powdered sugar and sided with a brown sugar butter that was very good. The fried items were very clean tasting, it is apparent that they use a good oil and clean it regularly. Since there was only one person working I had to wait while he completed the previous order, so he gave me a free small soft serve cone. The soft serve was good, nice and creamy with a very nice vanilla flavor. It seems that the Frozen Dee-Lite Cafe is not doing anything exceptional, they are doing a lot of different things very well. This is not a place you are going to get high end ingredients or exotic flavors, but they seem to be taking care to keep things fresh and clean. Definitely worth stopping at if you are in the area. I will probably be using this for a stop when heading home after a hike at the ledges.

Rosati's Custard

So I am headed home from Agave's (see previous post) feeling pretty happy, but still could use something sweet; and there is a nice little roadside stand with a giant cone sticking up. So I pull into Rosati's Custard 95 E. Aurora Road. The place looks immaculately clean and the menu is very nice without being hokey. The flavors available today, Chocolate and Vanilla along with specials Cherry Vanilla and Cotton Candy. I decide to go basic and get a medium cone with Chocolate and Vanilla. The portion is nice sized and the custard is outstanding. Not overly sweet, but thick and rich with wholesome flavor. A great find, although certainly not a hidden gem, since Roati's is well know in the area, I would say that Rosati's is even better then East Coast Custard.