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Ah, the simple pleasures of summer. There’s hardly a more appropriate way to spend a lazy summer day than indulging in a time honored trip to the Ice Cream Shop. If those ice cream shops happen to be tucked into the shady, gracious, tree-lined streets of St. Paul, you have an even more perfect way to spend the day. Recently I took my voracious appetite for the simple pleasures of ice cream for a test drive by extending the fun and hitting a number of my favorite places in a makeshift St. Paul Ice Cream Crawl. It was such a tasty adventure I would make it a weekly tradition, if it didn’t mean I’d need to purchase a new wardrobe heavy on the elastic waistband!

Izzy's Ice Cream shop

My favorite spot to hit when embarking on a St. Paul ice cream crawl: Izzy’s. Besides being the official home to the famous Izzy scoop, Marshall Avenue’s modern little nook is nestled between some of the city’s most charming shops, including a specialty store devoted entirely to train enthusiasts – Choo Choo Bob’s Train Store – and a confection shop practically cavity-inducing from window gaze alone, Sweets Bakeshop. Stop into Izzy’s and you’ll be greeted by a friendly staff of eager youngsters, just as happy to serve you a scoop as you are to eat one. Izzy’s rule is easy: pick a flavor and get a free tiny scoop of your choice flavor on top. This is your Izzy scoop.

The Izzy, in all its glory.

Choose wisely. Because while it may seem like a relatively trivial decision, it’s not. Certain tastes align; certain flavors repel. It’s this magical alchemy that elevates Izzy’s above the usual ice cream suspects. Green Apple may sound like a delicious pick, but throw an Izzy scoop of Norwegian Chai on top, and everything changes. Consider it a palate expanding flavor experiment. If you’ll still craving the Green Apple, why not pair it with the Salted Caramel? Be careful though, before you know it you’ll have eaten yourself into an afternoon nap!

For my first flavors of the day, I chose a scoop of Cinnamon with a Norwegian Chai Izzy and my over-indulgent brother/ice cream adventure pal picked a double scoop of Mexican Chocolate Fiesta and Salted Caramel with a Butter Pecan Izzy. The Cinnamon is amazing, delightfully sweet with a kick of spicy zest. The muted Chai flavor would have been great on its own, but just couldn’t compete with the Cinnamon kick. I stole a taste of the Mexican Chocolate Fiesta, which indeed was like a party in my mouth. It had the flavors of a perfect mole sauce – minus the onion/garlic-y taste, of course – with just the right blend of dark cocoa and spice. The Salted Caramel proved to be too salty for a scoop-size portion – perhaps it’s a flavor best kept as an Izzy. The prices are quite reasonable for the exceptional quality. A single scoop goes for $4.75 and a double will only set you back $5.60.

Another vital step in ice cream crawl is the cleansing of the palate, especially since I had my heart set on something fruity for my next scoop and my mouth was still swimming in spice. A great cup of coffee or a cup of cold water should do the trick. Onward!

Grand Ole Creamery

Placing one amazing ice cream parlor so dangerously close to another practically begs for gluttony. Not being ones to pass up a good deadly sin, we acquiesced. Voted one of the “Top Twelve Ice Cream Stops in the Nation” by Saveur Magazine, the Grand Ole Creamery is truly a gem of St. Paul and in atmosphere the antithesis of Izzy’s. In place of a mod-ish, clean design, the Grand Ole Creamery relies more on the nostalgia with malt shop aesthetics. The menu is hand-written. The ice cream is homemade and the shop is full of 1950′s relics. It conjures up thoughts of a simpler time – sans smart phones and On Demand cable – a time when hanging at the ice cream shop was the “cool” thing to do on a hot summer’s day. The array of suspiciously happy-seeming families completed the scene. All the stresses of modern life seem to melt away when a scoop of creamy goodness is in your future…

The Grand Ole Creamery offers what’s known as a “split scoop” for $5.75. Perfect for the indecisive, the split scoop allows you to have all the delicious frills of a double scoop without the extravagant portion size or the calories. So on this stop,

Taste of heaven - a split scoop of Rum Cherry and Black Walnut.

I can pretend to over-indulge as well. I picked a split scoop of Rum Cherry and Black Walnut and my ice cream eating friend chose Cheesecake and Cotton Candy. There are no words to describe the Rum Cherry/Black Walnut combo. It was perfection in a dish. And the Cotton Candy actually melted in my mouth the way real cotton candy does. Beautiful stuff.

The location of Grand Ole Creamery on the East end of the Victoria / Grand shopping district is an invitation for a pleasant stroll through the delightful shops of this bustling and genteel hub. Not to mention a good way to burn off a tiny bit of the calories you’ve just consumed.

With all this ice cream you may be ready for something equally summery but a bit lighter. We headed a bit further east and across the Wabasha Ave. bridge into the District del Sol neighborhood to tiny La Chiquita for a taste of ice cream done Mexican style (helados), or one of the delightful fruit popsicles called paletas. We thought these refreshing treats would be the perfect end to our adventure. Alas, we had forgotten the limited hours (3pm to 8pm) and arrived too early to satisfy our craving for frozen Mexican goodness. Don’t make our mistake. Time your crawl right so you can enjoy the charms of this unique del Sol spot. We took advantage of our location and finished off the day with a lunch at the excellent Grand Dame of Mexican restaurants Boca Chica, which sits directly across the street from La Chiquita. The lightly spicy Mexican staples were a tasty, if incongruous, end to our ice cream jaunt.

Try an Ice Cream Crawl for yourself, or visit just one of these ice cream spots before another summer passes you by. You’re sure to find the perfect flavor combinations to compliment a sunny St. Paul day.

Grand Ole Creamery offers some of the best ice cream in the country according to the National City Search Best Places for Ice Cream in the Nation.  It was also voted Best Ice Cream in the Twin Cities by Mpls/ St. Paul Magazine.

Stop inside Grand Ole Creamery for a scoop of Black Hills Gold, Sweet Cream, Triple Berry Flake,  or any of their thirty-one ( and counting ) flavors of ice cream!  My favorite – Chocolate Malt Banana.  Their flavors range daily, so if you don’t see the specific flavor you’ve craved all day, they are sure to have a least one to please your aching taste buds!  Taste as many samples as you want, until you find the right one.

When you arrive, don’t be surprised if the line is out the door – and literally down the street!  People are willing to wait 30 minutes in line,  just to get a hand-rolled waffle cone and their favorite flavor of homemade ice cream.  Once you enter the doors, you immediately breath in the smell of freshly made waffle cones.  You can choose an original waffle cone or you can get it adorned with flavors such as Cinnabun or Birthday Cake.  A small cup or cone will cost you around $4.00, and if you want a large waffle cone (complete with a whopper on the bottom), it will put you back about $5.25.

Along with the scoops of ice cream, there are also sundaes and malts on the menu as well.  Celebrating a birthday party?  There are ice cream cakes too!  And a new item on their menu — ice cream pizza.  Cakes range from $21-40 and pies will cost you $16.

If ice cream is your thing, another great option is Izzy’s! Izzy’s has 32 flavors of  homemade artisan ice cream that rotates daily.  If you don’t want to be dissapointed by your favorite flavor not being there, no fear – Flavor Up is here!  Flavor Up allows you to see every 3 minutes, what flavors are available to you.  Who knew an ice cream shop could be so high tech!

Cupcake lover? Izzy’s makes ice cream cupcakes for $4.20 or $3 when you buy 4 or more – what a deal!  Izzy’s also offers different flavors of ice cream made with soy for the lactose intolerant ice cream fanatics.

Visit one or visit both – you won’t be disappointed!

Grand Ole Creamery                    Izzy’s Ice Cream Cafe

750 Grand Avenue                               2034 Marshall Ave

Saint Paul, MN 55105                          Saint Paul, MN 55104

(651) 293-1655                                      (651) 603-1458

Alright, we are back with our 65FUN pic of the week!  If you are lucky enough to be the first person to e-mail me the correct answer, you will win $10 in Grand Ole Creamery gift cards along with a $25 gift card to Rosedale Center.

e-mail: stacy@capcitypartnership.com your correct answer

Well, enough chatter, let’s begin!

Where are we?

We are at Candyland on Wabasha

We were at Candyland on Wabasha in St. Paul.

Congrats to our winner!  Make sure to check back in next Thursday at 9am!

We are back again!  I am sure you know the drill by now, but if we have some newcomers, here is how it goes!

First, after you have thoroughly examined the photo and know where we are, e-mail stacy@capcitypartnership.com the answer.

Second, if you are the first to respond, you win, otherwise sorry.  Try again next time!

Every Thursday, we give away cool prizes to the person who can be the first to name the photo correctly.

Good luck!

Where are we?

Sculpture at Ecolab Plaza

This week, the winner gets a $25 gift card to Macaroni Grill @ Rosedale Center & $10 to  Grand Ole Creamery!