Vanilla
I was looking for an evening1 ice cream option (it's August, so most ice cream places are open until at least 9pm, and if they weren't people would probably come knocking anyway) that wasn't too much of a drive (I've almost exhausted "new places that are less than half an hour by car", though not quite.)
Nanabette's is in Woburn, about two miles inbound from I-95 (it's also less than ¼ mile from Horn Pond so I will definitely add this to my "get ice cream after birdwatching" list.) Two windows, one picnic bench, limited street parking.2
First Visit
They were pretty busy at 8:30 and I ended up doing a little shopping at the CVS across the street, which let me get a clean shot of the counter without anyone waiting. (Looks like a lot of the locals just walk from the huge CVS parking lot instead of fighting with local street parking.) The menu looks relatively ephemeral, but what caught my eye was the Creamsicle Float (which was really a frappe but that's what I wanted anyway) that I'd failed to get at the last few places, so I didn't end up trying their other flavors. They did have a S'mores, a Peanut Butter Oreo, and a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, all of which will be getting attention next time through. They also have Slush, Razzle (soft serve with mixins), and some fancy-sounding Sundaes.
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It's mid-August, not mid-June, so at 9pm it's actually dark which means this batch of photos is Not Great. (At least it's not raining.) ↩
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it looked like the spaces right in front were mostly gig pickup, they had signs for GrubHub drivers in particular. Don't bother with the streets behind the shop, it's basically all residential, but there's a bunch of "other business" parking in that block that seemed uncrowded. ↩
Country Creamery and Coffeehouse is a tiny (two serving windows under an overhang) roadside icecream spot in Chelmsford (just north of I-495, about a mile and a half from Sully's) that only does soft serve (and coffee.) It has a couple of parking spots around back, but it's directly attached to Friendship Park/Roberts Field which have a huge public lot (there's even a footbridge over to the field.) They also have a bunch of picnic tables with umbrellas.
First Visit
I picked a nice late summer day with a chance of rain... and as I pulled into the parking lot it started pouring. Being New England this didn't really deter anyone, and there was plenty of room for a handful of people (and one puppy) to hang out under the awning and enjoy our ice cream anyway.
They did not have dip cones, so I went with a chocolate/vanilla twist. There isn't a lot of variation in soft serve, but this was above average in richness/creaminess, which was nice. (I dashed to the car at the first break in the rain to finish it off.)
They are apparently noted for having Dole Whip which was a Disney theme-park exclusive until 2023 so I should give that a try, but what really caught my eye was that the menu lists an Affogato, and I'm curious how that even works with soft serve...
Stumbled on The Creamery while looking for ice cream around Home Depot. It apparently just opened a few months back and it's directly adjacent to the Brandeis/Roberts commuter rail stop.
Aside from ice cream they have a range of ice cream sodas, floats, and a milkshake (not a frappe, oh no) as well as a range of hot and cold coffee drinks (specifically from an espresso machine, so your "normal" coffee will be an Americano, but that's fine.) They also have Raspberry Lime Rickeys - not my thing but a few friends are fans so I have to point it out.
The thing they are really into is Sundaes, nearly half of the menu board is an amazing range of ice cream sundae concepts. I was waffling between the Peanut Butter Pretzel Sundae, the Chocolate Lover's Dream Sundae, and the Waffle Sundae (ha ha) when my friend pointed out that they have a Baklava Sundae and I'd missed out on the Baklava Ice Cream at New City last week. It was amazing.
Baklava Sundae
(This was a Large) Loaded with pistachios, walnuts, and honey, but they also had small-cannoli-shaped baklava "tubes" which they sliced disks off of to include in the sundae. Of particular novelty: they started by dumping toppings into the cup, then added ice cream, then the "top" toppings, so that when you get down to the bulk ice cream layer (which, don't get me wrong, was a good vanilla in it's own right), "surprise!" another layer of crunchy bits to finish it off.
Next Time
As a First Visit, I don't yet have an "if you're picking something up for me" preference yet, but I certainly want to try their Tiramisu Sundae and Waffle Sundae (waffle-cone bits, should be Very Crunchy) but wouldn't object to any of the other 14 Sundaes on the current menu (well, the Tropical Paradise Sundae appears to be Very Coconut so it's going to be pretty far down the list, but it has Mango! so it's not off the list entirely.)
They've only been open since May but it looks like they've got a good spot so I wish them luck!
