Raspberry Lime Rickey

Wally's Wicked Good Ice Cream is in the Auburndale "village" of Newton, just northeast from where 128 and the Mass Pike cross (and not far from the Auburndale commuter rail stop.) It's a narrow store front tucked in next to a pizza place; a couple of indoor tables, but no sidewalk seating. I was there the day before Halloween - if their website is accurate they may have closed for the season after that.

Bright and cheerful interior¹ with counter service and a freezer. Aside from a couple of dozen ice cream flavors, they have frozen yogurt, sherbet, sorbet, italian ice; they also have lime rickeys, floats, frappes (with or without malt), and frozen lemonade. They also have cookie sandwiches and sundaes - mostly build-your-own but they had a "Fluffernutter Sundae" on the specials board.² Their Toppings board had a long list of candy, along with the usual nuts and sauces.

First Visit

I started with Extreme Chocolate, which was a rich, strongly flavored chocolate base, with brownie bits, chocolate chips/chunks and chocolate swirl completing the picture. It's an appropriate use of the term "Extreme", and if you're in the mood for chocolate, you can just get that and be satisfied.

Since I like to try at least two flavors, and I'm a big Thin Mints™ fan, I combined the Extreme Chocolate with Mint Chocolate Chip³ which was a good pairing. Clear mint flavor, without going all the way to Grasshopper.

Next Visit

I'm actually tempted by the Fluffernutter Sundae, but they also have Cookie Monster and Graham Central Station. They also have Moose Tracks and PB Oreo (they have five different oreo-based flavors plus a S'moreo Frappe, which is certainly a theme.) I'd also consider their Peach ice cream in summertime.

Getting There

Wally's comes across as the kind of place you'd mostly want to walk to (possibly after pizza next door) but Newton is the beginning of the high density/high traffic/insane road design "inner suburbs" of Boston, and being so close to the Pike⁴ it looks on the map like a "you can't get there from here" sort of place. Once you do get there, even the road it's directly on is under construction.

The trick is to go down Melrose Ave - the little side road just south of the shop - where you'll find a bunch of parking and several GreenSpot electric car chargers. If they're full you can continue to Melrose St and make two lefts back on to Auburn St which has street parking.

Trombetta's Farm in Marlborough is an ice cream shop that looks like it's trying to hide by pulling a garden center around itself like a blanket. Even the website shows more plants, minigolf, and event info than ice cream (to be fair, there is an ice cream-specific page but that's basically the catering menu.) We won't be distracted by the camouflage, as you see from the three serving windows in the above picture (if you ignore the Corn Husks and Pumpkins - it is Autumn in New England after all, they're kind of obligatory.)

It turns out that they also have an indoor counter and a bunch of indoor seating, plus four porch swings and at least half a dozen picnic tables - they're just not particularly near the serving window, but distributed around the multi-purpose building. Despite all that, they have an extensive ice cream menu and a wide range of related options: Sundaes (including a banana boat and a waffle bowl), a dozen flavors of soft serve, Richie's Slush, a Pup Cup¹, Raspberry Lime Rickey, Freezes Frappes and Floats, Frozen Yogurt, Sherbet and Sorbet. Didn't see any No Sugar Added² options, though there was a side panel of a handful of Vegan flavors on the Specialty Flavors chalkboard.

They seem to be open year round and, in addition to having rows and rows of pumpkins and other gourds in the garden shop areas, seem to be "Leaning In" to autumn with flavors like Pumpkin, Pumpkin Oreo, Apple, Cinnamon, and S'mores³ - plus they have Pumpkin Soft Serve.

Finally, they have two things I haven't seen on any previous menu - popsicles (maybe to go with their catering-ice-cream-truck service, since that includes Bomb Pops, an ice cream truck staple) and the Dirt Cup - soft serve with cookie crunch, gummy worms, and candy rocks - no mention if they serve it in the traditional flower pot, though.

First Visit

Despite the gourd-filled surroundings, I was not mislead, and got Dutch Chocolate ice cream - for a "pure flavor" ice cream (no mixins, no fudge swirl, just ice cream) it was surprisingly dark-chocolatey, I'd definitely pair that with a crunchy topping or some other chocolate-contrasting flavor next time (they do have Grapenut, my usual "pure crunch" choice, but Peppermint Stick or Black Raspberry would be interesting pairs as well.)

I paired it with one of the specials, "Peanut Butter Implosion" - mini peanut butter cups, peanut butter m&ms (or something like that) in what might have been a peanut butter ice cream base - but I'm not sure, it didn't stand up to the Dutch Chocolate (though I was happy with it as far as supplying extra crunch.) I might try it by itself or with something lighter on a future visit.

Future Visits

I'm definitely going to end up here again - it's less than ten minutes drive from The Fix Burger Bar, Gerardo's Italian Bakery⁴ - and it's also right near Lake Williams⁵ which is a great option if you want to balance your ice cream with some outdoor activity, especially on a sunny fall day.

As for ice cream choices - the Mocha Cappuccino Soft Serve sounds tempting (possibly because I'd started the day with an actual mocha from Sudbury Coffee Works) as does the Death By Chocolate (from the specialty menu.) I'd normally think of Salted Caramel as a good topping but they had it as a flavor; a friend tried it, it seems like it needs to be paired with something else but it could work.

(My inner twelve-year-old who isn't a Massachusetts-trained ice cream snob wants a Dirt Cup with vanilla/chocolate twist and walnuts and jimmies on top. Maybe next spring, I'll bring a mini-shovel...)

Just don't get distracted by the surrounding garden shop! (picture below suggests ordering Ice Cream Cakes... and firewood?)

Ron's Gourmet Ice Cream is in Dedham, about a mile from the Legacy Place mall (which is itself right off of 95.) (There's another one in Hyde Park, which includes a "Twentieth Century Bowling Alley", maybe someone should let them know which century we're a quarter of the way into...)

Though the storefront is relatively narrow, there's a long table and a couple of normal ones and room for a long (or spread out) line. They've got a freezer for order pickup and ice cream sandwiches, a candy display on the counter (they have seasonally appropriate chocolate covered pretzels with candy corn on them) along with samples of their fancy cones. They also have one wall of mirrors, to make the place look larger (and to make your photographer's job more challenging.)

They have various sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, frappes, ice cream soda, root beer float, and "super smoothies"; they also have frozen drinks like "raspberry blast" and "orange freeze".¹ They also have a range of toppings that are available from serving size up to entire pint.

They have a range of unusual flavors like Kahlua Chip, Coconut Awesome, and PB Explosion, along with classics like Butter Pecan and Maple Walnut. The paper menu only hints at it but they do have soft serve; according to the other menu they actually have Orange Creamsicle, which I would have tried (after failing to get it at Pizzi Farm back in September) but I didn't notice it until reviewing the photos for this writeup.

First Visit

Since I ended up at Ron's right after dinner - Asian food at Legacy Place - I wanted to start with a palate cleanser, so went with the Orange Sherbet as a more refreshing and less rich choice; it was exactly that - the flavor came across as more generally citrus than orange in particular, but it worked for me.

Having cleared my palate, I went for "Coffee Madness" which had a serious coffee flavor (closer to actual coffee than the usual "light latte" usually associated with coffee ice cream) and lots of mixed in chocolate, oreos, fudge sauce, and chocolate chips - which pushed the overall flavor to "more mocha than mocha". I'd certainly give that a try on my next visit.

Next Visit

I'd definitely go for the Orange Creamsicle Soft Serve next time; after that, the Coffee Madness again, or maybe the PB Explosion. (Maybe paired with Grapenut, one of the mostly-texture flavors I usually get at Tosci's.) The "Brookie Dough" is also on the short list.

I might pick up some of these too:

Foley's Ice Cream Shoppe is the first "South Shore" place I've reviewed, as it was one of a dozen or so in a 10 mile radius of Ikea so it was a reasonable "on the way back" stop. It's also right on the edge of closing for the winter - I was there on Saturday and their last day was Sunday 6 October - so by the time you read this it will be too late to visit until next spring (but see the Thanksgiving notes below.)

Foley's is on a major road with on-street parking - all of the off-street parking appears to be private, and they're tucked up against the commuter rail tracks (Middleborough Line) so there aren't really any side streets. It has a looong bench out front, an indoor counter and a couple of tables of indoor seating. They also have a self-serve freezer with pints and half pints.

First Visit

Since they were closing for the year and I wasn't going to be able to come back and try other things, I went with a Reese's Sundae - milk chocolate sauce, peanut butter sauce, chopped Reese's cups, on vanilla ice cream (with the obligatory pile of whipped cream.) The vanilla itself was reasonably good - not top tier, but a fine base for a sundae that you're adding lots of other stuff into.

As a photographer, I appreciate the clear cups for showing off the chocolate and peanut butter sauces, and whipped cream melts slower than ice cream so it didn't end up too messy.

The sundae was well-assembled, I got halfway down and was still finding Reese's chunks and chocolate sauce - that's easy for a "tray-style" presentation, but takes some attention to detail when building a sundae in a tall narrow cup.

Future Visits

They do have a decent flavor list, including Graham Central Station; I'd probably try their Chocolate Peanut Butter and maybe Coffee Oreo on a visit next spring. They also have interesting toppings including "edible cookie dough" and "strawberry crunch"; they're also specific about "chocolate jimmies/rainbow sprinkles" without Making It A Thing.

They have frappes, slushies, raspberry lime rickeys, and root beer floats; their weather-themed concoction is a Nor'easter. They also have ice cream sandwiches and ice cream nachos (as seen previously.)

They have a distinct dog-specific treat - the "Lassie" is a custom frozen yogurt, peanut butter, and banana blend, served with a homemade dog biscuit. Most pet treats are just discount-priced smaller servings, this is the first place I've seen go all-in on making something special for your dog.

Holy Moley Foley Challenge

This almost fits under the "ice cream flight" category, but it's a little more than that - it starts with 5 scoops, 3 toppings, and whipped cream - but then adds an in-house challenge: "Finish in 10 minutes, win a t-shirt." There is rule list with more details, along with pictures of successful challengers...

Thanksgiving

"Tomorrow we can eat broccoli, but today is for ice cream! -- Malory Hobson"¹ I was originally going to quote this because I'd come here after dinner at Smokey Bones that included Broccoli, but then I found a better reason...

I mentioned above that they've closed for the season. They actually reopen specifically to sell ice cream pies (and pints) for Thanksgiving (24-27 November 2024) and Christmas (20-23 December 2024.) That's novel, especially among places that close for the winter, but there's more: aside from common flavors they have a Holiday Pie which is a glorious Trompe-l'œil of a Thanksgiving Dinner:

• mashed potatoes and gravy: vanilla ice cream topped with butterscotch sauce
• stuffing: cookie dough crumble
• can-style cranberry sauce: strawberry sherbet?²
• turkey drumstick: sugar cone with ice cream and graham cracker topping
• peas and carrots: green and orange mini-m&ms.

(I know, peas and carrots are not broccoli, let me know when you figure out an ice-cream adjacent simulation of broccoli - or better yet, tell them and maybe we'll see it on next year's pies.) This is art, and I'm definitely going to try and find someone to serve it to this year...

Mac's Dairy Farm is on 38 in Tewksbury - about five miles north of Dandi-Lyons (the Tewksbury one, not Dandi-Lyons in Reading.) It has lots of parking in front and more in back, plus a bunch of picnic tables. They have four serving windows under their yellow-lit awning¹ and there seemed to be an indoor counter as well, but that might be for winter use - or might not, the top picture on their website shows their serving windows open to a snowy parking lot, although all the picnic tables are stowed away.

They have a lengthy but familiar-looking hard ice cream list (their website advertises that they serve Richardson's ice cream) but they also have soft serve (twist but no dip), sundaes, Richie's slush, frappes/sodas/floats, yogurt, sherbet, sorbet, and Raspberry Lime Rickey. They also sell hand packed quarts/pints/half-gallons, but you can also get a pint of fudge (or other toppings.) They don't have a "tasting flight" but they do have "Mac's Mountain" 4-scoop sundae.

They also have seasonal flavors - for fall, "Apple Crisp", "Pumpkin", and "Pumpkin Oreo".

Tucked away in a corner of the feature menu they list soft serve "pup cups" which I don't think I've noticed before - I'll start keeping an eye out for it, though.

First Visit

I started with Butter Crunch (nice creamy base - though given the lighting, I have no idea if it matched the bright yellow color of Chelmsford Creamery's Butter Pecan - and properly "crunchable" sugar bits.) I paired that with Totally Turtle - vanilla with cashews, brownie chunks, and caramel swirl - which is a good "lots of stuff" flavor which matches the one I enjoyed at Dandi-Lyons.

On a return visit, their Death By Chocolate and Crunch-a-Saurus are pretty high on the list - I should get around to trying a blue vanilla some time, having seen it at several places now - and possibly the Green Monster or Campfire S'moores². The "Mac's Mountain" is also something to keep in mind next time I'm prepared for a lot of ice cream, probably not after dinner though. (If I'm back soon enough the Apple Crisp fall-seasonal flavor looks intriguing but it's one of those things that could be great, could be a soggy mess, definitely have to be in an adventurous mood to try it out.)

Searching by town name (since google maps search is significantly worse than MetaCarta was a decade ago¹) turned up another secret Waltham ice cream shop. Lizzy's is in downtown Waltham, right on Moody Street (there's another storefront in Harvard Square, according to their web page.) Since it's in a Very Urban spot, there is neither outdoor seating nor shop-specific parking - Google Automotive even popped up a novel "parking at your destination will be difficult" warning (turned out to not be a problem², but it emphasized how different this kind of spot is from my usual suppliers in the "Western Suburbs".)

The shop itself is long and narrow, with half a dozen four-seat tables towards the back and another half dozen two-seaters near the register. (Probably not a good coffee+laptop space, but The Common Good Co. is a "coffee and coworking space" a block away if that's what you're looking for.) The adjacent store front is also theirs, and has about twice as much seating - but it's a "party event" space, which is an interesting choice (on this random September evening it was clean and well-lit but empty, suggesting it was kept ready and actually gets reserved.)

Lizzy's mainly does "real" ice cream, but has yogurt, sorbet, sherbet (w/dairy), vegan, and no sugar added (Splenda™) options; they also have an "Adult" category that I haven't seen before, apparently flavored with Actual Booze? They also offer a broad range of toppings including Andes Mints and Brownie Bites - while straddling the cultural divide by having Chocolate Jimmies but Rainbow Sprinkles.

They also have a "5 Flavor Sampler" (what West Side Creamery calls a "flight") as well as Sundaes, Frappes (including Adult Frappes), Smoothies, and a full coffee bar including Chai Latte, Affogato, and Bailey's Affogato. (They also snuck a Raspberry Lime Rickey into the cold drinks section.)

First Visit

I got a large (which was generous even by Massachusetts standards.) The top half was Charles River Crunch - a more "honestly local" flavor than you might expect, they're only 1000ft from the south bank of the river - which was a Dark Chocolate with bits of Almond Toffee. Good crunch and an honestly dark chocolate - not over the top, but "definitely dark not milk" on first taste. (That suggests their "Chocolate Orgy" is worth a try, but as documented it might be the same base but with chocolate chunks instead of toffee; one might also argue that the name alone should put it on the "adult flavors" list, but no.)

The lower half was Mocha Chocolate Lace, which caught my attention because of some obscure history: one of my early exposures to Serious Ice Cream was Dr. Mike's in Bethel CT (I hadn't planned to include them on this site but their history page says that they sourced their ice cream from "a secret dairy in Massachusetts", so maybe they do qualify.) Dr. Mike's was specifically famous for ice cream with Chocolate Lace mixed in - as described at the time, a Russian concoction based originally on drizzling caramel and chocolate into snow.³ Sure enough, this flavor is a tasty Mocha (both the coffee and the chocolate parts come through, which might be easier with ice cream than with actual hot mocha) with bits of nostalgia, err I mean bits of Chocolate Lace, mixed in for a very sweet crunch (moderated by the dark chocolate coating.)

Other Items

They have a self-serve freezer in the front for pre-made ice cream cakes (mostly online orders) and pints/quarts/gallons, like Bedford Farms does. (The website mentions pastries, which I didn't get a picture of, but there was a pastry cabinet next to the register; if they get them fresh in the morning it's sensible that they were out by late in the day, I did arrive after dinnertime.)

The extra tables in the front seem to have ended up the de-facto "kids section" - probably because it's the only area in the shop with room for a stroller - but it also has a Connect-4 game which I've only seen before (although at much larger scale) at Kimball Farm. I guess after more than thirty ice cream shops even the really weird things start to repeat...

Finally, as a photographer I have to point out the ice cream "portraits" on the walls. They also have a cow statue - as far as I've been able to research, it is not part of the world famous Cow Parade but maybe this "[sculpt] me like one of your french girls" pose wouldn't fit, CowParade doesn't really have an Adult category...