The Scoop N Scootery (first visit)

The Scoop N Scootery in Arlington is right on Mass Ave, a couple of blocks north of Alewife Brook Parkway. The web site describes them as primarily delivery¹ although they do suggest that you can come in and order at the counter, despite limited seating - as you can see from the picture, that's out of date; at least at the Arlington location, it turns out you can literally barricade the door and New Englanders will still come and buy ice cream from you. There's a touch screen with their entire menu and a card swipe box², and someone will appear at the door and call your name to hand you your ice cream (so you don't need to keep track of your order number, although it's otherwise basically the same process as the stream of pickup/delivery orders.)

Their specific Sundae menu is long and varied, but kind of difficult to choose from - I would recommend lingering over their web menu while seated somewhere warm, and possibly just outright ordering online instead of in person. If you're going for something very specific, just start with the "Custom" section at the top.

They do have frozen yogurt, and a range of toppings that includes Blueberry Muffin Crumble and Apple Pie (amidst more conventional choices like Rainbow or Chocolate Sprinkles.) They also have something they call "Sundae Cores" - a hunk of something like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough or Frosted Red Velvet Cake that serves as an inner layer between ice cream scoops (but is not otherwise explained anywhere.)

They also have a luciously thick whipped cream - it's not really a sundae without whipped cream, right? But even the plain whipped cream is amazing, and they also have Cinnamon and Nutella flavors.

While the indoor option is gone, there is (even now, right before Halloween) a set of picnic benches out front, with the menu QR code on them, and a couple of two-person tables with chairs. While this was fine while waiting for my order, the time of year combined with the north-east facing building (which means that all of the seating is in shadow in the late afternoon) meant that it wasn't a great spot to actually eat, even if you were already bundled up for Autumn weather.

First Visit

The sundae you see in the picture would be a large in most New England shops, but I had some forewarning - that's a "Tasty" which is the second smallest of their four sizes, the "Hungry" and "Legendary" are even bigger - plus the "Sundae Cores" make them a bit more filling than they already look.

I chose whipped cream, caramel syrup, and walnuts for toppings - that really is a generous layer of walnuts immersed in caramel, not just a sprinkling of walnut bits. Beneath that is Butter Pecan (also with sizable nuts) and the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough "core" bits; after that there's a layer of the ever-mysterious³ Totally Turtle.

Since "Totally Turtle" already has brownie chunks, combining it with a cookie dough "core" is a little redundant, I'll probably mix and match more carefully next time - or just go with a standard sundae like "Peanut Butter Mudslide", "Mintmallow", or "Strawberry Shortcake". They do have a few seasonal options like "Sweater Weather" and "Nightmare Before Christmas" which currently lean into pumpkin, caramel, and gingerbread.

I should point out that they have a lengthy and creative list of Frozen Yogurt Sundaes as well - while I'm generally dismissive (this is an ice cream site, not a things that wish they were ice cream after all) it does look like they've put some care into it, including the "'Murica" flavor - "French vanilla yogurt topped with fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries and homemade whipped cream" for a dramatic Red White and Blue (at least when served in glass for their photo gallery; not sure it translates to takeout, but it's perhaps worth finding out next 4th of July.)