Northampton

For the 50th ice cream shop in this series, I went to Herrell's Ice Cream and Bakery which is sort of a nostalgia trip for me. I'll leave most of the history to Wikipedia but the bits I personally experienced include

• Steve's in Davis Square (the building was torn down years ago, the Italian restaurant Posto¹ is in what was the parking lot) two doors down from the Original Bertucci's²
• Steve's in Harvard Square (on Church Street) which is where I first encountered the labor-intensive "mix-ins" process (Herrell's now calls this "Smoosh-ins")
• Herrell's in Harvard Square (on Dunster Street, I think Mike's Pastry is there now) which is more well remembered as "The Place with the Bank Vault" (the vault had benches, mirrors, and undersea artwork decorating the inside, a surprisingly cozy spot)

It turns out that this one, in Northampton, was the original, after Steve Herrell sold Steve's (to the Bertucci's guy) and then waited out his noncompete agreement.

Herrell's in Northampton is tucked in to the bottom floor of the "Thornes Marketplace" multi-story mall, which leads to it having a street entrance and an indoor entrance (and 30ft ceilings.) No outdoor seating, but plenty of indoor booth space and a row of barstools along the Old South Street window. Parking is a little odd - there's a huge amount of street level parking downhill from the center of town, which is 100% full during business hours - but the E. J. Gare Parking garage (which is connected by a second-floor skybridge to Thornes) is free for the first hour (and only 75¢ for the next) so just go there directly, and follow the signs to the Old South Street exit, Herrell's is Right There (150ft away, up a slight hill.)

Ice cream serving sizes run from Kiddie to Large (and packed pints and quarts); toppings are divided into "Goodies", sauces, fruit, and whipped cream (plain or chocolate). Goodies are the ones that can be used as "Smoosh-ins" (medium or large servings only.) They also have sundaes, banana splits, and ice cream cakes; milkshakes, smoothies, floats, spritzers, ice cream soda, and New York Egg Cream. Since they're open year-round, they also have six flavors of hot chocolate. They also have a 4-scoop "sampler" (similar to the Tasting Flight we've seen a few other places.)

While they are very clearly an Ice Cream First sort of place, they do have multiple flavors of sorbet including Concord Grape, frozen yogurt, no sugar added, and oat-based No-moo® flavors.

First Visit (to this location)

I went with a double scoop (served side-by-side, which is unusual but convenient for comparative tasting) of "Mudpie" and Peanut Butter. Herrell's gets credit for documenting the mystery flavors (like "Cookie Combustion" and "Microchip") right on the menu; Mudpie is an espresso ice cream with cookies and fudge swirl. Definitely a "coffee ice cream for people who actually like coffee" and a strong dark chocolate flavor to the swirl - Herrell's has always been famous for their hot fudge sauce, which they sell in 10oz jars. The ice cream itself seemed a little bit icy, but they had just opened for the day - it might just not have been out of the deep freeze long enough. The flavors were still excellent.

The Peanut Butter was was also surprisingly rich - you usually need a peanut butter swirl to get that strong a flavor, but this was coming from the ice cream itself - which might make it a better base for your choice of "Smoosh-in".

Going back

Herrell's is more than an hour away for me, though I combined this trip with visits to the adjacent used book store and the Quabbin Reservoir high trail (eagles!) I'm not likely to return often, though I'm sure I'll find some excuse. I will definitely try some smoosh-ins (though I'll try to resist the temptation to just put walnuts in everything) and their "Real Chocolate Sprinkles" (and decide if I want to get a packet of them to go.) While I'll probably start with Chocolate Pudding and High Definition Vanilla, their Sweet Dreams (novelty flavor with chamomille tea, honey and lemon) might be worth a taste, along with their Concord Grape Sorbet.

I'll also have to remember to bring a proper spoon of some sort - they serve bamboo spoons, which aren't as bad as paper straws, but they're a little off in texture (specifically that they have a texture.) They also feel like they're going to break - though as the picture shows they were sturdy enough to finish a large without failing - so that might be a matter of getting used to them. I haven't seen them anywhere else, though - Northampton being a "college town" this might be an upcoming trend.