The Munchmobile made nine stops in its attempts to find a truly great sundae, including Holsten's, the legendary Bloomfield luncheonette where the last episode of "The Sopranos'' was filmed
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It takes about 50 licks to polish off the average ice cream cone.
There is no comparable number for ice cream sundaes, but we're figuring it's higher since the average ice cream sundae is significantly bigger than your average cone.
Which means that the four Munchers on our latest mission, for ice cream sundaes, may have consumed more ice cream in one day than the average American does in one year -- 14 pounds.Nine stops, one multiple-topping sundae per Muncher per stop equals, well, a lot of ice cream."I had ice cream withdrawal today,'' Gina Hidalgo, of Rahway, reported the day after.
July is National Ice Cream Month, so what better way to celebrate than to happily submit to the ice cream sundae's myriad pleasures? One Muncher, Robert Novak, of Fairfield, loaded his sundaes up with fruit, turning them into Technicolor productions.
Another, Hidalgo, wouldn't go anywhere without her wet walnuts. Then there was a father-daughter-team, Scott and Lindsay Barton, of South Plainfield, who needed no prompting to chill -- and, like the rest of us, tried not to spill.
The Munchmobile driver ordered chocolate at every stop (what, there are other flavors?), and we visited the restaurant immortalized in the last scene of everyone's favorite ice cream mob show, "The Sopranos.'' We even sampled dirty diapers. The ice cream, not the real thing. For the clean, cool report, read on.
Alpine Creamery, Newark
This ice cream stand on Bloomfield Avenue was a Dairy Queen for 40-plus years, according to Victor Victoratos, who owns Alpine Creamery with brother-in-law George Kolaitis. Another brother-in-law owns the fabled Boulevard Drinks in Jersey City.
There are 35 flavors of hard ice cream; the most popular are pistachio, rum raisin, butter pecan and strawberry. Toppings include crushed cherries, marshmallows, buttterscotch and hot caramel. The hot fudge, alas, was more like lukewarm fudge; it hadn't been heated properly. The chocolate was not particularly smooth nor creamy, but Hidalgo liked her sundae of Oreo ice cream, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, wet walnuts, whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry:
"Very good, lot of cookies in it,'' she said.
Holsten's, Bloomfield
This old-fashioned luncheonette was the setting for the final scene in "The Sopranos,'' which left viewers pondering the same question: Did Tony order ice cream sundaes "for the table'' after the onion rings?
"I thought you guys were tourists,'' said Rich Laudati, standing behind the cash register. "Anyone with a camera is a tourist to me.''
Holsten's has received flash-happy visitors from around the world in the wake of its "Sopranos'' closeup. Skip the onion rings, though, and indulge in the ice cream: It's pretty good. Scott Barton called his brownie sundae, with hot fudge and homemade whipped cream, "fabulous.'' Daughter Lindsay raved about her sundae of black raspberry ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream. "Delicious,'' she noted. "The whipped cream was fresh.''
Novak seem to dig the banana royal sundae, with three scoops of strawberry ice cream, bananas, fruit salad topping, whipped cream, nuts, sprinkles and a cherry.
Munchmobile photographer Tim Farrell loved the strawberry -- "not too sweet, creamy, really rich'' -- but the Munchmobile's driver thought the powdery-tasting chocolate below-average.
Jefferson Dairy, Jefferson
Well, there's a first time for everything, and this was the first time in Munch history that a dirty diaper was on the menu.
Dirty diaper ice cream, anyway -- chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks, one of the wackier flavors at Jefferson Dairy. The DD ice cream doesn't quite look like one and, fortunately, doesn't taste like one. It's decent chocolate; Scott Barton was the biggest fan.
"I've never had a dirty diaper before,'' he said. "I'd recommend it highly.''
The most popular flavors here are mint chocolate chip and cookie dough. Hidalgo spoke highly of her cool mint cookie/pink coconut ice cream sundae. Lindsay Barton described the Nutty Monkey (banana ice cream with walnuts, hot fudge and whipped cream) as "delicious.''
"Any more dirty diaper before I throw it out?'' the Munchmobile driver asked.
"No, I left that at my house,'' Hidalgo replied.
Nutty Monkey sundae? How about a Nutty Muncher?
Polar Cub, Whitehouse
The Polar Cub is probably Route 22's best-known roadside ice cream stand. The Munchmobile driver found chocolate nirvana here; the chocolate is creamy, smooth and sublime.Lindsay Barton called her vanilla ice cream/hot fudge//Reese's Pieces sundae "delicious.''
You've used that word already, we pointed out. "
Sinfully delicious,'' she elaborated.
Hidalgo was not a fan of her butter pecan ice cream, hot fudge and rainbow sprinkle sundae. "The hot fudge tastes more like a syrup than hot fudge, and the ice cream is just blah,'' she said. She liked the soft serve ice cream better.
Novak said of his typically colorful sundae, in this case a brownie sundae with soft-serve vanilla and whipped cream: "Great mouthful, creamy soft.''
JJ Scoops, Clinton
What says Main Street more than an ice cream shop? This cozy little shop is located on one of Jersey's more charming Main Streets.
There are many colorfully-named and created sundaes, including Steph's Peanut Butter Blast and Allison's Twix Mix. Evan's Cool Mint Sundae features mint chip ice cream, Oreo cookle crumbs, chocolate sauce, York peppermint patties and whipped cream. "Extra special,'' Lindsay Barton said.
Scott Barton gave props to the hot fudge -- "the hottest fudge by far'' -- while Hidalgo called her sundae with chocolate ice cream, wet walnuts, whipped cream and sprinkles the day's best sundae.
Novak described the Lacy's Berry Blast, with blueberries, strawberries and black raspberry ice cream as "very fruity, flavorful,'' with "great hot fudge.'' The Death by Chocolate is nice enough chocolate, but it's not as good as the Polar Cub's.
Thomas Sweet, Princeton
Before you belittle the Big Dog for not visiting the Bent Spoon, also in Princeton, we have four words: Been there, done that, specifically in 2005. The Bent Spoon is one of the state's half dozen best artisanal ice cream shops.
Instead, we set our sundae sights on Thomas Sweet, nabbing a parking spot out front. Before, or after, you eat your ice cream, make sure you stand in front of the shop's funhouse mirror, from Palisades Park.
There was no illusion about the ginger snap ice cream in Scott Barton's mind. He called his ginger snap ice cream-hot fudge-Heath Bar sundae his favorite sundae of the day. But he rated the hot fudge at JJ Scoops higher.
Lindsay Barton described the cinnamon ice cream as "sensational,'' and the chocolate ice cream was an oh-so-close second to the Polar Cub, according to the Munchmobile driver.
Points here for the bountiful array of blend-ins.
Lola's Ice Cream, Somerset
Lola's opened a year ago, replacing Sundae in the Park. Who's Lola? The owners' Bernese Mountain dog. There are about 30 flavors of hard ice cream. Lindsay Barton loved the carrot cake ice cream. "Just like the cake,'' she said approvingly.
Scott Barton described the cookie dough ice cream as "excellent,'' and Novak called his fruit parfait sundae -- pineapple and strawberries covering a mountain of vanilla soft serve -- a "classic.''
Good chocolate; we'd rank it third behind Polar Cub and Thomas Sweet.
As we happily dipped into our sundaes, a woman walked in the door, and asked excitedly, "Is this the Munchmobile? I came in to say hello."
Well, hello to you!
What's the Scoop, Metuchen
The scoop here is that you may not find more flavors of ice cream anywhere; we stopped counting at 75. You can also get pizza and hot dogs.
"Ice cream and pizza at the same store?'' read a post on yelp.com. "This is the only place I would eat at if I were pregnant.'' Hold the pepperoni; we're doing ice cream.
Lindsay Barton found frozen dessert nirvana here, calling the Black Forest cake ice cream "lights out, fabulous.'' Novak marveled at the "great variety'' of ice cream, and described the cherry vanilla ice cream as "great,'' but Scott Barton found the store "nicer than the ice cream.''
The double chocolate fudge is good, but tasted more like a single than double chocolate. Don't forget to check the blackboard for new flavors. Midnight cookie monster? Be afraid, be very afraid.
Colonia Dairy Maid, Colonia
Streetlights, people . . . Make that plenty of people, lined up inside this neon-lit ice cream stand on Route 35. Finally, noted the Big Dog's delighted driver, coconut, not toasted coconut, as a topping! Didn't see it before this.
We went out with a fruity flourish. Novak called the sugar-free cherry vanilla "creamy, wonderful, fantastic,'' while Hidalgo rated her sundae of coconut ice cream with sprinkles as "extraordinary.'' And Scott Barton said the strawberry ice cream with hot fudge "tasted like fresh strawberries.''
We would have hit another, 10th, stop if not for one problem: No others were open!
"I had a great time; I wish I could relive the day,'' Hidalgo said the next day.
"Don't stop believin'," as that classic Journey song goes, that you can eat ice cream from noon to nearly midnight. Whether you walk or waddle down the boulevard afterward is up to you.
| Munchmobile goes for ice cream sundaes |