It's Tuesday again! Which means, another sneak peek at this week's Van Dussen review. (I was working later than I should have at the office today, and was about to leave, but no! There was the movie page, in my mail slot. Of course, I stayed the extra few minutes to proofread it.)
Tuesday also means the weekly re-opening of my favorite local ice cream haunt, Shark's Custard & Candy, which, for all you not-so-local yokels out there is over Bloomfield way, on Routes 5 and 20. Right when I got out of college, I briefly "temped" as caretaker to an elderly man who once worked as a quality control "technician" for Sealtest. It was a lot of fun to watch Ray dig into ice cream. His favorite was Breyer's and he would rattle off a whole list of reasons why, though I never came to care for it. (Too granular, plus it has a nasty habit of melting in a hurry.) But I must say I could definitely relate to the man as a connoisseur. He knew how to enjoy the stuff, and I'm sorry he never had a chance to visit the then-Custard & Candy. I'm sure he would have become a new fan.
Anyway, Shark's is all about the homemade, hard ice cream. They perfected chocolate butter fudge, and in my opinion, cookie dough, but I always find myself veering towards the coffee or mocha chip, or sometimes, peppermint. I've never been wild about nuts or peanut butter, but I know others in my family love their butter pecan, peanut butter cup, and one of my friends and co-workers is a huge fan of the black cherry, too.
There are some fun Shark's traditions, which, after many a summer night spent there, I will share: 1) What's that hiding at the bottom of your waffle cone? Ta-da! The mini marshmallow is the secret to avoiding the proverbial ice cream drips. 2) Standing in line there is practically an art form as you torturously choose which flavors to mix and match. Anticipation is half the fun, which also leaves plenty of time for ... 3) mini spoon samplers of the special of the week. My faves so far this summer? Key Lime Pie and Cake Batter. 4) At Shark's, chocolate "chips" do not exist -- only chocolate chunks.
My own personal traditions include late-in-the-week afternoon jaunts over with the "girls" from work, usually to celebrate someone's birthday. For a while there, I also got in quite the habit of taking new friends or simply friends to whom C&C was new to, there for a tasting. I've sworn it's the best homemade ice cream this side of the Mississippi. (Not like I could prove that scientifically, or would even care to, but it sure rolls off the tongue and sounds important.) Somewhere around 80 "newbies" I stopped counting. I'm sure it's long since passed 100.
Back in the day, original owner John Haluch was pretty renown for massive scoop sizes big enough that even my Texas cousins were in awe. I will forever remember the picture my Mom snapped of my cousin's husband hoisting a 4-or 5-- scoop cone, which naturally he couldn't finish. Back then, it probably only cost him $3 or so, which these days, gets you a "small" which is still more than plenty. John's nine-scoop banana split finally left the menu because a) it took, like 10 minutes for the staff to create and b) nobody could finish it anyway. At least not solo. Once upon a time, I shot a photo series of two friends working their way through it. They said they had plenty of room, but the pictures didn't lie. They were both clutching their stomachs in the last frame, looking at the empty dish with a what-have-I-done? expression. Classic.
I really like what co- owners Lynn and Diana, who took over a couple years ago, have done with the place. They expanded the hours, expanded the season, expanded the patio and really carried the Shark theme out. (I've always been a fan of themes.) My two-year-old niece loves the giant fish tank, and driving by late at night, you can see it, gleaming neon blue, from the road. Of course, the signature ice cream recipes are all the same, which makes it hard to avoid temptation and stick to my somewhat-new, striving-to-be-healthy "rule" of only visiting once a week. But life without that ice cream would be poor life indeed. ;)
But don't take my word for it. Taste and see for yourself!
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