Adam Richman takes on a monster sandwich in MvF's first season.

If you’ve ever happened upon the Travel Channel on a Wednesday night, you’ve doubtlessly seen several episodes of Man vs. Food. If you haven’t, in short, host Adam Richman visits a city/region and hits up its notable eateries. He rounds out each episode by taking on a  food challenge. I’ve seen him take down 72 oz. steaks, somehow eat wings made with the spiciest peppers on Earth and eat gigantic ice cream sundaes. I had always thought our beloved Jersey Shore and its greasy gastronomic offerings would be perfect fodder for an episode. So, one day last week, the @ManvFood Twitter account tweeted a list of upcoming locales. And, what do you know, the Jerz was on their to-do list! Read the rest of this entry »

Peanut Butter Overload on the left and a waffle cone with S'mores and Cookie Dough...courtesy of Miss Stephanie's Blackberry

From what I can remember, the building just south of Colonial Bakery on Route 35 North has always offered frozen creamy confections. It’s changed hands and monikers several times – from Mrs. Walker’s in the early 1990s (I have fond memories of digging into a cup of black raspberry ice cream while watching the launch of Nickelodeon’s SNICK during one of Mrs. W’s early summers) to a brief stint as Strawberries.

Now, Summer Sweets occupies the charming roadside bungalow-turned-scoop shop and has since 2006. On their site, the owner details her discovery of the building and admits that her dad advised knocking it down. We’re willing to forgive this statement (as well as the site’s casual use of grammar and the spelling of Lavallette) because Summer Sweets’ brightly painted walls, cartoonish ice cream cut-outs (as detailed by the authors of Ice Cream People) and cheery interior are just so doggone cute. Read the rest of this entry »

Normandy Beach's Kaboodles Ice Cream Parlor serves up scoops, sprinkles and silly names to boot.

The concept of going out for ice cream is absolutely married to summers at the Shore. Sure, there’s FrozFruit bars, Screwballs and novelty character-shaped frozen dessert novelties to be had on the beach during the day, but when the sun goes down, you hanker for a cone. Before any of us could drive, my friends and I found our main source of entertainment in walking up and down Route 35 North in search of ice cream. There was Mrs. Walker’s (now Summer Sweets), Milky Way (now a real estate office) and Salty’s (still the same!) if we felt like trekking. Today the options are just as plentiful, if not more so. Read the rest of this entry »