Today’s Photo Friday theme is Smooth, which gives me a perfect excuse to prove to Tom Montag that on a recent trip to Columbus, OH to see my parents, Gary and I stopped to experience the smooth, creamy delight that is Graeter’s Ice Cream. (That’s Gary’s scoop of Peanut Butter Chip on the left and my scoop of Buckeye Blitz on the right. As you can see, the stuff is so irresistible, I had to stop Gary from eating his to get a photo. And for those of you not from Ohio, the buckeyes in “Buckeye Blitz” aren’t the nut, which is toxic, but the candy, which is tasty.)
Graeter’s has been a cultural and culinary icon in central Ohio since 1870…and I’d never been there. When Tom learned I was born and raised in Columbus, OH–when Tom learned my parents still live on the east side of Columbus, not far from Graeter’s Bexley store–he was amazed that I’d never tasted his favorite ice cream. When I go home to see my parents, I typically don’t have much opportunity to check out the various things to do in Columbus: typically, I spend time at home with my family. But just as having someone visit from out-of-town gives you an excuse to see the tourist attractions in your own backyard, going to Columbus with Gary gave me an excuse to visit my parents only briefly before heading to Bexley for ice cream, to German Village to go book-browsing, and to the Short North for a daytime gallery-hop.
Tom was right about Graeter’s Ice Cream: it’s incredible. (If you want mouth-watering visual proof of how ice cream should be made in tasty two-gallon batches, check out the delectable images of how Graeter’s ice cream is made, clicking the “Next” link at the bottom of each page.) Between you and me, I thought Tom was exaggerating a bit when he said his family buys gallons of the stuff to take back to Wisconsin whenever they visit Ohio…but you can see for yourself from the window sign in the above photo that Graeter’s offers dry-ice travel packs (as well as an online ice cream store) so out-of-towners can indulge in their favorite tasty treat. Isn’t it funny to think that folks from all around scream for Graeter’s ice cream, and I was born and raised just down the street and never tasted it?
It just goes to show that it’s never too late to try something smooth.
Hoarded Ordinaries 
Mar 24, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Hmm – don’t suppose they deliver to the UK 😦
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Mar 24, 2006 at 11:47 pm
A friend who knows I am a Graeter’s fan sent me this post. Oh how my mouth watered! I splurge on little in my life. As a native Ohioan now on the East Coast, the minute I knew Graeter’s delivered it became THE splurge for our household AND to send as gifts. Anyone to whom it is sent is hooked. And I even know the Bexley shop – a good location. A cute story: growing up in Dayton, when one of the first of our friends got her driver’s license (in the ’60s) we drove to Cincinnati JUST for a Graeter’s cone! That was before they had stores anywhere else in Ohio.
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Mar 25, 2006 at 7:50 am
I first had Graeter’s at the home store in Cincinatti. It was outrageously good. Black Raspberry Chip is my favorite. Then a friend mailed me a gift pack at a particularly low point in my life a year ago. That pack sent me around the ice cream bend. There just isn’t anything on the grocery shelves that compares. If I can’t have Graeter’s I don’t need ice cream.
Guess I should thank Graeter’s for helping me watch what I eat. I am in Northwest Ohio and get to Columbus just often enough to satisfy my cravings. Thank heaven’s for dry ice and the Worthington, OH store.
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Mar 26, 2006 at 7:59 am
Sujatin, I think you’re out of luck. I guess I never realized how lucky I was to have grown up mere minutes away from ice cream Heaven on earth! 🙂
Joan, I’m sure your friends love you if you send them Graeter’s ice cream as gifts! I love the story about driving to Cincinnati for a cone. I’d call *that* a serious craving!
Chris, I don’t eat much ice cream these days, so I know what you mean. A *really good* scoop knocks the socks off the mass produced stuff. I find the same is true with chocolate. These days I hardly ever consume candy bars, saving myself for gourmet dark chocolate made by a local business. Only a square or two of the Good Stuff beats an entire bar of the cheap stuff anyday!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, and I hope you’ll be back!
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