Jaxson’s Ice Cream has received oodles and oodles of fame since its opening way back in 1956. Located in the lesser-known Dania, Florida, this place is well-known for its interesting look, and spectacular ice cream. It has been featured on the Food Network several times, and even had a headlining moment in Good Morning America. The infamous Zugat website rates it as one of the top locations in the country. So with all this fame and high reviews, I just had to give it a shot, despite being so far from Orlando. They have a nice lunch/dinner menu, but most people head over there purely and only for the sweets; from the popular ice cream to its massive merchandise shop full of candy (heh, go figure).
The location is a bit tough, since it’s in the middle of a busy street full of street lights with no turn signals. Annoying. Also, it’s located in the corner of an old plaza---connected to multiple buildings. From the outside you can tell it’s a family-friendly atmosphere, as it features a few little rides for small kids. You can order ice cream from outside or go inside to be seated. Once you step inside, the old-school flavor hits you immediately. There are license plates all over the place, and when you enter you are immediately greeted by a heavy assortment of candy---most of them I have never even heard of. It can get quite crowded and hectic. We get seated and were immediate treated to water and free popcorn.
My main draw to the place I will admit was the fact that their whipped cream is natural, made at the location. While this sounds rather picky, it shows attention to detail, and shows a love for their culinary art that you don’t find often in ice cream places. I went for the hot fudge sundae, which was their most popular item. Josh orders the root beer float. Michael orders a peanut butter equivalent of a sundae, which instead of hot fudge it’s a peanut butter topping. Kyle orders the strawberry milkshake. We wait a while as we drink our water and enjoy the scenery. Little did we know just what a challenge our dessert was going to become.
Josh’s root beer float was absolutely massive; it was absolutely intimidating and threatening. It was a huge cup of root beer, and the ice cream was sitting on top of the cup in a strategic way. To add to the mayhem was that there was a second cup of root beer just in case he needed more. Josh struggled so badly with his dessert I overheard another customer talking about us to another waitress (“Your root beer floats should come with an instruction manual”). He enjoyed his food, but was far from being able to finish the monstrosity. This place does not cut back on their ice cream, and it clearly justifies the mildly higher prices.
Kyle’s milkshake was a thick 24 oz. His milkshake was disposed of much better than the float, but it still challenged Kyle because of intense strawberry flavoring. He really enjoyed his drink though. Michael’s peanut butter sundae was a masterpiece. The peanut butter topping was extremely thick, very sugary, and had a pure taste of peanut the instant it touches your taste buds. The whipped cream and very creamy vanilla ice cream combined perfectly with the peanut butter. Michael was in temporary heaven as he barely could finish, but had such a great time trying. And, like Josh, Michael's order comes with a side of extra goodness---just in case all the sugar they infused to the dessert wasn't enough already.
My hot fudge sundae did not look intimidating, but is the very first dessert I could not finish since the unknown March Kitchen Sink disaster of Beaches n’ Cream in Disney World (Few souls know about this...let’s just say I was overwhelmingly defeated, and did not help that I had very little help). The hot fudge was spectacular (they gave me an extra cup of it...mmmmmmmmm), and like the peanut butter was very thick indeed. The whipped cream was very delicious, and is far superior to any whipped cream I’ve ever had. The vanilla ice cream was the tour-de-force of the evening though, as it was a very scrumptious mix of thick, creamy, soft, and yet fulfilling. It was only two scoops of ice cream, how could I not finish this? Well, you must come here to realize that it isn’t what it all seems—these desserts are heavy-hitters that truly delight the taste buds, but occupy the stomach much quicker than you’d assume.
Bottom Line: Jaxson’s Ice Cream deserves all its praise, deserves all its success, as it delivers one of the best dessert experiences I’ve ever had. While the location isn’t the best, once you find the place it will be a fantastic experience. We didn’t order anything from lunch nor did we try the popcorn, but in the dessert portion we are proud to say that it excels in all cylinders. The toppings, the whipped cream, the ice cream, and the overall presentation was phenomenal and if I am ever in the area again, I will definitely make a return trip here. But, don’t go here for lunch as well—because the dessert alone can really fill you up.
Jaxson's Ice Cream
128 South Federal Highway
Dania, FL 33004-3695
(954) 923-4445
No comments:
Post a Comment