Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Kicking The Craving At Katie's Korner In Kent

On a recent trip to Kent, Ohio, to try out a restaurant for dinner, I passed an interesting ice cream shop on Route 43 that I reminded myself to make a mental note to return to. Katie's Korner Homemade Ice Cream is located at 1412 South Water Street and can be reached at 330-677-1999. As it turns out after doing some digging on Google and on the Katie's Korner website, this is a franchise operation with about ten different locations, strewn throughout the northeastern Ohio region.

What really caught my eye were the words "Home Made" when I saw the sign from the street:


Even though I was pretty full from my dinner, I knew I still had enough room to pull in and give them a try. After parking my car in the lot, I headed toward the front of the building to place my order:


To the right of the ordering window, I noticed a menu posted on the wall. Not only did it contain a list of different types of ice cream-laden desserts that you can order at Katie's Korner such as cones, cups, sundaes, shakes, malts, and specialties, but it also contained all of the flavors of ice cream you can get. It's almost inconceivable really, but Katie's Korner on a regular basis has forty-five unique, homemade flavors available:



Banana
Black Cherry
Black Raspberry
Black Raspberry Cheesecake
Black Walnut
Bubble Gum
Butter Pecan
Butterscotch Ripple
Cappucino Fudge
Cake Batter
Carmel Cashew
Cherry Chocolate Cordial
Chewey Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate Almond
Chocolate Chip
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Chocolate Marshmellow
Chocolate Pecan
Cinnamon
Coconut Almond
Coffee
Cotton Candy
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter
French Silk
French Vanilla
German Chocolate Cake
Grape
Heath Bar
Maple Walnut
Mint Chocolate Chip
Mocha Chunk
Mousse Truffle
Muddy Sneakers
Orange Pineapple
Oreo
Pistachio
Praline Pecan
Reese's
Rocky Road
Salty Dog
Strawberry
Strawberry Cheesecake
Superman
Rum Raisin
Spumoni
Vanilla
Vanilla Bean
Whitehouse


In ADDITION to those flavors, Katie's Korner also has some seasonal flavors as well. Nothing major, just twelve additional flavors:




Apple Pie
Black Forest
Black Raspberry Truffle
Cherry Cheesecake
Coconut Cream Pie
Firecracker
Fudge Ripple
Peach
Peppermint
Pina Colada
Pumpkin
Triple Chocolate


At this point, gentle reader, I was skeptical. So I asked very pointedly, "Is every single one of these ice creams made from scratch?" "Yes," was the answer I received. It wasn't until I was home and discovered that all of the flavors are actually made in the Hubbard, Ohio manufacturing facility, but they are all flavors that are unique to Katie's Korner. And honestly, if you can't manage to find a flavor or two that sounds appealing from that massive list, then you're just being stubborn. There was literally something here for every taste.

I decided to go with a two scoop cup for $3.05. Wanting to try something from the regular menu and the seasonal menu, I asked for a scoop of the Black Walnut and a scoop of the Peach. I paid for my treat and after a few minutes, I was handed this:



It's not totally obvious, but the peach ice cream was on top. This had a wonderfully fresh peach flavor and you didn't have to look too hard to see all of the peach "bits" strewn throughout the ice cream. I was concerned that the peach flavor might get lost once my taste buds got cold, but I needn't have worried. From the first bite to the last, it was all about the peach.

After eating my way through the peach layer, I finally got to the Black Walnut layer. You can see some of the black walnuts peeking through the top in this next photo:


The Black Walnut ice cream married large chunks of black walnuts with a vanilla ice cream base. Walnuts have always had a sort of bitter aftertaste to me which is probably why I didn't enjoy eating them much as a child. However, as an adult, I can certainly appreciate the flavor much more. And there was definitely lots of walnut flavor in this ice cream. The sweetness from the vanilla also helped to tame some of the bitterness.

The ordering window also had some take away menus. I picked one up to take with me primarily so that I wouldn't have to write down all the flavors to help when I wrote up this entry. However, I discovered some bits of information that weren't listed on the wall menu. I got the double scoop for $3.05. A single scoop (which is still a pretty nice sized scoop) will run you $2.05. Clearly the double scoop is the better value. However, for $1.40, you can order a "baby scoop". If you were trying to do a tasting of three or four flavors, this might be the way to go instead.

While I don't think that the flavors available at Katie's Korner are nearly as daring and "adult" as the ones available from Jeni's Ice Cream out of Columbus, Ohio, they are still fresh, seasonal, and delicious. I highly recommend you take the time to head over to Kent and check out Katie's Korner Home Made Ice Cream shop. Both kids and adults will find something great to eat that's creamy and sweet.

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