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.