Summer of Ice Cream: Mason’s Creamery in Ohio City

Summer of Ice Cream: Mason’s Creamery in Ohio City

Kerry and I used to live in Ohio City. There was this little ice cream shop on a pretty busy corner. It used to be called Dairy Delight. And then it changed hands and was called Ohio City Ice Cream. It was somewhat clear that this shop would change owners frequently. In my I’m-going-to-start-an-ice-cream-business days, I had a plan to buy the building. I even bought the domain ohiocityicecreamco.com thinking I’d squat on that until the current owner offered to sell me the shop rather than just buy the domain.

Then, this ice cream company that had been killing it at farmer’s markets and the Cleveland Flea bought the building. Oh man, I was so mad. I was convinced these “Mason’s” characters were probably huge jerks. And then we met them. And they’re like THE NICEST PEOPLE EVER. So then I thought, “Well they may be the nicest people ever, but their ice cream probably isn’t good.” But guess what? Their ice cream is so good! Now it’s years later, Mason’s Creamery is busy every time I drive by, and I am so incredibly happy for them.

The shop, before they bought it, was just a walk up window, where you could get decent but not great ice cream. Mason’s gutted the whole thing and added some serious style. They have some of the coolest art in Cleveland as an added bonus. Joey would gladly come over all the time! And she easily could now that they have plenty of outdoor seating and a few little tables inside. On top of all that, the place is incredibly dog friendly. If you ever take your dog, they offer a little cup of ice cream for your pooch. So you shouldn’t be surprised that Ruby loves it there too.

Saturday, July 1st, was National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day (which is apparently a real thing), and when we heard that, we knew exactly where we wanted to go. Mason’s specializes in coming up with flavors you’ve never heard of.  Milk Tea and Taro Oreo are the first two flavors you see when walking down their line and it only gets more creative from there. Sure they have some old favorites — cookies ‘n cream is in my top 3 flavors of all time, for sure — but if you’re looking for something new and funky, this is the place to be. Let’s be honest, Kerry and I aren’t incredibly adventurous, so we went with things that sounded wild to us but are probably pretty normal to everyone else. We got two scoops: hot chocolate with marshmallow and french toast.

Since we tried some “safer” flavors we thought we’d add creativity by getting it a) in an egg waffle, and b) with peanut butter whipped cream. Take a look at that picture at the top of this post. It was decadent and amazing. I had seen people on Instagram post pictures of the egg waffle and it always confused me. I thought it was going to be brittle and flaky like a waffle cone. But it’s so soft and fluffy. It was an incredibly pleasant surprise that both Kerry and I loved. We both said, almost simultaneously, “I want one of these every day.” Combined with the two ice cream flavors, and the peanut butter whipped cream, and the whole trip was perfect.

Mason’s Creamery is one of our favorite ice cream shops. We knew this when we added them to our list, and last weekend’s trip did not disappoint. They are consistently good and consistently creative. I pass by almost every day on my drive home, and there is always a crowd hanging out, enjoying the atmosphere. Mason’s is bringing some vitality to Ohio City and success could not come to a better couple.

Scores:

Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow ice cream: 10 French Toast ice cream: Dix (that’s apparently 10 in French) Peanut Butter whipped cream: delicious Egg Waffle: currently craving daily

Total: one billion