The Death of the Ice Cream Sundae
July 24th, 2004
There were times when you could go out to a huge, white-tiled establishment and eat your body weight in ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream (and maybe some nuts).
Well, not anymore.
When I was a kid I used to get giddy with excitement (or possibly I was having one of those under-12 nervous breakdowns as a result of my Star Wars figures getting snatched in a particularly heart-palpitating parental garage sale from hell scenario) when I knew I was getting taken to the ice cream sundae shop. I knew that I would be faced with a menu filled with obscene choices of ice-cream concoctions that would cause me to, usually, collapse an hour later into a sugar-coma.
There was the “Matterhorn” — a gigantic glass sundae dish piled high with five scoops of ice cream, slathered in two kinds of sauces (double caramel for me), covered in huge mountains of whipped cream, handfuls of chopped nuts, a few cherries and an air-sickness bag. Oh, it was awesome. And the Matterhorn wasn’t even the biggest one they made.
When you walked into Leatherbys, the classic ice cream parlour establishment in my home town, you weren’t there to order a grilled-cheese sandwich. I mean, hell, other than that and a hot dog, the only thing Leatherbys served was mile-high ice cream sundaes. And today? Much like the three-toed, four-eyed jumping Iguana…Leatherbys is, too, extinct.
Now, I’m on the West Coast so things may be different in the back woods of middle America (and I’d love to know if that’s true) but it appears as if the Ice Cream Sundae has pretty much gone extinct. No longer can you go somewhere, drop nine-fifty and get a pound of cold sugar slid in front of you in less than 10 minutes. No longer can you eat ice-cream until your belly is distended. These days you have to go buy a pint of Ben & Jerry’s at the local supermarket and even then you’re not getting the amount of consumables you were at Letherbys.
Someone has taken away my ice cream sundae.
Sure, there are substitutions, I guess. There’s the puny little Baskin & Robbins sundae that fits in a (get this) tiny little cup. Sure, you can go to the mom & pop ice cream stores where they pretend to make huge sundaes called “Turtle Sundaes.” But every time I’ve driven 30 minutes out of my way to test out the ice cream sundae shops of today, I am greatly disappointed.
The ice cream sundae… The classic, artery-clogging ice cream sundae is dead, people. It is dead, it is gone, and it ain’t coming back. Especially not with all this “America is the fattest country in the world” talk, and the stock prices of Krispy Kreme dropping dramatically even after they announced their amazingly-strange frozen donut drinks for the Summer months… All of our extremely high-calorie, dessert-type treats are being eradicated by…well, someone.
And other than me, apparently, no one misses the 4 foot high, 59,000 calorie, ice cream sundae.
And I weep (yes, I really weep) because of it.
Sadly, I’ve been so molded by a sundae-less society that I get half a chubb when offered the chance to go to Dairy Queen and get a chocolate-dipped cone. Its sad really.
Comment by Dylan — July 24, 2004 @ 10:02 am
Hey there WEMF!
This is syndicated weekly advice columnist Frankly Fabian chiming in to say that the Summer months are usually when we most crave that feel goody yummyness of a big’ol mound of i-scream!
So, I want you to know that it’s OK to feel what you’re feeling. The loss of your childhood safe-haven is an OLD PAIN for you, my chum (figurative) - so feel it and get rid of it! Don’t let that pain occupy a space in your heart for one more minute! Make room for the new stuff that’s coming - which could end up being more pain, but not necesarily. Exciting!
And… I have a helpful hint for you today, my chum (figurative):
Give yourself permission to buy a 5-gallon tub of ice cream at your local bulk item retailer (ie, Costco). Then, bring it home, pop the lid open and just cram your head into that thing! Go ahead! And really gnash around, if at all possible cramming massive quantities of ice cream into your mouth, nostrils, eyes and maybe ears. Oooh, what fun!
I guarantee that childhood feel goody feeling of security will return, my chum (figurative)!
This has been Frankly Fabian chiming in with a spotlight on mental health!
Have a resplendant day-ee!!
:)
Comment by Frankly Fabian! — July 24, 2004 @ 12:40 pm
Zephyr
I pass by this place on the train on my way to work daily. Their claim to fame? The ten-scoop(you saw that right) “War of the Worlds.”
Only in Chicago…
Comment by Shasta MacNasty — July 26, 2004 @ 6:17 am
You have been missing out if you havent been able to stuff your belly full of homemade ice cream. If you want 31 homemade quality flavors you should stop by the Ice Cream Company here in Modesto, California. The Ice Cream Company has been around since 1979 and we do it up right when it comes to ice cream. We have big pyramid shaped sundaes the run anywhere from 7 to 10 bucks. But you should probably bring a couple friends because its a big sundae. We even have a sundae called the Perfect Sundae which is your choice of 3 toppings, 3 ice cream flavors, surrounded by a banana and two brownies, enough to feed four. You said you like to stuff yourself with a pound of ice cream, well your in luck because we also have 1 pound rounds which is 1 pound of your choice of ice cream to take home.
I have been working at the Ice Cream Company for a little over 2 years and I still eat the ice cream at least once a day, i cant help it its so good
Comment by Anthony — July 28, 2004 @ 1:47 am
Leatherby’s is not extinct! When we moved from Bountiful, UT to Lancaster, PA we knew we would miss their unbelievable Almond Joy sunae. When we came back to visit, we found that Leatherby’s was closed and were quite sad about it. You’re right to lament to loss. But I found out they still exist, in Provo. So, on our next family reunion out that way, I am taking my husband to Leatherby’s. It’s a reminder of our newlywed days and he just loves ice cream. This is the man who won a year supply of Turkey Hill ice cream by chasing a cow across a finish line. There is no better gift.
Comment by Sue — February 8, 2006 @ 3:23 pm
That dream is not dead as long as we live it when we can-and teach our GRANDKIDS (our kids are a lost cause) that fun, it will always be a Norman Rockwell moment in time.
I have been dreaming about Leatherbys Ice cream for several days now. I have a “multi-dimensional/medium” painting to do and all I could think of was the ice cream! When we were blessed with our first grandchild we went to leatherbys in Las Vegas-then on Sahara- and ordered a grandpa and grandma sundae. When they came the first thing that came out of our mouths was that we knew absolutely no grandparent that could finish that in one sitting! It had to be at least 8″ABOVE the filled glass -plus the syrups, whipped cream, nuts and the all perfct cherrie resting appopriately on the very top. It was awesome .
Yes the dreams are still there and we still look for that treat each time we have a new grandchild-although now we are in North Carolina and nothing is the same.
I also remember going to the drug store as a teen in Michigan and ordering chocolate ice ream with marshmellow topping, nuts and a cherrie, putting a quarter in the juke box and listening to Petula Clarks “Downtown”-always cheered me up
Comment by Barbara — March 9, 2007 @ 5:08 am