LITTLE ROCK — The last time we stopped at the Baskin-Robbins store on Rodney Parham there was a little boy - a blond 4-yearold who might have looked something like us - who ordered two scoops of blue raspberry sherbet in a waffle cone. He asked to go outside to eat it because there’s a picnic table there and he always wants to eat outside. While he was out there going to town on the raspberry and getting it all over his face, he stared inside Baskin-Robbins and a couple of men who must have been 70 years older started making faces at him and joking with him.
Baskin-Robbins puts the old and young alike in a good mood. It’s a simple ice cream shop - a franchise that has been around since 1945. One is tempted to say the Rodney Parham outlet has been forgotten as fancier ice cream stores and sleek yogurt outlets have opened up all around it, but that isn’t the truth - the little, rectangle-shaped store never seems to be hurting for customers. That is the case year round. This Baskin-Robbins recently ordered a renovation and there’s bright, fresh paint that greets ice cream fiends who stop in for a fix.
Of course the ice cream hasn’t changed even as new flavors are introduced fairly regularly. If you want to try out the Wild ’n Reckless sherbet, you can ask for a free pink spoon to give it a taste. Sorry, but we go for the same old chocolate chip in a sugar cone (there are cake cones and, for 77 cents extra per scoop, a waffle cone) and we hardly ever leave disappointed. There are lots to pick from with the price starting at $1.96 for a single scoop going to $4.17 for three scoops. Baskin-Robbins has smoothies, shakes and sundaes, but the main attraction remains those 31-plus flavors sitting in tubs under the glass.
Situated not too far from the Baskin-Robbins outlet in west Little Rock is TCBY (“The Country’s Best Yogurt”), a part of the national chain of stores that started in Little Rock in 1981. Frank and Georgia Hickingbotham’s frozen yogurt store was patterned after Baskin-Robbins and the outlet on Markham is a small store that’s very much like its ice cream mentor.
There’s soft-serve yogurt with flavors that change fairly frequently. If anybody was to compare the ice cream chain to the yogurt upstart, you might think that the yogurt one wouldn’t have the same variety as Baskin-Robbins. But TCBY has a lot of choices, especially when you walk in and add the ones such as Mint Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough, Strawberries and Cream and others the servers scoop out just like ice cream. The 4-year-old who favored the blue raspberry ice cream found a multicolored flavor called Rainbow Cream and would have said he was happy with it if he had slowed down enough to talk.
But we tried the handscooped Vanilla Bean in a chocolate-dipped, nut-covered waffle cone. The thickness of the yogurt worked well off the chocolate cone, and we liked our choice very much. The prices are $2.95 for a serving in a small cup to $3.82 for a large cup.
It’s probably fair to say that both the chains have their heydays in the rearview mirror. But Baskin-Robbins and TCBY have nice spots in west Little Rock and should not be overlooked when on the hunt for a sweet treat. Take the messy but satisfied grin of a 4-year-old we know as endorsement.
Baskin-Robbins Address: 10102 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock Hours: 9:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-11 p.m.
Friday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday Cuisine: Ice cream.
Credit cards: V, MC, D, AE (501) 227-5656 TCBY Address: 11418 W. Markham St., Little Rock Hours: 10:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon-10:30 p.m. Sunday Cuisine: Frozen yogurt Credit cards: V, MC, D, AE (501) 221-9020
Weekend, Pages 39 on 07/22/2010