LITTLE ROCK — There aren’t many ice cream parlors left for those who like to enjoy flavorful frozen treats in an unhurried, sit-down setting. A few options remain in central Arkansas, but the closest to a real ice cream parlor experience is the Scrumdiliumptious Ice Cream Shop on Arkansas 107 in Sherwood.
It sits back in a corner of the strip center that also houses a Little Caesar’s pizza place and the Chinese Pavilion Hunan restaurant. So you kind of have to hunt for it after you see the large green sign announcing its presence.
The shop has been open just a month or so, and the owners seem to be still working on decorating a bit. But what’s there is neatly arranged and cute. The seating area is filled with attractive dark wood tables and chairs, the walls hold photos of the shop’s ice cream creations, and there’s a bright pink spiral staircase in the corner that stops at the ceiling.
Customers can peruse the photos on the walls or check out a menu. But regardless, it’s hard to make up yourmind. There are so many flavorful-sounding choices that you may have to take a seat to ponder for a while.
The shop uses Edy’s ice cream, a popular brand in grocery stores as well. If you want just a scoop of ice cream, you can have a single for $3.25 or a double for $4, adding 75 cents per size for a waffle cone. Flavors include Birthday Cake, Tollhouse Cookie, Peanut Butter Cup,Double Fudge Brownie, Cotton Candy, Spumoni, Pistachio, Kona Coffee and Black Cherry Vanilla. Also available are Butter Pecan and Vanilla/Chocolate Swirl sugar-free flavors, as well as sherbet in Orange, Rainbow, Lemon and Raspberry.
As for toppings, there are gummi bears and worms, sprinkles, and chunks of cookies and candy bars, along with hot fudge, hot caramel, chocolate, strawberry, blueberry and pineapple sauces.
Scrumdiliumptious’ menu has traditional concoctions with cute names like “ThankGod for Sundaes” and “Make Like a Banana & Split.” There is also a selection of shakes, malts and floats. For $5, you can have The Scrumdiliumptious signature cone, made with five layers of flavor - Chocolate, Strawberry, Pistachio, Birthday Cake and Orange Sherbet.
One of the shop’s jolliest gimmicks is pulling names for signature ice cream dishes from the Harry Potter and Willy Wonka stories. These include:
The Hagrid ($6), a brownie covered in Grand Vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry.
Augustus Gloop ($6.50), made with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, French Vanilla and Chocolate ice cream topped with hot caramel, banana and whipped cream, then garnished with chunks of chocolate bar and nuts.
Oompah-Loompah ($5), made with Fudge Tracks and Peanut Butter Cup ice cream drizzled with caramel or butterscotch, then topped with M&Ms.
The Weasley ($5), Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream drizzled with strawberry topping and garnished withwhipped cream and nuts.
Lil Snitches ($3.25), balls of Chocolate, Vanilla or Strawberry ice cream covered in chocolate. One order comes with six Snitches.
Everlastin Gobbstopper ($4.50), made with Bubble Gum ice cream in a sugar cone filled with gum balls.
We visited the shop for my mother’s birthday a few weeks ago, sharing several items. It was a dueling-spoons experience, but we managed to get plenty to eat. The Hagrid and Oompah-Loompah were delicious. The brownie, along with hot fudge and ice cream in the Hagrid, made for a flavorful taste experience, while the Oompah-Loompah was a sweet, cold candy treat.
My son ordered a milkshake flavored with a combination of the DaVinci brand syrups the shop offers in a large selection of regular and sugar-free versions. My mother got a serving of the sugar-free Vanilla/Chocolate Swirl ice cream, which was pretty good for sugar-free. I took home a container of Spumoni, which proved to be a flavorful combination of pistachio ice cream, pistachios and cherries.
Scrumdiliumptious Ice Cream Shop Address: 8000 Arkansas 107, Suite 7, Sherwood Hours: Noon-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-10 p.m. Sunday Cuisine: Ice cream Credit cards: AE, D, V, MC Alcoholic beverages: No Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 835-3300
Weekend, Pages 48 on 11/25/2010