I Scream for Ice Cream

Everyone has a favorite ice cream memory. We asked a few iconic Cincinnatians to recount theirs.
77
“When we were refurbishing the Ludlow Garage [in 1969], it was really hot, sweaty work. A nice cold beverage was a big deal. The Clifton Graeter’s was real handy, so I created this lime phosphate with mint drink. It became sort of our drink—a Ludlow Garage special.” —Jim Tarbell, former concert promoter, city councilman and vice-mayor
 

“We are official Northsiders now, so we definitely hit up Putz’s Creamy Whip. That’s sort of our seasonal rite of passage.” —Summer Genetti, pastry chef at The Palace Restaurant

“We made our own ice cream. You’d put it in an old-fashioned freezer—basically a bucket with a crank—with rock salt. I remember I was pregnant with my son, so I was the heaviest person and had to sit on the bucket to hold it down. The baby was born that very night.” —Katie Laur, musician, writer, and WNKU on-air announcer

“We have a freezer up [in the booth], and UDF keeps it full of ice cream. And, as they say, good news travels fast. We’ve had the owner of our ball club, Mr. Castellini, come in and walk out with some.” —Marty Brennaman, voice of the Reds

“The thing that I remember is going over to my parents’ house in Finneytown for Sunday dinner, and at the end of the evening walking up to Graeter’s to get a mocha chocolate chip. Invariably one person would say ‘Hey, I want to go to Graeter’s’ and people would say, ‘Aww, I’m not going to go.’ Eventually there would be 12 of us walking up there. It would always be, ‘I’m only going to get one dip’ and that would turn into two or three.” —Chris Mack, Xavier University men’s basketball head coach

“I don’t think that there’s a week that goes by that we don’t pop down the hill to Graeter’s. We live way too close. And the black raspberry chip…I don’t think there’s ever been another ice cream with those…they’re not chocolate chips, they’re like apartment blocks. Each chunk has two floors.” —Peter Frampton, guitar demi-god

Facebook Comments