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Zoë's party theme for her third birthday is going to be "Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social". I have a post planned to tell you about how I arrived at that idea ( and it isn't conventional, my ideas are always borne of some strange spark of inspiration. It explains how nutsy my mind really is, jumping from tangent to tangent, but that is for another day).
So, yes, ice cream party. Well, if you are a new reader, then you don't know that I always make both of my kids' invitations with Photoshop and invest quite a bit of time in their design. I had a design in mind for her invitation, but it required an elaborate setup which I did not have the props for. I was brainstorming and it occurred to me that I live in a state that is known for it's gazillion (yes, that is a number in my head and yes there really are that many in this little state) diners. It's one of those things that is synonymous with Jersey- the shore, diners, the Jersey devil, Jersey sweet corn and an entire state of full service gas stations. Yes, that's correct, you cannot pump your own gas in this state. It's the law.
I was thinking- in a state known for it's diners, there has to be an ice cream shop somewhere. I don't mean Dairy Queen, I mean the old ice cream/soda fountain type shop with the juke box and soda jerks. So, I consulted my dearest internet friend, Madame Google. She very quickly returned with the website of The Pop Shop in Collingswood, New Jersey. It was perfect and yesterday, we set out to have lunch, ice cream and stage some pictures.
The menu prices were very reasonable and the food was incredible. They serve breakfast all day ( and I mean basic breakfast, breakfast burritos, eggs benedict) and have over thirty versions of the grilled cheese sandwich. My grilled cheese connoisseur, Noah, literally was twittering with this realization. Even better, they have the regular kids menu and then the little kids menu for kids under 5 where most meals are about $2.99 that way you don't feel like you wasted money paying for a five dollar meal for your child to only eat three bites.
Upon entering, the kids were given paper soda jerk hats to decorate with crayons. Despite a packed house, our waitress arrived immediately to take our order, but we had to turn her away, because we had so many choices, we could not decide!
So, what did we end up eating? I had the Honeymoon chicken for $8.59. It is described as, "Grilled chicken breast topped with honey mustard dressing, avocado, caramelized onions, and melted cheddar cheese on crusty ciabatta" My husband had the Madison Grilled Cheese for $6.59. The adult grilled cheese is huge. Plenty big enough to satisfy. His is described as, "Mozzarella, tomato, basil, and garlic olive oil on country white". Noah had the kid-sized Big Toaster which is a classic grilled american cheese on white bread for $3.59. His came with fries. Ours did not, so we ordered a basket of fries to share. Their fries are hand cut and fried and delicious! As for Miss Zoë, she is the picky one and doesn't like sandwiches. We usually can't find anything other than french fries to feed her at a restaurant, but we ordered her the Chocolate Chip Betty's, "Our family’s original 100%-from-scratch pancakes with chocolate chips and whipped cream" for $3.59 and she thoroughly enjoyed it.
As for drinks, the kids got lemonade, but my husband and I thought we would take advantage of the soda fountain and I ordered Dr. Pepper with cherry and vanilla and he ordered Coke with cream and vanilla. Again, excellent!
Once lunch was cleared away, we licked our lips and prepared for the whole reason we visited- to order dessert. Again, they did not disappoint. Noah got the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Sundae, "Cookies and cream ice cream with chocolate chip cookie and Oreo™ pieces and caramel sauce, topped with whipped cream and rainbow jimmies":
Zoe ordered the Captain Underpants Cone, "Vanilla ice cream topped with a sugar cone, chocolate sauce and a candy face":
DJ ordered the Oreo Cheesecake Milkshake, "Vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, cream
cheese, and Oreo cookies":
I got a chocolate malted milk shake. Delish!
They also had the classic ice cream sodas- the cows, Lime Rickey, etc.
If you have a minute, I recommend you go to their site and peruse their dessert and food menus. You will be glad you did (or mad, if it causes you to raid your fridge). And if you live in or near southern New Jersey (Philadelphia area) or are visiting, I highly recommend you stop in and visit! (The restaurant, not our family- we don't share our ice cream)
