By BODE RAMSAY
Courtesy of Ice Cream Jubilee
College Park’s newest ice cream parlor, Ice Cream Jubilee, will celebrate its grand opening in early August.
Known for its tall scoops and imaginative flavors, like banana bourbon caramel and passionfruit guava sorbet, the popular ice cream shop has three other locations in the District and Virginia.
“Ice cream makes people happy. It always does,” owner Victoria Lai said. “It’s such a gift to be part of a small business where you know that you can make somebody’s day a little better every time they walk through the door.”
Lai founded Ice Cream Jubilee in 2014 after she left her job as a government lawyer to start the business.
“We are so excited to be coming to College Park,” Lai said.
Lai said she’s been hearing for years about people traveling from College Park to the chain’s Navy Yard location for Jubilee ice cream.
Another unique option for a cold treat on a hot day sits on the edge of the University of Maryland (UMD) campus.
Class 520, the first Thai-inspired ice cream shop in Maryland, according to the company, offers a style of the frozen treat that grew in popularity in New York City.
“The thing that makes us unique is that we do rolled ice cream,” said Eldon Sloan, the owner of the store, located at 3711 Campus Drive on the street level of the Domain College Park apartment building. “Instead of ice cream that is made and stored in a freezer, we actually make it fresh in front of you.”
At the shop, customers can order flavors ranging from Oreo Secret, a fan favorite, to Reese’s Blast and Mango Tango.
Customers can walk around the counter to watch employees make their ice cream on a freezing tray while they wait. The employees use a base flavored with vanilla, chocolate, coffee, Thai tea or matcha, and then crush toppings and mix them in.
Once the process is finished, the employee rolls up the ice cream into swirly cylindrical pieces and adds them to a bowl before smothering the concoction with whatever toppings the customer requests.
The rolled ice cream has a texture that is a bit thicker than normal but retains the same smooth, refreshing flavor, according to employees.
Maryland Dairy, an ice cream icon on the UMD campus, is another top choice for ice cream connoisseurs. The Dairy, located in the food court at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union, has famously been making ice cream at various campus locations for more than 100 years.
The store features unique flavors – some named after UMD coaches and staff – like Brenda’s Peanut Butter Frese, for women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese, and Sasho’s Crew Crunch, for men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski.
“I always hear, ‘I’m excited [to have the ice cream],’” Stephen Proctor, a supervisor at Maryland Dairy, said of the store’s customers. “A lot of people come in here and it makes them more happy by the time they leave.”
Ice cream lovers can find familiar favorites at a number of national chain stores with branches in the city.
Cold Stone Creamery, located locally in the College Park Shopping Center next to the campus, serves ice cream at more than 1,000 locations around the world.
At the College Park location, a favorite flavor is Oreo Overload, according to worker Daisy Arguello. Other top sellers are sweet cream and vegetarian ice cream, Arguello said.
For night owls looking for cookies and ice cream, Insomnia Cookies on College Avenue, open until at least 1 a.m. every night, is a frequent stop.
Best known for its chocolate chunk and Snickerdoodle cookies, Insomnia Cookies also serves a unique blend of ice cream.
“Our ice cream flavors are unique because we use our cookies [in the ice cream],” Assistant Manager Bethany Wilson said.
Some customer favorites are Cookies ’N Dream and salted caramel. The shop also offers sundaes that feature ice cream scoops on top of the store’s cookies or brownies. Customers can also buy ice cream by the pint.
Located inside of a Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin-Robbins in north College Park brings its own twists to classic ice cream flavors.
“This new ice cream we’ve got called Beach Day is pretty unique,” Brian Ramirez, an employee, said. The light blue-colored ice cream features tiny, caramel-filled sea turtle candies and bits of graham crackers. “It’s one of the favorites.”
For an alternative to ice cream, some dessert seekers visit Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard in north College Park.
Although well known for its custard and shaved ice, Rita’s also serves its own version of gelati, a mixture of custard and ice.
“We’re known for our gelatis,” Muhammad Haroon, the store manager, said. “Our most popular flavor is mango with vanilla custard.”
Haroon said business has been better than ever this summer, with the store seeing a 4% increase in sales compared with past summers.
“It’s a lot hotter than last year,” Haroon said.
Treat times
Ice Cream Jubilee
4430 Calvert Road
Hours: Noon to 9 p.m. every day
Class 520
3711 Campus Drive
Hours: 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. every day
Maryland Dairy
Hours: Noon to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Closed on weekends during summer
Cold Stone Creamery
7314 Baltimore Ave.
Hours: Noon to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday; Noon to 11 p.m Friday and
Saturday
Insomnia Cookies
4513 College Ave.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday to Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday to Friday;
Noon to 1 a.m. Sunday; Noon to 3 a.m. Saturday
Rita’s
8900 Baltimore Ave.
Hours: Noon to 10 p.m. every day
Baskin-Robbins
9701 Baltimore Ave.
5 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day
