I’m not that complicated of a girl. I like good ice cream. I like trying new things. I like adventures. I love spending time with my husband, Bobby. So when you wrap all that up into a date, you’re talking about a real winner. That is what happened on July 3, 2016, when we took an impromptu trip to Subzero Ice Cream & Yogurt shop in Wadsworth, Ohio.
Alright, I have to be honest (I am my mother’s daughter) I have experienced something like Subzero Ice Cream before. It was on a trip to Orlando several years ago. But I had never seen a place like it since. That time we just stumbled across the ice cream place, which I almost think was converted from some old gas station garage. This experience at Subzero was much more pristine. It was clean and fresh and inviting.
You may be wondering what sort of “experience” an ice cream shop can give you, other than giving you ice cream. This ice cream shop not only has tons of varieties to choose from, but you get to watch your ice cream being made…right in front of you…at the time of your order. Talk about having it your way! They have a selection of bases that you can choose from, then there are “mix-ins” which include everything you can imagine that would go into ice cream from fruit to candy. After you make your selection, then they mix it all together. Now mind you, this is all just liquid at this point. Just a conglomeration of ingredients that you actually hope turns into ice cream at some point. But then the magic begins.
There are these stainless steel bowls set into the counter with what looks like the hose and sprayer from an industrial type dishwashing station hanging over it. The server takes your concoction over to the bowl and then uses the hose to spray it with liquid nitrogen and stirs like crazy as it begins to freeze. In just minutes, you have your own ice cream creation to enjoy. It is awesome. For a few minutes, it feels like you are in a science fiction movie with all the “steam” coming from the nitrogen. How they can even tell when the ice cream is done, I have no idea. I suppose they learn by feel. It truly feels like magic is happening right before your eyes. I guess it really is, if you consider the “old fashion” way of making ice cream can take hours.
Subzero allows you to create your own ice cream, which consists of making choices on the type of cream (original, low-fat, yogurt, custard, lactose-free, vegan, or sugar-free), then choosing flavors, mix-ins and whether to have it in a waffle bowl or chocolate bowl. Or they take the guesswork out of it and have 12 different “Sensations” that are recipes for ice cream flavors. They have everything from Chocolate Conduction to Bernoulli Brulee to Peanut Butter Bonds to Banana Cream Pie Bismuth to Key Lime Voltage to–you get the idea.
I’m sure it is no surprise, but I chose the Chocolate Conduction. The recipe included chocolate, brownie, fudge and chocolate pieces. I still got to choose my cream and since Emily, one of the servers, stated that the custard was her favorite because of the creaminess, I decided on that. She handed the mixture to Morgan, the other server to do the freezing process. Right at the end, before Morgan handed me my ice cream, she asked if I wanted fudge on top. My question was, “Who wouldn’t?” Â Bobby chose the Bernoullie Brulee, which consisted of dulce de leche, caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, Twix and Heath candies. He also decided on the custard.
Let me just say that as exciting as watching the whole process take place, it wouldn’t have amounted to a hill of beans if the ice cream wasn’t good. No worries here. This ice cream was delicious! Emily was right, the custard made the ice cream so creamy. It was the perfect consistency, too. So the writing on their wall was true: Taste the Sensation; Experience the Magic. I’m already planning another trip there. One can never have too much magic in their life! (I should know, I’m married to a magician!)
