With the summer months and warmer weather coming soon upon us (mixed in with probably five more days of winter in April & May of course), it’s time to get your appetites ready for some cold treats. By cold treats, I mean ice cream!
And one of the cities more recent spots for cold treats opened up late last year and could be a place many of you have yet to stop by. Churn and Burn.
Churn and Burn is an ice cream shop and coffee shop located at 556 S. Oliver, just south of Oliver and Kellogg on the east side of the road. They are open Tuesday-Thursday 11 am – 9 pm, Friday 11 am – 10 pm, Saturday 9 am – 10 pm, Sunday 1 pm – 9 pm and closed on Mondays.
Here’s their website.
For my visit to Churn and Burn, I enlisted the assistance for four kids to help with my review. Since I’m lactose intolerant and do not eat ice cream that often, who better to help than members of my family who happen to be fans of ice cream.
Now it should be noted that Churn and Burn is not your typical ice cream shop. While they make all of their ice cream and even waffle cones in house, they can also make your ice cream right in front of you with the power of liquid nitrogen. Instead of writing out the process, the Eagle had a small little write up here that best explains it. If you choose not to to the liquid nitrogen method, they have some premade ice (that was made there) all set out for you to choose from.
The building inside is pretty small, there isn’t much room for seating and there’s one bench outside. For your arcade fans, they have an old tabletop Pac-Man game if you’re feeling frisky and nostalgic.
One of the nice benefits of Churn and Burn is they are Gluten-Free friendly and Vegan friendly. I was able to have my own ice cream made for me with the use of soy milk so I wouldn’t have to go home two minutes after eating it and crying like a baby. There aren’t many places I can think of that offer lactose free offerings that isn’t sherbet. Spangles is one of the first that come to mind.
For our visit, none of us had any of their coffees but we all certainly had the ice cream. I went with the Magic Cookie which was vanilla ice cream flavored with coconut and butterscotch, chocolate, covered graham crackers mixed in (and made with soy milk). For those of you who are lactose intolerant, you know that soy based or even almond based ice cream can taste from bad to well…..like poop. Churn and Burn’s soy based Magic Cookie was surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting much based on past experiences but this was quite good. I ordered the large with a waffle cone and maybe should have just gone with a small. The large is A LOT of ice cream. My favorite part of the whole experience…..the waffle cone. Their daily made waffle cones are nothing short of outstanding.
Three of the kids all ordered the EXACT same thing with the K-State Grape ice cream and a waffle cone. It took them what felt like an hour to decide and they go with the EXACT same thing. Children……………….
The fourth ordered the homemade Vanilla ice cream in a cup.
With all the options they had to choose from, three go with the exact same ice cream and one goes with…………………….vanilla. It’s a good thing I love them all.
Needless to say they all thoroughly enjoyed their ice cream and finished every single bite. The creative comments I heard from the kids ranging from ages 4-9 were “it’s good”, “I like it”, “better than Braums”, and “……………….(take a big bite)…………….”. Yes, they were all very descriptive in their opinions of the ice cream but anytime kids finish their food I take that as a win.
The service was friendly and patient for as long as it took the kids to decide what to order. He certainly had more patience than I did. Which brings me to a tangent, props to any parent who takes multiple kids out to eat, that’s a HARD job! I couldn’t imagine doing that everyday. End of Tangent.
Since I don’t eat ice cream much at all, I’ll pay whatever prices when I do. For four ice scoops of ice cream and two made to order ice creams it was $23 and change (not including tip). So I’ll let you decide whether you consider that pricey or on average of what you’re used to.
In conclusion, the kids really enjoyed it. I was happy with my ice cream. Service was fantastic and friendly and best of all, they don’t use Blue Bell ice cream so I felt comfortable knowing I’d be safe eating it all.
Give it a try yourself and let me know what you think!
Happy Dining,
Eddy
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I wish this was in College Hill!