More News

Ice Cream shop provides scrumptious start to summer

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Bryan Haynes⁄The Gazette Ice Cream Factory & Café owners Cheryl and Dave Watts show off their Caribbean Beef Patties, singled bone pork ribs with criss-cross fries and seafood basket (fried shrimp, crab cake, rock fish fillets and hush puppies).

In addition, the menu has frozen custard in more than 24 flavors. But that’s not all, the Ice Cream Factory & Café also serves café selections like hamburgers, crab cake sandwiches, corn dogs and pulled pork sandwiches at reasonable prices beginning as low as $3.95.

The Ice Cream Factory & Café is located in Brandywine on Old Brandywine Road in the former Marlow-Huntt General Store and Post Office. Housed in a registered historic Prince George’s County building which dates back to the late 1860s, the Ice Cream Factory & Café is summer ice cream fun with a winter café food selection alter ego.

Patrons might be surprised to note that the historic building was on John Wilkes Booth’s path after leaving the nearby Surratts House as he attempted his escape on the night he assassinated President Lincoln.

Since opening in September 2003, the Ice Cream Factory & Café has enjoyed great local patronage as well as business from customers from Southern Maryland’s Charles County.

Owners Dave and Cheryl Watts have decorated the restaurant with bright and uncluttered historic building information and family history photographs. It screams ‘‘old fashioned hand-made ice cream shop” and exudes its historic nature proudly.

While there is seating inside, many patrons can choose to sit at one of five picnic tables in the front of the building or on the covered porch on benches.

Since opening the Ice Cream Factory & Café, the Watts’ have kept a substantial, yet uncluttered menu of hearty sandwiches, three styles of fries and seafood delights — such as steamed shrimp and fish and chips for under $9.

ice cream factory & café 13700 Old Brandywine Road, Brandywine Phone: 301-782-3444 Hours: Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

In addition, the restaurant boasts a purely Southern Maryland style selection of foods like crab cake sandwiches — served with lettuce, tomato and tarter sauce — for only $6.95. And don’t forget the hush puppies, which the Ice Cream Factory & Café serves in quantities of three for 75 cents or a dozen for $2.95.

Customer favorites, according to manager Jennie McPherson, include the crab cakes and the Angus beef hamburgers. Another favorite is the steak and cheese sandwiches served on white or wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, pickles and friend onions for only $5.95.

Overall, ‘‘the Ice Cream Factory & Café’s menu prices are reasonable and the portions are overly generous,” says Upper Marlboro resident Mae Watson, while enjoying her strawberry soft serve cone following a meal, which included onion rings and a crab cake sandwich. ‘‘Besides, the ice cream and the ambiance is just plain fun after a long hot day,” she said.

The Ice Cream Factory & Café’s menu selections also include deli sandwich choices — such as oven roasted turkey and cheese served on a wheat or white sub roll for only $4.25.

Meanwhile, the selections of old fashioned soft serve frozen custard and soft serve ice cream, which is free of fat, cholesterol and white sugar, comes in two sizes — medium for $1.90 and large for $2.25. Kids can get their own scoops of chocolate or vanilla twisted custard or soft serve ice cream for only $1.35.

The Ice Cream Factory & Café also serves root beer, creamy orange, Coke, Sprite or ice cream soda floats for only $3.20. ‘‘An old fashion taste,” Watson says, ‘‘that can be introduced to the next generation.”

Customers should pay close attention to the hours for the Ice Cream Factory & Café, since they change throughout the year. Check the Web site at www.icecreamfactoryandcafe.com. This establishment is non-smoking.