Aunt Betty's Ice Cream Shack

After our visit to Wildwood we scrambled to find a place open for ice cream. Ice cream in OC is kind of sad topic for John at least. 2 of the best places to go were closed down about 3-4 years ago: the Dairy Queen on 34th street, and another classic ice cream place that sold out and moved to a smaller location in Sea Isle which will be featured on this blog and will get a scathing review for moving.

But change isn't necessarily a bad thing. When one thing goes away, another thing comes in to take it's place. Well the fine people from Uncle Bill's Pancake House might have found the replacement by creating it's sister (wife?) establishment Aunt Betty's Ice Cream Shack. Aunt Betty's is featured in two locations like Uncle Bill's, one at 21st and Asbury and another at 40th and West. It's beach themed with lots of flowers in front that will make you feel like you're in Hawaii or on some tropical island. Inside, they have a big chalkboard that lists all these different beach themed ice cream sundaes. We went to the one on 21st street, where they have a wooden outdoor deck for you to sit.

we both agreed, it was pretty awesome.

John ate: Bear Foot Brownie with Hot Fudge, A- "I had been to Aunt Betty's numerous times before but I always compared it to other places and I was never that impressed. Well tonight I loved it. The Bear Foot Brownie is a brownie and chocolate swirl mixed in vanilla ice cream. It was excellent. I can't wait to go back and try some more stuff.

Lauren ate: "The Sandman"-vanilla soft serve with crushed vanilla wafers and Swedish Fish, B+, "Upon finding out it was a kid's dish, I decided to get it anyway and was glad I did! The vanilla wafers crushed up gave it an interesting texture and taste. The swedish fish were a little excessive, but it's a kid's sundae, so i understand why there were so many of them. However the fish make the ice cream a little fruity tasting which was very good. It was perfect size for me too. I also LOVED the umbrella! The cutest little sundae ever!"

SHOUT OUT: Great White Roller Coaster in Wildwood

So Lauren and I took in a nice evening shedding our Ocean City roots while dodging tram cars in Wildwood. The Doo-Wop capital of the world with the widest beach ever where it takes you close to 6 hours to actually reach the ocean.

We didn't get any food there, but we did walk on the boardwalk. We're more OC people obviously, but Wildwood has some cool stuff; 3 amusements parks as opposed to two, boardwalk games where you can win prizes, and alcohol/bars, so we're making our first shout out to something awesome on Jersey shore that we think needs recognition.



(As told by John) On the southern most amusement park there's a wooden roller coaster called Great White. Lauren recommended it because she used to ride it when she was younger. Well, it was really awesome. I was shocked that it was so good. First off, one ride is about 8 bucks but it's a long ride in duration, so you get your money's worth. Secondly, it launched you right from the start from the starting point. It's a pretty fast ride from the beginning of the ride all the way to end. I am shocked you kind a roller coaster like this on any boardwalk, I'd expect it to be at some place like Great Adventure. So if you find yourself in Wildwood, check it out.

EXTRA: Down to the Wire Sports Blog

Hey everyone,

John's friend Dave is giving them some extra promotion about our blog on his sports blog "Down to the Wire".

Check it out sometime it's pretty good.

http://dttwsports.blogspot.com/

Brown's

Last week for breakfast we went to Brown's on the boardwalk. It's located alllll the way at the beginning of the boardwalk near 2nd street. So if you wanted to wake up early and go straight from breakfast to the beach, you could do it at Brown's. The inside is pretty cool because it has high wooden ceilings. There definitely is there is a feeling that you're right on the beach, so we loved the atmosphere. The service was great too.

One of the things that Brown's is known for is their homemade doughnuts. There actually was a pretty long line outside for people just there to get doughnuts. We both shared one and would like try it again. Overall, Brown's is a good place and we recommend anyone to check it out. You won't find the atmosphere anywhere else on the island, considering that the beach is 10 feet away.
















John ate: Belgian Waffle: B, Sausage: B-, Doughnut: B+, "The waffle was good and the sausage was just average, but the doughnut was really good. It was warm and fresh and wasn't your typical cake doughnut. It had a soft center while the outside was crispy and covered with sugar and was covered in a vanilla icing. There is no place on the island with the atmosphere like Brown's, but I think I've had a better and a better doughnut elsewhere".

Lauren ate: Panckes: A-, Bacon: B, Toast and Eggs: A-, Doughnut A-, : "I'm typically not a breakfast person, but I really enjoyed Brown's. Everything was really good. One of my pieces of bacon was too crispy, but the other piece was perfect. Overall, I give it an A-"

Sindia Restaurant

It's restaurant week in Ocean City!!! Obviously since we are bloggers, we had to take part in one of the deals, so we decided to go to the Sindia Restaurant.
Sindia restaurant is a restaurant on Atlantic Ave around 7th street. It is named after the old shipwreck off of Ocean City.

We were looking for "fine dining", and unfortunately, we did not get it. It's not that the place was bad, we both left very satisfied with our meal. The inside of the restaurant was very nice as well. It was still your typical Ocean City restaurant: mediocre service, mediocre meal, plastic bread basket, etc. The service wasn't that great. To be fair, our waiter was a young kid and it took him a little long to wait on us and take our order, but it wasn't nearly good enough service to be considered "fine dining".

John ate: Italian Wedding Soup B+, 6 oz. Strip Steak with corn and mashed potatoes B-, Chocolate Cream Pie B: "Starting off, the Italian Wedding Soup was actually pretty excellent. It was distinctly flavored with a nice spice and the meatballs in it were very flavorful. The strip steak was also pretty good, it was nicely seasoned. However, I found as if it was just an ordinary steak that you could cook on the grill at home and I'd rather do that then spend the money in a restaurant. The corn and mashed potatoes were nothing great either, I could have made them at home. The chocolate Cream Pie was good as well, but again, I could have found something just as good at home.


















Lauren Ate: Manhattan Clam Chowder B, Fried Flounder with corn and mashed potatoes B, Brownie C: "The clam chowder was actually pretty good, I had never had clam chowder before and I liked it. The fried flounder wasn't bad as well. However, the brownie wasn't very good. They didn't have a dessert menu and the waiter just read off the desserts. He never mentioned that the brownie had nuts in it. Had I known that, I never would have gotten the brownie. As John said, it wasn't bad, I left satisfied, but it was mediocre and I could have just gotten something equally good at home"


















We started this blog to find a restaurant on the island (or like right across the bridges) that we could consider "fine dining", some place we could get dressed up and go to or celebrate a birthday or anniversary at and get a great meal. Sindia Restaurant was not that. I guess we're blind to the fact that people go there that just spend the day in OC or are possibly renting or staying at a hotel. We are starting to realize that Sindia Restaurant/OC restaurants are just places for families and young kids that want a quick meal that's adequate. Sindia Restaurant would be perfect for that. You'd leave very satisfied. However, we want more. We want a great restaurant with great service, great atmosphere, and great food. We still haven't found it yet, and we are still looking.

Shriver's Gelato

The other night we went on the boardwalk and tried some Shriver's Gelato. It's an ice cream place next to Shriver's on 9th streets (the place that makes salt water taffy). It's a nice place inside and they have a variety of gourme flavors. For instance, we tried a sample of Chocolate Ginger (which wasn't that great). The gelato was pretty good. They allow you to get 2 different flavors in one cup or 3 different flavors in a cup depending on how much you want to get. We both opted for 2 scoops. We both thought it was very good.

John ate: 1 scoop Peanut Butter Cup and 1 scoop Cookie Crunch, B, "The cookie crunch was good but it seemed a little too plain and the vanilla ice cream in it was a little weird tasting. The peanut butter cup was very good. However, I wouldn't have wanted to get just 2 scoops of it because the peanut butter was a little strong in it. I also kind of wish they gave me a bigger portion. Any other ice cream place gives you 2 big scoops, not just 2 small scoops".

Lauren ate: 2 Scoops Fruiti Di Bosco, B, "It was pink and pretty and really good! It was nice to have something different than just normal ice cream. It almost seemed like a combination of water ice and ice cream."

Overall, we both liked it. If you're looking for a little something different than normal ice cream, you'll like Shriver's Gelato.

Tacos at the Promenade

Aaaaaahhhhhh it's been a long time since we've updated this thing so sorry.

The last place we went to was last Friday at the Promenade next to the Water Park on the Boardwalk.



The promenade isn't exactly one specific restaurant,it's more like a food court. I've never even been there and I've been spending my summers in OC for like 22 years. I imagine though it is Shoobie central.

Anyway, we stopped at the taco stand. Lauren didn't get anything because she doesn't like taco's, but I did.
I ordered one soft taco and one hard shell taco. You had the option of ordering different flavored tortillas for the tacos, but I just stayed with regular. It was a really big soft taco, they used like a large sized tortilla and it was very filling. The hardshell taco was red, but I don't exactly know the flavor. They were average taco's. No different than any taco you would make at home. The meat was nothign special, the cheese was nothing special. The only good thing about it was the fact that it was a big soft taco. But if you're on the beach and desperate for a taco, go for it.


John's ate: Hard shell and soft shell taco, C, "I'll leave the Promenade to the shoobies."