3 Spoons in the Fountain

On the 4th of July, the Cjaps decided there would be no better place to celebrate their nation's independence  than Philly, where it all began.

Of course, now that we use this blog as an excuse to eat more candy, we did some research on what the best chocolate place was in Philly.  Caryn remembered a special feature on amazing desserts around the US on the Food Network a while back, and knew there was a brownie sundae in Philly that was on the top 10 list.  It turned out it was at Franklin Fountain, located right by the water where there was a special festival for the 4^th of July.  It fit in perfectly with our plans, so we set off.

Of course, as soon as we got off the train, we see this:


It was tempting, with their Zagat’s reviews and ‘Best of’ articles adorning the walls.  But we held steady and trooped on, down Chestnut street, all the way down to 116 Market Street, right near Penn Landing.



We knew we’d arrived when we saw a line out the door and down the block.  We watched as people came out of the store holding their ice creams served in glass sundae dishes, spoons in hand and smiles on their faces.  When we got closer and looked inside, we saw that it was decorated like an old-fashioned ice cream parlor.  There were fountain machines, and the employees all dressed like the year was 1804 and we were in Amish country, and there were hats on pegs on the wall so you, too, could look like you were in the 19^th century.  Or Amish.  Or an annoying tourist.

All of the ice cream is homemade.  The milk and cream come from Berks and Lancaster Counties.  An exciting bit of information for Lori was that the chocolate is sent over from Wilbur’s chocolate factory, a small shop near Lancaster, Pennsylvania her parents took her to many times throughout her childhood, at the early stages of the chocolate obsession.  There were many flavors to choose from, and some really cool sundae combinations that incorporated anything from pretzel rods to ladyfingers, but the Cjaps were here for one thing and one thing only – the brownie sundae.

Called the ‘Mt. Vesuvius’, it contained a heap of vanilla ice cream ‘erupting’ with chocolate brownie pieces, ‘cascading’ with hot fudge and ‘blanketed’ in malt powder.  Topped off with whipped cream, which served as the mountain’s ‘smoke signal.’  We paid for the sundae ($10 – a bit excessive, but we had to do it), tried on our funny top hats to take some tourist shots, and brought our sundae to the outdoor seating area for the taste test.  The Cjaps and honorary guest Mike, who generously agreed to share the sundae so the Cjaps didn’t complain they ate too much the rest of the afternoon, dug in to the sundae.
My first impression was how distinguishable the home made ice cream was.  Especially after the recent trend towards frozen yogurt, actual ice cream is thicker, and in each spoonful we were able to see specks from the actual vanilla beans the ice cream was made from.  The brownies were not too hard or soft, but the ice cream absorbed into them to make them just the right consistency.  Our only complaint was that the ice cream wasn’t proportionate – Caryn didn’t think there was enough hot fudge, while Lori didn’t think there were enough brownies – until they put two and two together and realized it hadn’t been placed properly and they weren’t smart enough to turn the bowl around.  It was a great amount; the Cjaps were full, and of course Mike wanted to go back inside to get a root beer float (he opted for a Philly Cheesesteak instead).


Franklin Fountain (www.franklinfountain.com/icecream) was worth going to for an old-fashioned experience, where you can eat the way Ben Franklin did.  The owners will be opening an old-fashioned candy store in October, which the Cjaps promised they would come back to for the opening to blog about. Stay tuned!