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Date: 7/27/2022
WEST SPRINGFIELD — The new sundae at Smokin’ Scoops on Westfield Road may not be the most adventurous treat on a menu that includes unconventional flavors and “boozey milkshakes.” But it probably is the tastiest thing in town based on a public works project.
“Road Diet” is a scoop of the shop’s extremely smooth and dense vanilla ice cream tinted a grayish purple with vegan food dye (that’s the freshly paved asphalt) topped with a stripe of whipped cream (the new lane markings) and inverted candy corns (orange construction cones).
It may be the ideal summer munch for a whimsical traffic engineer or a reporter on the town planning beat, but it’s no rocky road. Nor is it one of the more interesting and unconventional flavors on the Smokin’ Scoops menu: toasted almond. Russian honey cake with hints of sour cream. Japanese green matcha tea. Cannoli, featuring mascarpone and ricotta cheese, cannoli shells and chocolate chips.
Even the vanilla, though, is something different from the typical ice cream shop fare. Opened last June, Smokin’ Scoops brings a new style of frozen treat to West Side, liquid nitrogen ice cream. “Nitro” differs from traditional hard scoop or soft serve in that it is flash-frozen using liquid nitrogen at minus-320 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Liquid nitrogen ice cream is really big out in California and Florida. It’s not that big out here. It’s just a little bit different, and we want to just bring something a little bit different to the table and make it fun for families,” said co-owner John Goodhind.
The flash-freezing process allows Smokin’ Scoops to offer ice cream made to order. Inside the post-industrial styled parlor, employees use cherry-red Kitchen Aid mixers to combine cream, sugar and flavorings before pouring in liquid nitrogen dispensed from a large stainless steel tank. Vapor billows out from the mixing bowl like a mad scientist’s laboratory while each scoop is frozen and flavored on the spot. The flash-freezing process “makes for a denser, creamier, richer type ice cream,” according to Goodhind.
The approach also allows the shop to create new flavors on a whim. In addition to the road diet sundae (which Goodhind adds is “definitely not” diet ice cream), Smokin’ Scoops offers 15 flavors, rotated seasonally. Both Goodhind and his co-owner, former West Springfield Mayor Greg Neffinger, cite the coffee ice cream — made with Dean’s Beans — as a personal favorite. They also serve “boozey” milkshakes, though they are not primarily a bar.
“We’re a family-friendly place,” said Goodhind.
As for the road diet sundae, Goodhind says it was primarily a joke, but he is glad to see something being done about speeding in the area.
“I live right off Route 20 myself, and it’s tough getting out of my street sometimes,” said Goodhind. “If you stand out here, you’ll see it down here, too. I mean, people just fly.”
Smokin’ Scoops is at 1425 Westfield St., West Springfield, and is open daily through the summer until 11 p.m.