Neighborhood Notes

If you haven't stopped by Cool Moon and met owner Eva Bernhard, you're missing out. She's as delightful as her ice cream. Speaking of ice cream, here's a recent review from Willamette Week...

Freeze, Please

After a whole summer spent lamenting the lack of a real old-fashioned ice cream shop, Portlanders welcomed the Pearl District’s Cool Moon Ice Cream, which finally opened its doors in mid-December. Serving all-natural ice cream and sorbets, you won’t find corn sweeteners or trans fats here. Plus, the rBST-free milk and cream is from local Alpenrose Dairy. If you’ve been wondering where to find fresh ice cream—not gelato or fro-yo—look no further. This is the real stuff—an egg-based, French “custard-style” ice cream that lingers on your tongue, leaving a sweet, creamy coating on your lips, something not often achieved from eating store-bought or mass-produced ice cream.

Flavors ($2.85 per single scoop) vary according to season and whim. Recent standouts ranged from a coffee caramel that delivered a bold hit of fresh java offset by a fluid ribbon of buttery caramel to an earthy, vanilla-based brandied nutmeg and an amaretto crunch (vanilla blended with almond-anise biscotti). A twist on an old standby comes in the form of butter pistachio (instead of pecan), and the green nut makes another appearance, scrumptiously, in cardamom pistachio. Coco Loco is fresh coconut with a surprisingly agreeable nip of jalapeño. A mellow and unobtrusive cinnamon ice cream creates an ideal pairing with almost any of the store’s rotating 28 options, including the handful of changing fruit flavors (from Oregon marionberry and triple lemon ice creams to refreshing grapefruit Campari sorbet). If you prefer your sweet licks old school, fear not: Mint chocolate chip, strawberry and, of course, rich vanilla bean and chocolate are staples in the rotating lineup.

Read more at Willamette Week