1105 NW Johnson St & 11th Ave • 503.224.2021 • coolmoonicecream.com
I filled out a survey a little while back that asked “If you were stranded on a 
deserted island and could only bring one type of food, what would you bring?” I responded with “SQUASH!” My friends mocked me for about 10 minutes and still like to laugh about it months later. In my mind, squash is the perfect thing to take – I mean, it’s nutritious AND tasty!
In particular I really, really love pumpkin (but I didn’t want to discriminate in my survey answer). Probably my favorite part of fall is the pumpkin everything – pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, and of course pumpkin ice cream!
After having a slightly rough day last week, all I wanted was pumpkin ice cream. It was like the Pearl District’s Cool Moon Ice Cream read my mind, as right on their website was this big sign:
Woo hoo! As soon as I got off work, I headed straight over. Ever since Cool Moon opened in 2007, their handmade ice cream has been deemed as some of the best in the city, with its local ingredients and creative flavors including numerous seasonal varieties. Their pumpkin ice cream is a great example of why they have had such great success.
Creamy, full of pumpkin flavor with hints of spice. The one problem? I only got one scoop… but that just means I’ll just have to go back soon! Especially since they don’t carry that flavor year-end sadly…
Their other flavors are pretty fantastic too so there is something for everyone, in case your friends are strange and don’t like pumpkin. Their flavors do rotate so don’t get too hooked on any one flavor before you stop in. But don’t worry, if they are out of one flavor of interest, it will just encourage you to try something else.
What to Get:
- Cookies & Cream: Their Fresh Cream ice cream (a sublimely simple mixture of cream, sugar, and eggs) loaded with Oreo cookies
- Bing Cherry Almond Chip: Oregon Bing Cherries, toasted almonds, liquid chocolate crackle and a hint of natural almond extract
- Ginger Chai: Indian Chai spice mix from Portland’s own Dragonfly Chai with a handful of spicy candied ginger. The flavors are intense but a great combination.
Other Facts:
- Hours: Sun-Thurs 12-10pm; Fri-Sat 12-10:30pm
- Really hungry? Try “The Real McCall,” an insane sundae with 10 scoops of ice cream, 5 sauces and as many spoons as needed
[…] of my current favorite things: squash of all types as discussed earlier this month, going to bed ridiculously early, and this new show on […]