Grazing: The Best Maple Creemee? | Bite Club

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Grazing: The Best Maple Creemee?

Posted By on Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 4:09 PM


It's been so sticky these last few days that I've hardly been able to think straight. To stay cool, I've jumped in a lake (twice), showered twice a day and consumed Stracciatella gelato, Salted Caramel Pretzel frozen yogurt, strawberries with crème fraiche, guava sorbet and several glasses of rosé.

Another sure-fire way to cool down is to take a long ride in an air-conditioned car, especially if it's to obtain more frozen dessert. Today, that meant a 30-minute trek to the roadside stop on Route 107 just outside Bethel, Tozier's Restaurant. One side of this 60-year-old gem is a sit-down dining room where you can down Cobb salads, onion rings and Reubens; the other is a takeout window serving up plates of fried clams and ice cream, which people eat at a few picnic tables nearby. Almost any time from April to October, dozens of cars are parked in front and across the street.

It was at Tozier's that I had my first creemee epiphany: When I interviewed owner Bill Campbell, a few years ago, he was rolling his own waffle cones. As I left, he filled one with maple creemee for me to take on the road. It was so monstrous that I thought I surely wouldn't finish it all.

I stopped in the parking lot halfway to my car, totally in thrall to the almost smoky ice cream and the salty, buttery, flaky cone. Since I was alone, I looked around to find someone to swoon with — but found no one. It may be a universal law that some of the most rapturous food experiences happen when you're alone and focused on what you're eating.

Today, I decided to creemee-baptize a friend visiting from New York. After the winding drive, we were disappointed when the woman at the counter told us that Tozier's was out of fresh waffle cones. I must've looked sulky and pathetic, because she seemed to soften and offered to roll one herself, if we would wait. About 10 minutes later, she appeared in the window, bearing a swirly, dusky-white maple creemee.

It was as amazing as ever. For my friend, it was full-on foodgasm. "This is so f***ing good!" she insisted, leaning in to break off pieces of the cone. "Seriously, this is so worth the drive. This is so damned delicious." When I asked her to elaborate on flavor, all she could manage was "It's so ... creamy!" She soon ordered another.

Tozier's Maple Creemee. Seriously, it's so worth the drive. 

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Corin Hirsch

Corin Hirsch was a Seven Days food writer 2011 through 2016. She was also a dining critic and drinks columnist at Newsday from 2017 to 2022, and contributes to The Guardian, Wine Enthusiast and other publications. She’s spoken often on colonial era drinking and is the author of Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New...