Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk Ice Cream

You’re probably wondering why some guy would create an icecream blog like this one. Well the truth is, I love BJs! When I think of BJ’s, I think about that cool, creamy, milky sweetness coating my tongue with every spoonful and going down my throat like a bit of heaven with every bite. I love that they have such a good product, and so many delicious flavors, but honestly I’m getting sick of the Starbucksination of every major metropolitan area.

I live in Hoboken, NJ. Nicknamed Mile Square, it’s where Frank Sinatra came from. It’s also where mobsters hung out, and it’s the first place you see coming out of the Holland Tunnel from NYC. Through the miracle of gentrification, Hoboken has become an extension of Manhattan whether New Yorkers want to admit that or not. It’s a $2, 15-minute ride on the PATH train to get to the heart of New York City. That’s faster than many parts of Brooklyn, Da Bronx and Queens, the so-called real boroughs of New York.

Anyway Hoboken was a crappy little town full of crime and blue collar workers. Then one day, landlords got smart and burned people out of their rent-controlled apartments so that they could rebuild and charge more rent. Little by little, the town was absorbed by 22 year old frat boys eager to live near the city but not quite rich enough to afford a crib on the upper east side. It soon became a cultural mecca and the self-proclaimed Manhattan of New Jersey.

I know, the story of how Hoboken became what it is today is a morbid one. It really sucks for the people who lived here before and all kidding aside, I do feel for them. I used to have guilt about this, but for the same reason that 300 million Americans don’t feel guilty about all of the Indians who were killed and driven off of their land to be put into reservations aka casinos aka environments that enable alcoholism, I realized that I do not need to be the one to pay for the mistakes of my forefathers.

So, Hoboken today. I know what you’re thinking, what the fuck does this have to do with BJs? I’m getting to that…

Hoboken today… There’s this strip down the middle of town called Washington Street. It’s the main drag where you’ll find the most popular bars, restaurants and real-estate offices in town. It used to be that if you could cough up the $20k a month in rent to open up shop on Washington, you’d have a great, profitable business for many years. Now I see shops opening and closing every other month. The rents are still high and there’s still plenty of foot-traffic, so why aren’t businesses surviving?

Chain stores. Yes children, it’s that simple. When I first moved to Hoboken there were about 5 different coffee shops to choose from. Now there are 2 Starbucks, a Panera and a Choc-Full-O-Nuts. So what does this have to do with icecream? Everything.

When I first moved here, there was a little video store (displaced by Blockbuster), bars that drew crowds from all walks of life (re-branded and homogenized to appeal to an audience of recent college graduates) and two homemade ice-cream shops (replaced by a Ben & Jerry’s and a Coldstone). These shops were the bomb. It wasn’t shit you could find on the shelves of the local supermarket. It was real, home-made icecream made out of the best artery-clogging, stretchmark-causing, fattening milk products, sugars and flavors imaginable. Their icecream was so good, I swear I could have lived forever without ever having BJ’s again. Seriously. That stuff – it was damned good.

A couple of frozen yogurt places opened up in town not long ago. One still has its Grand Opening banner plastered across the front as if it will draw a crowd. A little Korean woman opened it up. She smart business woman! Of course, in typical Asian tradition (I’m allowed to say this based on my ancestry), someone else had to open up another fro-yo shop across the street from her – an organic yogurt spot. Too funny. Anyway it won’t be long before they’re displaced by Pinkberry & Red Mango. But hey, at least we’ve still got Carlo’s Bakery and the last known Guidos in the world!

So anyway, all of these observations sparked the question… With all the little homemade icecream shops in town gone, what on earth is left that could be better than BJ’s?