Sunday, August 26, 2012

Scoop-Ahh-Dee-Doo ice cream - historic Ellicott City

We continued our Main Street Appreciation Weekend with a visit to Scoop-Ahh-Dee-Do last night.

Scoop-Ahh-Dee-Doo is a little hard to find, but it is worth the trip. The store consists of only a window where you purchase your dairy treat but there are plenty of chairs, tables, and benches to sit on outside in a cozy courtyard. 









It is located in historic Ellicott City next to the Little French Market CafĂ© and directly off of the parking lot near Tersiguel's.






There are about 19 ice cream flavors to choose from including classic vanilla to the unusual maple & bacon.

They also have sherbets, milkshakes, non-fat frozen yogurt soft serve, and pints.
Cookies & Cream - I loved the way the
cookie pieces blended in
 with the creamy flavors
of the ice cream. Plus, the two scoop ice cream cone
was so big it felt like I never was going to finish it!
  

 
The two scoops of cookies & cream on a cake cone was a great deal for $4.50. 
Charles thought his one scoop cup of salty caramel was incredibly sweet and delicious.


This was our first time at Scoop-Ahh-Dee-Do and it is certainly not our last. This place was the bomb! I can't believe we didn't discover this store earlier. Now, thanks to the suggestion of HoCo Rising blogger 
Tom Coale, it is our favorite ice cream store!

- Thomas





Friday, August 24, 2012

Historic Ellicott City Main Street Appreciation Weekend


It's been a sad week in Howard County. A train derailment in historic Ellicott City took the lives of two nineteen-year-old girls Rose Mayr and Elizabeth Nass.  Not only did two people lose their lives, but main street was closed due to the investigation and clean-up of tons of coal that spilled from the overturned freight trains - forcing many businesses to shut down.

In the past year, the Ellicott City restaurants and stores have had other problems including a major flood and a power outage.

To encourage people to shop and eat in historic Ellicott City this weekend, one of our favorite bloggers Tom Coale of HoCo Rising suggested a Main Street Appreciation Week. Another of our favorite bloggers, veteran food blogger HowChow, joined forces with HoCo Rising and now the Main Street Appreciation Week is a big deal on Facebook with over 300 people committed to supporting downtown businesses this weekend.

My brother Thomas and I are joining the effort.  We decided to start last night.  After we attended Thomas's middle school open house event, we headed downtown to Ellicott Mills Brewing Company .  We remembered they have fabulous ribs and they didn't disappoint.
Ribs with french fries


 
A garden salad can 
be added to your entree 
for $2. 


Side sampler with shrimp & chicken salad. My
Dad said the shrimp and chicken were
well seasoned & honey mustard sauce
was good.  


My mom ordered a shrimp and chicken in a thai curry sauce.
She liked it but it was on the spicy side. 


The fall off the bone ribs have a slightly sweet but heavy smokey flavor. You'll need extra napkins with this finger licking good sauce.

We ate upstairs where we noticed a huge steel wheel in the corner of the room.  We knew the building was very old so we asked our waiter about it. He told us that it is one of the earliest known commercial  elevators.  A long time ago the building was a hardware store and the elevator was used for bringing lumber up to the second floor.  At one point, the Smithsonian was even interested in having it. 

While it's not being used anymore,
if you  look closely directly above the desk
you'll see old elevator's round wheels.  







There is a ghost rumored to be "hanging out" in the upstairs dinning room. Our waiter told us about it and recommended this new book sold at the restaurant (most EC shops sell it too).






It was such a nice night that we decided to walk around town.
We took pictures to show some of the great places to shop and eat.

Although we'll be back again this weekend, we encourage you to also make a reservation to eat at the one of the awesome downtown places including Rumor Mill, Portalli's, or Cacao Lane and shop at the many stores. It's a great way to give back to the community by supporting our local businesses.

Enjoy the photos....

- Charles










   




















A memorial to Rose Mayr and Elizabeth Nass who
died in the train derailment.