Mario and I visited Morelli’s Ice Cream Saturday afternoon for a sweet treat.  I’ve read a few other blog posts about Morelli’s, and since ice cream is one of my favorite foods (lol), I knew I had to try it out.  Morelli’s real draw is its unconventional flavors, like coconut jalapeno, sweet corn, and ginger lavender.

Morelli's

Morelli’s is located on Moreland Ave about 2 miles south of I-20. Quite honestly, it’s smack in the middle of the hood. At one point, Mario and I actually had to check and make sure we were headed in the right direction. However, the shopping center it’s located in is really nice, and it seems that the neighborhood to the west may be a little more ‘burb and a little less hood. On my first visit, I stayed fairly inside the box with Dulce de Leche Chunk, while Mario had Sweet Potato Pie.

Dulce de Leche Chunk

Sweet Potato Pie

Both of these ice creams were fabulous. The dulce de leche was sweet and creamy, had a spot-on dulce de leche taste, and a few cakey chunks throughout. Mario’s sweet potato pie was great too, with pieces of crust and an unidentifiable sweet milky colored ribbon that we decided might be marshmallow:

Mario's First Bite

My current favorite ice cream place is the overly expensive, overly fattening, overly delicious Cold Stone Creamery, but Morelli’s had them beat hands down, and was cheaper to boot ($2.89 each for the cup and cone pictured). The ice cream was so good, I had to go back the next day and try some of the more interesting flavors: coconut jalapeno and ginger lavender.

Coconut Jalapeno (top) and Ginger Lavender

As for the coconut jalapeno, I think my first bite face says it all:

Jessica's First Bite

I think I’m pretty clearly thinking “wtf?!” The ice cream wasn’t gross, it was just sooo not ice-cream like. The first thing you taste is the coconut, and there is a generous amount of shredded coconut in the ice cream, which I didn’t particularly like (I do like coconut though). Next, you get a hint of jalapeno flavor, and finally…a spicy kick?! Yes, the ice cream is actually spicy. Such a weird sensation!

The ginger lavender is spicy in its own way, but with the familiar “spiciness” of ginger, which is very strong in the ice cream. I didn’t really get much of the lavender essence, but the ice cream was fairly good. Next time I visit Morelli’s (which I definitely will), I think I’ll stick with their sweeter creations.

Morelli’s also serves belgian waffles, sundaes, and hot dogs. On Tuesdays, if you show up and dance for 15 seconds, you’ll get 20% off your ice cream! They are also currently running some really impressive “recession specials”, such as a hot dog, chips, drink, and a scoop of ice cream for $4.99. Sweet!

www.morellisicecream.com