Southern Season Ice Cream Parlor

What it is: So, I have always thought that Southern Season, the gourmet food store in Chapel Hill, was a dangerous place for me.  I would head in and, no matter what I came for, come out with some extra gourmet candies, packages of coffee or tea, deli goodies, or bottles of wine.  Plus, they have a delicious restaurant (Weathervane) and a cooking school with weekly wine tasting to further tempt me.

Well, I hate to say it, but it has gotten a whole lot more dangerous at Southern Season.  Recently, they opened a little coffee shop at the front of the store which I can avoid because I've never really gotten into coffee.  However, if you do like coffee it looks like a great place to stop by and enjoy a treat.

In addition to the new coffee shop and remodeling of all of its rows and departments to make them more approachable.  They've now got an ice cream parlor!!  Head back to the candy department right before you go up the stairs to the cooking school and you will find their new ice cream stop.  There you can sample ice cream from Lumpy's ice cream in Wake Forest which uses local Maple View Farms Cream.  Then, you can take that ice cream and top it with all of the delicious toppings that Southern Season can offer to make milkshakes, floats, sundaes and beyond.

We went in a few days ago as a post-doctor's appointment treat, and it was a great place to take the kiddos.  They both had vanilla ice cream with gummy bears, not the most exciting choice.  So, I had to get my own and try a scoop of the chocolate with Chapel Hill toffee as a topping, yum!  I'm looking forward to heading back to sample some of their other treats such as their cornbread peach sundae which features cornbread, peach ice cream, Lee's Bees Honey, locally grown peaches, Southern Season roasted peanuts, and whipped cream.  There are so many delicious choices!!

What we liked: I love the fact that they use local ice cream and then top it with all of the fancy toppings at their disposal.  It makes for a delicious twist on an ice cream parlor.  Plus, it's in Southern Season so you can combine it with shopping for all kinds of other goodies.

What we would change: It can be a bit tricky to drag the kiddos all the way through the rest of Southern Season to get to the ice cream parlor which is located at the back of the store.  They do use glass old fashioned ice cream glasses to put their treats in which I thought could be dangerous with kids.  However, the man behind the counter told us that he's dropped them down the stairs before and they're sturdy enough to survive that, so I think they're sturdy enough to survive our kids.  In addition, the parlor is located right next to the decadent looking candy section.  So, try to get the kids out of the store without them asking for some of those goodies.

Website and other important information:

Website: http://www.southernseason.com/includes/icecreamparlor_menu_web.pdf

Address: University Mall, 201 S. Estes Dr, Chapel Hill, NC

Hours: Open at 11am, daily

Prices: Ice Cream Scoop is $2.50 and toppings are 50 cents to 75 cents each.  Shakes, sundaes, and other specialty items are between $4 and $7.

Photos:

(Our delicious treats)

(A view of the counter)

(The candy section viewed from our seats)