Mark and Julie's, Ice Cream in West Orange

[Beth E.]

My husband -- who has been very, very busy lately -- with long days at a hot fryer -- brought home some yummy deliciousness to a very appreciative me last night.

He came home, brown paper bag in hand. Inside, two containers of home made ice cream. One for him and one for me.

In my container -- Caramel crunch ( I hope that's the name!) It's a sweet and creamy caramel ice cream with these hard but slightly melty caramel bits. I also had coffee chocolate chip. I don't know what the first flavor was in Eric's container (seems he forgot to share until he was over 1/2 way thought eating ) but the second flavor was chocolate chocolate chip. Yum!

Mark and Julie's chocolate has a slightly malted flavor to it that I really love. Another favorite flavor is the chocolate with raspberry truffles -- they are these little chocolate with raspberry inside -- too yummy to share indeed!

The people there (especially Mark and Julie) are very nice and friendly. I thought I would pass the info about them onto the rest of the New Jersey egulleters. They are located on Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange NJ. They are in the same strip mall with the kosher butcher and Fortissimo.

[hitmanoo]

My husband -- who has been very, very busy lately -- with long days at a hot fryer -- brought home some yummy deliciousness to a very appreciative me last night.

He came home, brown paper bag in hand. Inside, two containers of home made ice cream. One for him and one for me.

In my container -- Caramel crunch ( I hope that's the name!) It's a sweet and creamy caramel ice cream with these hard but slightly melty caramel bits. I also had coffee chocolate chip. I don't know what the first flavor was in Eric's container (seems he forgot to share until he was over 1/2 way thought eating    ) but the second flavor was chocolate chocolate chip. Yum!

Mark and Julie's chocolate has a slightly malted flavor to it that I really love. Another favorite flavor is the chocolate with raspberry truffles -- they are these little chocolate with raspberry inside -- too yummy to share indeed!

The people there (especially Mark and Julie) are very nice and friendly. I thought I would pass the info about them onto the rest of the New Jersey egulleters. They are located on Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange NJ. They are in the same strip mall with the kosher butcher and Fortissimo.

←

Mark and Julie do a pretty good job.

If you really, really love ice cream, I recommend Holsten's in Bloomfield.

1063 Broad St. by the interesecion of Broad and Watchung Ave. I'm a huge fan of their coffee chip, but I think that their Maple Walnut is next level!

Just wish they had a waffle iron...

[MsSumida]

Mark and Julie are really nice people, but I find thier ice cream mediocre at best. The last time I had Holsteins (friend brought it over) I was sick, sick. sick....

I miss the old Grunnings from South Orange and the original Welsh Farms form Caldwell

[hitmanoo]

Mark and Julie are really nice people, but I find thier ice cream mediocre at best.  The last time I had Holsteins (friend brought it over) I was sick, sick. sick....

I miss the old Grunnings from South Orange and the original Welsh Farms form Caldwell

←

I thought Welsh Farms was decent, but Grunnings...

Grunnings was my favorite ice cream parlor of all time!!!

It's a shame that so many great ice cream parlors have gone out of business due to chains and big places. However, in the case of Grunnings, I think the owner's children had little to no interest in running an ice cream parlor, thus it slowly faded away...

[NJ2FLA]

My dad would tell me stories of Bonds in Stiretown shopping plaza in Clifton.

[MJP]

Mark and Julie's has, hands down, the best chocolate peanut butter ice cream I've ever had. Better than the one Welsh Farms had. Their other more basic flavors aren't too outstanding (dare I say that on the basic mint chocolate chip, Ben and Jerry's outdoes Mark and Julie's) but some of the harder-to-find stuff is quite nicely done. Their cookies & cream has real Oreos that aren't too heavily crushed. I like getting a big chunk of cookie, myself.

But I do have to agree... nothing's better than Holsten's. I just wish that the ice cream place that my mom used to go to in Clifton, the one in the same area where Rowe-Manse Emporium used to be, still existed. She spoke of their legendary Awful Waffle, I believe... :-/ Oh well.

Edited February 14, 2006 by MJP (log)

[Curlz]

I've been to two recent (outdoor) concerts at the Oskar Schindler Perf Arts Ctr in West Orange this summer, and Mark and Julie's has had a table set up each time. The first time, a friend thrust his spoon at me and garbled "Try THIS!!!" and I had the coffee chip ice cream, which was fantastic. Needless to say, he lost his cup and had to get another.

Last night, I tried the coffee chip low-fat frozen yogurt, since they had that, Oreo ice cream, vanilla chip, and a few Italian ices. Let me say up front that I rarely eat real ice cream any more. The fro yo was tasty, but having had the ice cream version just a week earlier, the taste memory overcame me! Still, it was full of those great chocolate pieces, and my pal got the Oreo and shared some with me (he's a good guy, huh?)...have to agree that I loved the HUGE pieces of cookie in there.

I'm looking forward to checking out the store at some point soon so I can sample some other flavors!

[hitmanoo]

I too have had both the ice cream and fro-yo version of the coffee chip at M&J's, as that is my favorite flavor. The ice cream version blows away the fro-yo, but the fro-yo is certainly a passable choice, not to mention a health conscious choice.

[Cook456]

Mark and Julie's has, hands down, the best chocolate peanut butter ice cream I've ever had.  Better than the one Welsh Farms had.  Their other more basic flavors aren't too outstanding (dare I say that on the basic mint chocolate chip, Ben and Jerry's outdoes Mark and Julie's) but some of the harder-to-find stuff is quite nicely done.  Their cookies & cream has real Oreos that aren't too heavily crushed.  I like getting a big chunk of cookie, myself. 

But I do have to agree... nothing's better than Holsten's.  I just wish that the ice cream place that my mom used to go to in Clifton, the one in the same area where Rowe-Manse Emporium used to be, still existed.  She spoke of their legendary Awful Waffle, I believe... :-/  Oh well.

←

That was Bonds.

[Holly Moore]

The two ice creams of my youth, in northern Jersey - Alderney Dairy and, I think, Forsythe whose truck drove through our neighborhood a la the milkman. Especially Alderny - I dipped their ice cream one year at a place called Sip and Sup which used to be the Alderney Dairy dipping parlor.

[scarlet knight]

I know this is the NJ forum, but in the interest of ice cream and ice cream-related excellence, may I recommend Cones on Bleecker Street in NYC and, further afield, San Crispino, the laboratory of gelato, near the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy.

Edited August 9, 2006 by scarlet knight (log)

[JrZyChris]

The people there (especially Mark and Julie) are very nice and friendly. I thought I would pass the info about them onto the rest of the New Jersey egulleters. They are located on Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange NJ. They are in the same strip mall with the kosher butcher and Fortissimo.

←

Hi,

Thanks, Beth! I work in W.O. and do my banking right across the street from that strip mall. I pass it once a week and wish I could stop in but the parking is usually limited around lunch hour. I had no idea there was an ice cream place in here and now I might just venture in and hope for the best regarding the parking lot I got an e-mail that we are having an ice cream sundae party tomorrow afternoon in the office so I'll have to inquire as to where the ice cream came from.

Take Care!

Chris