By STACEY PATTON WALLACE
As I have mentioned in this column many times, I absolutely LOVE living in Lee County, and I feel sorry for the other 66 counties in Alabama. I’ve also stated that if you can’t be in Heaven yet, Lee County is the best place to wait.
In addition, I love Lee County because there are so many different restaurants from which to choose; that was not the case in Tallapoosa County, my home county, and Troup County in Georgia, where I worked for 30 years. This is my 94th column; I would never have been able to write that many columns in Tallapoosa or Troup counties, even though they are still special to me. My writing “gig” would have been over long ago. Therefore, I’m grateful to Lee County for keeping me working. I really love it, and it keeps me out of trouble.
Recently, Mike and I visited O Town Ice Cream at 700 2nd Ave. in Opelika. We enjoyed the sidewalk chalk art, which children had drawn on the patio.
When Mike and I entered O Town Ice Cream, we admired the bright, cheery colors. Also, we LOVED the beautiful paper tree, which had monkeys hanging from it in one corner (I’ll explain that later).
My husband Mike smiled when he saw a picture of the Rocky Brook Rocket on a wall. As I’ve mentioned previously, when Mike was in kindergarten in West Point, Georgia, in 1965, his class rode a real train to Opelika where the parents took their children to the Municipal Park of Opelika to ride the Rocky Brook Rocket. Mike said that it used to be called Monkey Park and that it had live spider monkeys. The older we get, the more we love nostalgia.
We began talking to Christopher George; he and his wife Angela own O Town Ice Cream, and although he was busy with other customers, he was so kind and patient, telling me about the history of their business.
George said that O Town Ice Cream started out in 2015 as a push-cart in downtown Opelika for two-and-a-half to three years. Then O Town Ice Cream, named for Opelika, moved to its present location in January 2019.
George also said that his wife Angela has written a children’s book entitled “Monkey Tales: an Adventure in O Town.” She had a signing party on Oct. 1, and the beautiful paper tree in the corner was made by Madison Brooks, the book’s illustrator.
While Mike and I were deciding what to order, a pretty, young girl named Stella, an employee, came in the door. George said that Stella worked for free, which sounded strange in this day and time when employers can’t get paid workers. As it turned out, sweet Stella is the Georges’ daughter and is a sophomore at Opelika High School.
In addition, Lisa, a teacher at Opelika High School, and her son were customers at O Town Ice Cream that day. Lisa asked George if he would still make biscuits, which quickly got this “Pooh-sized” girl’s attention.
George told me that during the hard pandemic, O Town Ice Cream only had drive-thru service. At that time, Chef Chris Wilton asked George if he would like to make biscuits and beignets for his customers; George agreed. George said, “Chef Chris gave of his own time to show me how to make the biscuits and beignets. Then I made them and sold them during the fall.” When summer returned and the pandemic had improved somewhat, George no longer sold them.
However, Lisa said that the sweet potato, pecan and sausage biscuit with apple butter was AMAZING. My mouth started to water. George told Lisa that if at least 50 people requested the biscuit, he would consider bringing it back. Therefore, anyone reading this column, please call 334-737-5700 or go visit O Town Ice Cream to request that the incredibly delicious-sounding biscuit makes a big comeback. Thank you.
In addition, George said that he was thinking about making biscuits, without the sausage or apple butter, freezing them and selling them by the half dozen or dozen. That way, customers could just pop the biscuits in the oven and serve them on Christmas morning or any other morning, for that matter. I really hope Mr. George does this. I made biscuits from scratch exactly ONE time, in 12th grade home economics. I will NEVER do that again because, as I’ve said very often, I am not the woman my amazing Mama Barbara Patton or my wonderful grandmothers, Pearl Coker Patton and Vivian Brooks McEachern Adamson, were.
After talking to George, Mike and I finally made our decisions. He ordered a single scoop of Summerswing Strawberry in a waffle cone. He said it really tasted great. I chose the hot caramel brownie sundae with Pepperell Pralines ice cream. That sundae was “slap your grandma three times” good. When I dug into that warm brownie, it was love at first bite. Also, Mike and I loved that the ice cream flavors were named for people, places and events in Opelika. Some other examples include Choo Choo Chocolate, Norma Rae Raspberry and Spring Villa Vanilla.
Besides our luscious ice cream choices, O Town Ice Cream also serves chocolate chip, Oreo stuffed and Reese’s stuffed cookies, chicken salad, pimento cheese and coffee roasted by Mama Mocha’s.
Next time, I want to try the pimento cheese. My dear friend Lynda, who teaches me piano, says it’s great. Run and do not walk to O Town Ice Cream.
O Town Ice Cream is open on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from noon to 8:30 p.m. The shop is closed on Monday.
O Town Ice Cream makes the grade with an A+ from this retired English teacher. Remember, “Pooh-sized” people NEVER lie about food. Enjoy!
Stacey Patton Wallace, who retired from teaching language arts for 30 years, is a professional diner. Her column, “Making the Grade,” will appear each week in The Observer. Stacey may be reached at retiredlangartsteacher2020@gmail.com.