Hoffman's Ice Cream in NJ is pretty famous. It's been featured on Man Versus Food and in numerous travel guides. The line is totally out the door all summer long.

But, you know, before it was on Man Vs. Food, it was where my grandma would take me and my sisters for a treat after going swimming by her house in Point Pleasant. Or where my soccer team would go to celebrate if we won a game (or drown our sorrows if we lost).

And recently a friend and myself visited Hoffman's to see if it tasted as good as I remembered.

Of course, my spytastes have become slightly more refined. During youth, my favored flavor was bubblegum (it was pink, with chiclets); but I decided to go for something more adult now that I am nearing thirty. Well, that is actually a lie: they did not have bubblegum on the day of my visit. I totally would have gotten it.

Our flavors of choice: a cup of cookie dough for me, a cup of chocolate peanut peanut butter for my companion, who got his in a cone, but it was soft, so they put it in a cup anyway and he kind of crumbled up the cone on top, like an ice cream cone crouton or something.

Happily, the ice cream was just as perfect as I remember. It's fairly simple stuff: the flavors are not extremely faceted or delicately balanced, but they are sweet, creamy, and delicious. As my companion said: “This is extremely good blue-collar ice cream.”

...and that is just fine with me.

Hoffman's Ice Cream, 3 locations; I favor the one in Spring Lake; find hours and information here.