Grabill Dairy Sweet

I mowed the lawn today. I've heard people say they love to mow, and although I actually enjoyed it today - the weather was so pleasant - I don't feel very natural on a lawn mower or tractor. I don't want to mess something up, or break the mower blade or whatever, so I'm always kind of relieved when it's done.

When I was finished, I was so thirsty and tired of drinking water I decided I had time to head down the road to the Grabill Dairy Sweet. This mom and pop shop is an institution in Fort Wayne and northern Indiana. Located in clean, quaint, artsy Grabill, where New Age followers and the Amish mingle, Dairy Sweet is an old fashioned drive-in where you are apt to see both 60's muscle cars and horse-drawn buggies carting boys and girls through the drive-through.

I like their sandwiches - I'm going to lose any semblance of respect here when I admit I like the breaded tenderloin here - not a healthy sandwich but something I loved from Mount Vernon, and this area of Indiana is really known for these as well. The Dairy Sweet always gets it done right. Made to order, pickles, onion, tomato, whatever.

I also like their fried fish, which they bread themselves, and vegetables such as mushrooms and sweet potato sticks. But what they're known for is their ice cream menu - and soft-serve and frozen yogurt.

Today I order a chocolate shake, and I ask for it with about half the chocolate syrup in it. It tastes better this way - I think one can actually taste the flavor of the chocolate better, it's not overwhelmed. Call me crazy.

They have lots of sundaes, lots of choices. This is not a chain, and it has the feel of an individual shop where they care. Of course, they have the usual 'swirls' that everyone loves these days - with your favorite candy bar or cookie - Oreo, Snickers, M & Ms, Butterfinger. Slushies, ice cream cakes, floats - talking about this will make me lactose-intolerant. My favorite-all-time ice cream store was DeMent's in Mount Vernon, with everything homemade with real fruit - peaches, strawberries, you name it. The snap of their little glass window in the brick building; the frosty cold of their freezer doors in the southern Illinois humidity; the photos of the family with their horses at the DuQuoin race track.

The Dairy Sweet isn't DeMent's to me, but it's nearly as much of an institution to its town. Sometimes a little ice cream goes a long way to cheer up a kid or sooth a grown-up; just don't make a daily habit of it if you can help it!