Hello from the road! I love driving across America and finding new places to explore. Today my cousin took me on a long ride out into the countryside to find an ice cream shop I had heard about. We took off on our little adventure and crossed rivers and railroad tracks. We passed old barns and cows grazing in green pastures. Then out of nowhere we hit what looked like an industrial area. Certainly not someplace I would think of when looking for a spot for an ice cream parlor. We kept driving and the scenery started looking like something out of a crime show, so many perfect places to dump a body! I had faith that she knew where she was taking me so I held on a little longer and am I glad I did! Suddenly the road opened up again to green pastures and a beautiful large house built in the Queen Ann style. It was forefront of a little area where a pizza place and a few other businesses had opened up. There was an old dairy truck with the name Cruze Dairy written on it. Now this setting was perfect!
Inside the house has been kept close to its original form. They could have gutted the whole thing an opened the space up but they chose to keep the rooms as they were in 1893. It has the feel of a nostalgic ice cream parlor and you are served by young ladies wearing red and white checkered dresses. The Cruze dairy started in 1980 when Earl Cruze a fourth generation dairy farmer, wanted to start his own dairy with his name on the bottles. Together with his wife Cherri they started selling their milk and buttermilk to “anyone and everyone”. Eventually getting into a couple local grocery stores, but they still had a surplus of milk. It was then they decided to start selling ice cream, and as the saying goes,”the rest is history”.
Each day they have a variety of different flavors made fresh from milk from their own cows. This really makes this ice cream stand out. On the day I went they had a flavor I had never seen before, browned butter. I had to try it. The flavor was amazing! The taste of the butter came through and yet there was a nutty flavor also, it resembled a better version of butter pecan. I paired it with peanut butter chocolate and looking back I think I should have just gone with the brown butter. My cousin got the salted caramel and this ice cream was also excellent. My only complaint , if this is a complaint, is that they only make soft serve ice cream. I’m more of a hard scoop person. However, when ice cream is made this way the quality makes up for the lack of harder ice cream. There are now five ice cream shops and one pizza parlor opened around the Knoxville area. At the ice cream shops you can buy their milk which isn’t homogenized, so it has the cream on the top. They also sell seasonal flavored milks and coffee milk. A little gift shop sells t-shirts and other various items.
If you get the chance to visit Knoxville I recommend stopping by one of the Cruze Dairy’s Ice Cream Parlors. The one in downtown Knoxville is in a really fun college oriented spot with lots of delicious restaurants around it. So it’s a perfect time and a perfect place to have a perfect dessert. They give free tastings so go out on a limb and try something out of your comfort zone! Until next time Boone Appétit!
What a perfect place to visit! I love this post: so fun and quirky. I wish I were close enough to go to the Cruze Dairy! Thanks for the smiles.
Thanks Jenn, I wish everyone could have a taste of their ice cream. Maybe one day you’ll do a road trip around the south. Maybe I should do a post on making ice cream? I found a great old recipe from Vermont for making maple ice cream that I’ve been wanting to try… hmmm