Every day at work around 3 pm, I am hit with an immense wave of boredom and discontent that can only mean one thing: snack break. Usually, I’ll make my rounds in a predictable fashion, hopping from one coworker’s candy dish to the next until I have acquired enough Peanut M&M’s or fun size Milky Way bars to satisfy The Great Belly Monster (which is no small task, let me tell you). Today however, was different.

Today represents the one day each year that I am overcome with the insatiable desire to make healthy, responsible food choices. So rather than indulging my raging sweet tooth, I opted for a snack that screams responsibility – a pretzel rod.  This, my friends, is where my troubles began.

So, I’m eating the pretzel rod and everything is fine and dandy, when at some point, I get distracted, miss my mouth, and stab the side of my face. How, after twenty-some years of eating experience, you can still manage to make critical errors, is beyond me.

I’d like to think that my minor facial trauma can be attributed to the flawed design of the pretzel rod rather than my own shortcomings, but this whole experience has offered a valuable lesson:

Give the Belly Monster what it wants so that it doesn’t set the rest of my body up for mechanical failure.

And do you know what my belly wants?

Ice Cream from Pav’s Creamery.

A food that has never let me down, let alone resulted in personal injury.

Pav’s is a cult favorite amongst Akron-ites, and for good reason: their ice creams and custards are the absolute best around. Located in the infamous Portage Lakes district, Pav’s is a family-run business that has delighted locals with flavors like Chocolate Almond and Pumpkin Pecan Pie since 1969. With Pav’s, there’s no marketing fluff – it’s all about the ice cream. The delicious, smooth, creamy ice cream.

When my better half recently remarked that “This might be my favorite all time ice cream” (which is a statement we don’t take lightly in our household), I knew I just had to dedicate a post to this local favorite.

Pav’s was introduced to me by my AAB – Awesome Akron Brother (not to be confused with Cool Cleveland Brother, as mentioned in the Mitchell’s PB Cup Post). Akron Brother shares my extreme, somewhat unheatlhy passion for ice cream, often suggesting it as the preferred cure for minor ailments such as the common cold or a bellyache.

Akron Brother has taught me many valuable things throughout my life, including how to count, how to read, and how to change the oil in a car. But by far, the most valuable lesson he has passed on to me is his love and appreciation for frozen treats. Some of my earliest memories involve the two of us eating gigantic bowls of chocolate ice cream, watching reruns of Fresh Prince or whatever show we could find on network TV.

Ice cream has always been our thing, and when awesome Akron bro met his equally as awesome wife about a decade ago, we made ice cream her thing too (whether she liked it or not 🙂 ). She soon realized that she had married into a family of unstable ice cream fanatics, and from now on, none of her meals would be complete without a bowl (or four) of ice cream to top things off.

When I was in college, a typical evening consisted of dinner with my brother and sis, ice cream at Pav’s, then 2 or 3 hours of laying on the couch, immobile and drowsy, our bellies full of Caramel Apple Crunch or Chocolate Brownie. As my bro and I would grumble inaudibly, my sis would laugh at our struggles in a way that said, “you’re pathetic and insane, but I wouldn’t have you any other way.” If that’s not love, I don’t know what is!

Each time I taste ice cream or custard from Pav’s, I am taken back to those nights, laughing and carrying on with my family like we didn’t have a care in the world. For me, Pav’s and family go hand-in hand. As odd as that may sound, I suspect many people share this sentiment – which is why this local stand has been in business for nearly 45 years.

If you are in the northeastern Ohio area (or even if you aren’t, but foresee a road trip in your near future), Pav’s is a necessary ending to any Akron outing.

What’s your favorite local ice cream or custard stand?

Happy scooping!