Cheap Thrills: Getting Ice Cream Sandwiches at C.R.E.A.M

In the middle of the week, as supper draws to a close and the family is lingering over the table, make a surprise announcement and startle the kids with a special treat—a jaunt up to C.R.E.A.M (Cookies Rule Everything Around Me) for an unbelievable, and wholly unexpected, frozen delight — build-it-yourself gourmet ice cream sandwiches.

Postpone the night’s homework, pile into the car and giggle joyfully — and conspiratorially — as you cruise together up to Telegraph Avenue. As you drive, watch the rest of Berkeley whiz past the windows, the evening light starting to settle closer to the ground and the sky beginning to blue.

Once there, prepare to wait on line for a bit. The shop is very popular, always busy (even at midnight!) and buzzing with an electrified current of enthusiastic anticipation. The employees are wonderful, working their way quickly through the crowd, and before you know it, you’re through the door and facing flavor choice.

For a mere two bucks, you get a whopping ice cream sandwich — a generous scoop of ice cream crammed between two freshly baked cookies — so chunky you’ll be challenged to get your mouth around the whole thing. You get to choose the type of cookie you want — oatmeal, chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, or gingersnap, just to name a few — and your favorite flavor of ice cream as well — salted caramel, cherry vanilla, and coconut are just a few of the myriad choices.

So pick a night, and spin on over to C.R.E.A.M. Catch up on the little things as you snake your way through the line, chatting casually and standing close. Make it a regular family ritual — your family’s special place to visit together for an wholly satisfying, never boring, astonishingly inexpensive, and just plain yummy, ice cream sandwich.