When the Food Snob heard we were doing a borders of Concord issue, he unplugged the Snobmobile (electric cars and green commuting is where it’s at, people) and raced to Insider headquarters with a list of all the food establishments he intended to visit in the next 24 hours.
Once his physician got involved with all his blah blah blood pressure and blah blah no-human-can-eat-that-much-in-a-day talk, , we settled on starting small with one location.
We picked the one with goats.
So the Food Snob jumped back into the now-less-than-fully-charged Snobmobile and set off for Beech Hill Farm in Hopkinton, just beyond the Concord town line.
Beech Hill Farm is famous around these parts for its combination of tasty and unique ice cream flavors and a farm setting featuring animals you can visit with. There’s also a network of corn mazes that just opened up and will remain available through the fall.
The main attraction for the Snob, though, was obviously the ice cream. He’s a big fan of sampling an establishment’s specialty, so he asked the teenage girl behind the counter if there was a flavor Beech Hill is known for.
Turns out there isn’t. But she did note that Graham Central Station was one of the most unique and popular choices.
Really, the name was reason enough to pe in, but the description – graham cracker flavored ice cream with graham cracker swirl and chocolate-covered crisp candy – put it over the top. The Snob quickly ordered two scoops in a cone.
First of all, let’s discuss these scoops – heaping is an understatement. For $4.15, this was a healthy helping. Certainly more than enough to spoil one’s lunch. Except for the Snob, this was lunch, so it all worked out.
The ice cream was, in a word, delightful. It’s obviously difficult to screw up ice cream, but the flavors here blended and worked perfectly together. The graham cracker flavor was interesting and apparent but not overwhelming, and the crunchy candies were the perfect complement.
And Graham Central Station is just one in a long line of funky flavors. There’s Caramel Caribou (toffee ice cream with caramel swirl and chocolate caramel cups), and Bear Claw (dark chocolate ice cream with chocolate-coated cashews and caramel). Or maybe you’d prefer Chocolate Cookie Monster, featuring chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookie dough and chocolate cookie variegate (we’re not sure what variegate is, but you can eat it, so it’s probably cool).
That’s just the tip of the ice cream berg, too. The menu when we were there had more than 30 flavors on it, and Beech Hill’s website claims to offer more than 75! And did we mention there’s a make-your-own sundae bar complete with a bunch of toppings? If we didn’t, we probably should have.
Beech Hill is much more than just ice cream, though. The Snob enjoyed a stroll through the grounds, visiting with the goats and other animals and peeping the corn mazes.
Inside the ice cream shop there’s also a ton of local beef and other baked goods, as well as jarred soups, relishes and a wealth of homemade jams. This isn’t your father’s ice cream stand, unless your father’s ice cream stand had enough cool stuff going on to make a day of it with the family.
The Food Snob certainly left with a smile on his face. He knocked off two things he doesn’t usually get to do – eat ice cream for lunch and visit cool places outside of Concord – in one afternoon.
Not a bad day at the office, even if the office was a little farther away than usual. We’d say no matter where your office is, Beech HIll is well worth the trip.
