If it weren't for the little chunks of banana that kept getting caught in my straw, I think I could have finished my entire Portland Malt Shoppe malt in one slurp.
I had my first of the season Sunday, and the spoonfuls of cold, blended ice cream, along with the high temperatures that settled in last weekend, made it finally feel like summer in Duluth.
It can be a bit overwhelming to choose from the shop's roughly 20 ice cream flavors and 15 toppings when concocting your malt combination, so I tend to just stick to the classics. On Sunday I went with the hot fudge banana and was not disappointed.
It's hard to make anything made of ice cream and chocolate sauce taste bad. But I'd say the Portland Malt Shoppe does ice cream better than most. My malt was rich and creamy; not too chocolatey; no hints of cheap Hershey syrup distracting from the other flavors; just a reliably good malt. Topped with the thick layer of whipped cream -- possibly my favorite part of the whole malt experience -- and the vanilla wafer sticking out the top, I might even call it a reliably delicious malt.
From another perspective, my dining partner described it as "smooth with sudden surprises of banana greatness."
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The Portland Malt Shoppe is about more than just the malt, though. It's about walking up to that quaint little brick station, placing your order at the window, and then taking your malt over to one of the nearby picnic tables overlooking Lake Superior to dig in. That is the Portland Malt Shoppe experience.
Work constraints forced me to take mine to-go last time and miss out on that part, so I guess I'd better go back soon.
PORTLAND MALT SHOPPE
Where: 716 E. Superior St.
Malt price: $5.95
Other menu items: Ice cream floats, sundaes and ice cream cones
