Rhode Island: St. Clair Annex Ice Cream

After lunch at Matunuck Oyster Bar, we drove to Watch Hill, a coastal village in Westerly, Rhode Island. It is a picturesque area, right on the water, with a number of shops, hotels, and small restaurants. We made a stop at the St. Clair Annex Restaurant for some ice cream, a bit of dessert after all that seafood.

The history of this restaurant extends back to 1887, and it remains family-owned by the Nicholas family. They serve breakfast and lunch, but the highlight is obviously their ice cream, which has been made the same way for multiple generations. It is produced on the premises, in small batches, and uses many local ingredients such as cream from a Rhode Island dairy and chocolate & candy from a local Chocolatier. The restaurant has that flair of an old-style ice cream parlor, but how is the ice cream?

They offer about 30 flavors of ice cream, including some seasonal specials.  If you prefer traditional flavors, you'll find them there but if you want something a bit more exotic, they have that as well. You can get a Single Scoop ($3.50) or Double ($6.00) in a cup, sugar cone, wafer cone or waffle cone ($1 extra). You can also get a Dip (50 cents) or Sprinkles (25 cents) for your ice cream. If you're hungry, you can also choose one of their Sundaes (Small $5/Large $6.50) with a couple, like the Banana Split, priced $7-$8. You can even get a House-Made Ice Cream Sandwich ($8.75), which has 1 scoop of the ice cream of your choice, sandwiched between two oatmeal raisin cookies.

I went for a large Butterscotch Sundae with two scoops of ice cream, Coconut Pineapple and Banana Walnut Chip.  The ice cream was excellent, very creamy with plenty of bright flavors and it tasted exactly like the flavor it is supposed to be. The butterscotch sauce was also tasty and sweet, with a rich butterscotch flavor. Everyone else in our group seemed to enjoy their ice cream very much too.

Yeah, you should stop by this nearly 130 year old ice cream parlor if you visit Watch Hill.