Here's when your favorite Central Jersey ice cream shops are opening for the season
Forget the sight of a robin, a bud breaking through the earth or stifling a sniffle from your nose. The real sign of spring is when you start craving an ice cream cone after dinner.
We might not be wearing short sleeves yet, but seasonal Central Jersey ice cream shops are opening their doors right now and readying for a season of long days (and long lines).
Here's when your favorite local ice cream shops will start serving scoops.
As You Like It, Raritan
Raritan's hometown ice cream parlor, with a name often on the back of Little League T-shirts, will open for the 40th year on March 23. As You Like It's hours will be noon to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 1 to 9 p.m. Sundays.
The shop carries 24 rotating flavors of hard ice cream; vanilla and chocolate soft serve; soft-serve nonfat frozen yogurt; Italian ice; and soft-serve, nonfat ice cream with no sugar added.
Hard ice cream flavors include cotton candy, cake and ice cream, brownie s'mores, Macinac Island Fudge (vanilla ice cream with swirls of chocolate and fudge chunks), Jersey Shore (vanilla ice cream swirled with salted caramel) and Cookie Monster Chunk (blue-vanilla ice cream with chunks of dark and white chocolate).
Go: 62 W. Somerset St., Raritan; 908-526-9010, icecreamshop.com.
Four Boys Ice Cream Shop, Jamesburg
Four Boys Ice Cream Shop's long-running and far-reaching family affair with locations in five New Jersey towns dates back to 1999, when one of the "four boys" convinced his parents to buy an ice cream truck.
The Becker family's Jamesburg location will open for the season on March 1, and will be open Mondays through Thursdays from noon to 9 p.m., noon to 9:30 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.
From its red-bricked stand with tiki umbrellas, Four Boys Ice Cream Shop serves homemade hard ice cream, soft ice cream, sundaes, Italian ice, frozen yogurt, frozen blended coffee, and sugar-free and vegan ice cream.
Go: 215 Forsgate Drive, #1376, Jamesburg; 732-641-2837, fourboysicecream.com.
Jimmy's Ice Cream, Milford
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Customers will have to wait a bit longer for old-fashioned ice cream stand Jimmy's Ice Cream to open up shop, as the outdoor menu blackboards won't be full of lunch and ice cream offerings until April 1.
Jimmy's Ice Cream will be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
Customers will find hard ice cream and sundaes, as well as an array of classic American fare like cheesesteaks, burgers and hot dogs. Specials are also featured on the menu, which in the past have featured items like Hawaiian chicken and pizza grilled cheese.
Go: 525 Milford Warren Glen Road, Milford; 908-995-0095, facebook.com/Jimmysicecream1.
Just Chill, Clinton
It's hard to scroll Just Chill's Instagram account teeming with photos of its sea salt caramel pretzel frozen yogurt, warm brownie sundaes, and ice cream cookie sandwiches and wait till March 1 — when the Main Street staple opens for the season.
Customers can visit from 2 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Thursdays, noon to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 8:30 p.m. Sundays. Hours will expand as the season nears spring and summer.
Just Chill offers a dozen flavors of frozen yogurt with self-serve toppings; 45 flavors of Hershey's ice cream; homemade gelato with no preservatives or colorings; crazy shakes in flavors like Lucky Charms and bananas foster; as well as smoothies and pies.
Go: 47 Main St., Clinton; 908-963-3491, justchillfroyo.com.
Polar Cub Ice Cream, Whitehouse Station
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Every year, locals know when Polar Cub is open when lines of cars start backing up Route 22. It's been happening for decades. No one is completely sure when Polar Cub was founded, but co-owner Mario Monaco bought the business in 1998 and guesses it opened in the 1950s.
The legendary ice cream shop opened for the season on March 13.
From a simple stand surrounded by a parking lot, Polar Cub offers 14 flavors of hard ice cream, and five flavors at a time of soft-serve ice cream. It also offers sundaes, shakes and ice cream with blend-ins. Soft-serve is what the shop is mostly known for, with flavors including black raspberry, cake batter, coffee and mint.
Go: 380 Route 22, Whitehouse Station; 908-534-4401, polarcubicecream.com.
Ralph's Famous Italian Ices & Ice Cream, Old Bridge
For nearly 25 years, Rob Capitelli has owned the Old Bridge outpost of Ralph's Famous Italian Ices & Ice Cream. Feb. 27's opening was the earliest he has ever welcomed customers to the blue-and-white-striped stand.
Ralph's is open seven days per week from noon to 9:30 p.m., offering more than 20 of its staple water ice flavors.
The brand sells Italian ice throughout New York and New Jersey after namesake Ralph Silvestro immigrated to the U.S. from Italy and opened it nearly a century ago.
The Old Bridge store also sells gelati, ice cream, sundaes, edible cookie dough topped with ice cream, and Belgian waffle ice cream sandwiches. Cooler bags will be given to customers with purchases of $20 or more while supplies last.
Go: 39 Route 34, Old Bridge; 732-727-2318, facebook.com/ralphsices34.
Zita's Homemade Ice Cream & Italian Ice, New Providence
Sweet but simple Zita's Homemade Ice Cream & Italian Ice, a New Providence flagship for nearly 25 years, gave couples a Valentine's Day treat this year when it opened for the season on Feb. 14.
The shop — named after founder Pete Elefante's grandmother Zita Elefante, who loved to cook and bake — is open from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Zita's is known for its array of interesting and ever-changing ice cream flavors like blueberry pie, coffee toffee, mint lightning and sweet stout. Dairy-free options are also available.
Go: 1790 Springfield Ave., New Providence; 908-464-1511, zitasicecream.com.
Contact: JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com
Jenna Intersimone has been a staff member at the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey since 2014, after becoming a blogger-turned-reporter following the creation of her award-winning travel blog. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and fun, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. You can also follow her on Instagram at @seejennaeat and on Twitter at @JIntersimone.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Here's when Central Jersey ice cream shops are opening this season
