Photo : Robert Ristuccia

I’m a firm believer that in life, you need to grab all of the soft-serve ice cream you can. So when the Delaware Valley Miata Club scheduled a meet up at the Jersey Freeze in Freehold, NJ, I knew I had to go. Armed with a freshly rebuilt shifter and cup holders with lids that now sit firmly in place, I made the hour-long drive on a Tuesday night.


We had a pretty good crowd. Somewhere around 10 or 15 different cars showed up for burgers and ice cream. Not bad for a weeknight that was too cold to put the top down anyway.

Image : Robert Ristuccia


Aside from the roadsters, what drew us to this little burger-and-ice-cream joint off of Route 9? I can’t speak for everyone in attendance, but for me, Jersey Freeze holds a special place in my heart.

You see, you can go to Rita’s and get a great-tasting Italian ice. You can go to Strawberry Fields and customize your soft serve with just the right mix of toppings. But they are all missing one important thing: None of those are the place my parents used to take me when I was a just a little kid.


I have many fond memories of the place from when I was 3-8 years old and I lived in neighboring Manalapan. As I recall, vanilla ice cream sodas were totally my jam, the stuff I would look forward to all week. We could walk up to the window on a warm summer night, get our sweet treats, and then build those fond childhood memories.

And then there was the time when I only 3 or 4 years old and a stranger asked me to help him open the doors as he had locked his keys inside his van. Apparently, being the youngest person around, I was just the right size to fit through the back window. Having already had many lectures on stranger danger, I tried my best to hide behind my parents’ legs or otherwise dissolve into the background. Having grown up well before stranger danger, Mom and Dad said something along the lines of, “Sure! We’ll hold his feet and help boost him through the window!” Long story short, I reluctantly unlocked the man’s doors, he paid for the whole family’s ice cream, and I did not kidnapped.


So many memories.

Funny thing is, I hadn’t thought of Jersey Freeze in literally decades. But once the event popped up on the Club Schedule, I knew had to go so I could be a kid again for one night.


And now here I am, a fully grown man with a real job and toy car to entertain myself. Enjoy your rides, folks, whatever they may be. I hope they bring out the kid in you too once in a while.