Nate’s Valley Freeze
A “Drive-In” Review
“It’s summer,” I reminded myself, “so why are we eating inside when we could be eating outside at so many local drive-ins?”
Rather than attend a restaurant I could visit anytime in any weather, my friend and I, while driving south of Albion, decided to stop at Nate’s Valley Freeze.
The ice-cream stand, just outside of Conneautville, is re-emerging from a line of previous lackluster owners who’d keep the stand open only three months out of the year—and even then with cockeyed open-closed hours and expensive but just-okay food offerings.
Prior to all of them, the business was known as Rauscher’s Valley Freeze and it’s been there for as long as I can recall. As far as I know, he built it. It was a local institution. Every year when it would open, I, as a child, considered that the official beginning of spring. It advertised its summer hours as 10 am to 10 pm. Daily. Yep. Seven days a week. Back when store owners weren’t afraid to work to make their business a success.
Currently the owner is Amish and his employees are Amish, too, (which is probably why the site is closed on Sundays), and not to pigeonhole people, but they have a strong work ethic and strive to succeed (just like Rauscher did), so we thought we’d give them some business on a beautiful August Friday.
Me, wanting a little history with my meal, went with “Rauscher’s Famous,” a cold-cut sub, fitting on the hot day that we visited. The sub sandwich consisting of deli ham, bologna, salami, lettuce, tomato and seasonings and was larger than I expected, with all its ingredients tasting fresh, rather than the pre-made, pre-packaged subs you can buy at gas stations like Country Fair or Walmart.
My traveling companion had heard that Nate’s had good barbeque so he went with a pulled pork sandwich. He was right. The meat was soft and tender, with just enough barbeque sauce to complement the sandwich without making it too messy. Crowned with an onion ring and some coleslaw, the soft, warmed bun that surrounded the tasty chunks of beef somehow managed to keep all its contents together—and not spill on anyone’s lap.
Wanting to get something original from this ice-cream stand for dessert, we chose “Nate’s Special,” a small-sized-but-almost too-large-to-finish delight subsisting of a large scoop of vanilla ice cream buried underneath a hard chocolate shell with caramel sauce and topped with pretzel sticks. The yummy concoction of salty-sweet was a great way to end our meal, but with the day’s heat, we had to rush to finish it, as Nate’s namesake was quickly melting! Yet with paper napkins and some bottled water from our car, we managed to clean up what didn’t find its way into our tummies and instead ended up all over the picnic table where we sat.
An offbeat place for a sunny, summer drive, we hope to visit Nate’s Valley Freeze again.
How about you?
Eat your veggies, Dearies!
***The Lunch Lady Nate’s Valley Freeze is located at 22592 PA-18, Conneautville. Hours are 12-9 daily, closed on Sunday For more information call 814-587-6271 or visit their Facebook page.
