Business

RESTAURANT ROUNDUP: We all scream ...

Logan Allen serves a strawberry cone at the Mills River Creamery.

By Bill Moss, Published: July 22, 2014

While Hendersonville has plenty of ice cream and frozen yogurt offerings, the sweet treats are now available at ice cream shops in Mills River and Etowah, too.

The Mills River Creamery, which opened in April, offers ice cream, milkshakes, sundaes, banana splits, floats and smoothies. Some of the ice cream is homemade, which has regulars coming back for more.
Soon the creamery will be bottling milk from the Tap Root Dairy.
"It'll be pasteurized, so it'll have the cream on top," said Nancy Lynn Waycaster, who owns the Creamery and Nancy Lynn's Diner and Pizzeria next door. "You'll have to shake it really well before you drink it."
She also sells homemade butter and homemade jams and jellies.
"More and more people are finding out about it," she said of her shop. "We make some of the ice cream, we don't make it all. We have 16 flavors in the case."
She said most of her customers are local, and some discover the ice cream place as they pass through. The Mills River Creamery is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.

Mike's in Etowah

Mike Silvia got tired of driving an ice cream truck. He still loved ice cream.
"It's a lot easier with the price of fuel to stay in one place," he said.
Mike Silvia serves a chocolate dip cone in Etowah.He opened Mike's Premium Ice Cream on U.S. 64 in Etowah last October. He weathered a cold winter and works seven days a week, with help from daughter Jordan, serving scooped and soft serve ice cream, chocolate and cherry dipped cones, sundaes, milkshakes and banana splits.
He guesses his customer base is "half and half" between local folks and tourists.
The ice cream stand is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day except Monday, when it closes an hour earlier. "That's my day off," Silvia jokes.