March 25, 2022

Ron's Ice Cream Opens - Here's Your List Of Where To Find Scoops In Beacon - Vegan Too!

March 25, 2022/ Katie Hellmuth

The tip came in on the Beacon Moms Facebook Group - Ron’s Ice Cream on Fishkill Avenue announced their opening day - March 25, 2022 - and are open! Readers and little kids alike have been asking: “When’s Ron’s opening!?!” as Beacon’s most visible ice cream hut, painted yellow and located across from a kid-busy Memorial Park, is the mile-marker to the official arrival of Spring.

Despite it being in the 50s today. Totally normal, by the way. Beaonites know that at least one more snow dump on pink and white magnolia blossoms is possible. For the sake of time, we re-published 2021’s Ice Cream Roundup, with the addition of Lick The Vegan’s Stuff’s new location - and is open now!

Lick The Vegan Stuff
at Végétalien

A Beacon favorite, and honestly, quite possibly a world-wide-vegan-ice-cream treasure. Located currently in the Vegetarian. This picture is credited to another Beacon gem, the vegan donut shop, Peaceful Provisions. Their description of this banana split: “We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you BANANA SPLIT news from @licktheveganstuff (yesss she’s back open)! We just had this and it was TOO GOOD not to share will y’all. Your choice of three ice cream scoops (we chose Strawberry, Cereal Milk and Death by Chocolate), organic banana, organic strawberries and your choice of oat or coconut whipped cream. Get it done right and make sure to order this with sundae toppings (chocolate sauce, pecans and sprinkles)🤤.”

Pictured: Mocha Crunch
Photo Credit: *Beacon Creamery via Yelp*

The Beacon Creamery

The Beacon Creamery is located at 134 Main St in Beacon, NY and they have mouth-watering flavors that you need to try now! Some include, “New York, New York” which includes cappuccino Kahlua, hot fudge, whipped cream, and raspberry sauce. They also have floats, ice cream sundaes, specialties, tipsy shakes, and regular ice cream with an option to add WINE ice cream for $2.00!

Ron’s Ice Cream

Ron’s Ice Cream is located at 298 Fishkill Ave in Beacon, NY and they have all of the fun flavors you want like Birthday Cake or Cookies and Cream. And always sprinkles. Some special flavors include Chocolate Moose Tracks, Graham Central Station, Crazy Vanilla, Cookies n Cream, and many more! They also carry sundaes, specialty sundaes, flurries, milkshakes, slushies, and more. Oh, plus, they have hotdogs, burgers, snacks, sandwiches, and sides!

The parking lot is small for line crowding during a pandemic. Last year, Ron’s initiated a call-in service with no walk-up service. ALBB does not have word yet on how they will do it this year. Stay tuned!

Zora Dora’s

NOTE: Checking on their 2022 open status!
Zora Dora’s Micro Batch Ice Cream And Paletas is located at 201 Main St in Beacon, NY, and makes ice creams and sorbets in the form of paletas! If you don’t know what a paleta is, it’s a frozen treat on a stick! Their handmade products are produced in small batches every day and they source and handpick the freshest seasonal ingredients available. They also offer catering and cart rentals!

The Chocolate Studio

The Chocolate Studio doesn’t only have delicious chocolates and signature treats, but they also have ice cream! Vegan flavors too. You can pick-up vegan and gluten-free treats (or nonvegan/gluten-free) OR they ship nationwide! Sadly, ice-cream is excluded from the shipping part so you will have to stop in the store for that! But you’ll want to! So many flavors, you might have to get a few.

Yankee Clipper Diner

You can also stop in the Yankee Clipper Diner for ice-cream! They have a few sundaes on their menu, including the Waffle Sundae, which is a freshly baked Belgian waffle with 2 scoops of ice cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles, walnuts, and a cherry on top! I mean, this could be your breakfast! Add additional toppings for only $1.

Shmuck’s Sweet Stuff

Shmuck’s is located inside the Hudson Valley Food Hall and offers delicious homemade ice cream, fresh cones, hot waffles, and other sweet stuff! They’re open year round, rain or shine, with great indoor seating if it’s cold or rainy!

March 12, 2021

It's Time...Ice Cream Shops In Beacon!

March 12, 2021/ Katie Hellmuth

The weather is getting warmer and you know what that means… it’s time for ICE-CREAM (although we are truly big fans all year round)! A reader already wrote to us about it on Thursday: “Urgent question: When is Ron’s opening?” By Friday afternoon, the Beacon Creamery had happy patrons sitting outside of it on their carved wooden bear bench.

People are gearing up to stand in socially distant lines (remember, don’t over-crowd!) to begin practicing how to order ahead from an ice cream shop, if they offer it. It is time to revisit Beacon’s ice-cream shops, as the spring weather has everyone itching to get outside in the sunshine.

The Beacon Creamery

Ron’s Ice Cream

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Zora Dora’s

Zora Dora’s Micro Batch Ice Cream And Paletas is located at 201 Main St in Beacon, NY, and makes ice creams and sorbets in the form of paletas! If you don’t know what a paleta is, it’s a frozen treat on a stick! Their handmade products are produced in small batches every day and they source and handpick the freshest seasonal ingredients available. They also offer catering and cart rentals!

The Chocolate Studio

Screen Shot 2021-03-10 at 4.29.07 PM.png

Yankee Clipper Diner

May 10, 2020

Interview With Yankee Clipper Diner, Who Re-Opened As Takeout With Precautions

May 10, 2020/ Katie Hellmuth

The Yankee Clipper Diner is a favorite restaurant with Beaconites both young and old. The restaurant was established in 1946, served customers back when Nobody’s Fool was filming in Beacon (starring Paul Newman, and is a scene in the movie) and is a regular eatery for locals like former Mayor Randy Casale. Since 2003, the diner has been owned and operated by two sisters and their husbands: Petros and Tonia; and Nikos and Katina. Tonia and Katina grew up in the diner business and their husbands — both from the Greek isle of Andros — run the Yankee Clipper kitchen.

Photo Credit: Yankee Clipper Diner — *Photo Credit:* *Yankee Clipper Diner*

When New York’s PAUSE went into effect on March 22, 2020, the Yankee Clipper tried to stay open with takeout, but on March 28, 2020, they temporarily closed the diner. They announced via Instagram: “The health and safety of our family, employees and customers is always our top priority. We are sorry for any inconvenience. We greatly appreciate all the support from our customers and the community during this hard time.” Days later they launched a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money for the staff, which has raised $3,280 to date.

On Wednesday, April 29, 2020, the Yankee Clipper opened back up, with a “Distance Makes Us Stronger” theme. They announced ordering protocols via Instagram, giving customers the ability to pay over the phone or in person, but stating that only a limited number of people were allowed in the restaurant at once, and that if you really needed to pay in person, you could do so, but needed to wait outside. Curbside service is available, where the staff brings it to your car, or you can pick it up from a table in the vestibule. Delivery to your front door is also an option.

So far in Beacon, the businesses that put forth their safety protocols before opening are seeing success with the public - with distancing incorporated. How did their opening weekend go? Keep in mind, if you’re reading this from out of town, and want to drive to Beacon to eat at restaurants in Beacon, they are doing takeout only, so you’ll need to eat the food in your car or a secluded park spot. Most who walk on Main Street are wearing masks. While not as congested as NYC, walking past people or turning the corner quickly into a group of people is common. So bring your mask!

A Little Beacon Blog checked in with the Yankee Clipper to find out how the first weekend went. Keep in mind, they are open every day:

ALBB: How have people been with social distancing?
YC: Our customers have been very good with it. Poeple have been respecting boundaries and the set-up we have in place as precautions.

ALBB: Have customers been wearing masks when picking up food?
YC: Yes, 99.9% of customers are wearing masks when picking up food.

ALBB: Are regulars so excited to order from you again? Your Instagram photos are incredible!
YC: Our regulars have been so supportive and very excited that we are open again. The support from them in our first few days open was overwhelming and we feel very blessed and fortunate to have such loyal customers.

ALBB: Has it helped your business at all to do takeout? Or is it too early to tell?
YC: Under the circumstances, takeout is working out. We have still taken quite a hit in comparison to our normal business. But we are very grateful for the takeout business we do have.

ALBB: Do you do catering or large orders?
YC: Yes, we do offer catering. On Mother’s Day, we offered family meals. We can accommodate any size order.

ALBB: In the future do you want customers in the restaurant? Or are you comfortable with monitoring things and doing takeout?
YC: Of course we would love to open up our dining room again to all of our customers. We miss the interaction with them and miss providing the service and experience of dining out. Of course when we do reopen, we will do what the state asks of us and we will take additional safety precautions to keep ourselves, our staff, and customers safe.

Find out the takeout and delivery status of other restaurants in Beacon by clicking on A Little Beacon Blog’s Restaurant Guide.