For the Jewish community wanting to maintain kosher, the world of soft-serve yogurts, ice creams, and sorbets is a constricted one. For adults and children alike, those kinds of warm-weather treats were simply off limits for the most part, since the iconic local whippy-dips of the Midwest US did not (and do not) offer kosher products of any kind. So, kosher households, and especially kids of kosher households, went without that almost rite-of-summer experience.
But Jewish kids of Greater Cincinnati (moms and dads too) have an advantage over almost all of the OKI tri-state area in that right here, virtually in our backyards, we have one of the very few kosher soft-serve operations to be found anywhere — in a gas station, no less!
A cup of candy-apple sorbet, straight-up
The place is the Shell gas station, food mart, and repair garage at the corner of Pfeiffer and Kenwood Roads in Blue Ash, and the name is Rhino’s Frozen Yogurt & Soft-serve inside the food mart. Fact is, in doing an online search of the tri-state area, Dining Out found that Rhino’s is the one and only soft-serve operation to offer certified kosher soft-serve products for sale from dispensers. There may be places that sell kosher-certified products in sealed containers that reside in frozen food cases, but Rhino’s is the lone place we found where you can put your cup or cone under a spigot and dispense into it creamy, whipped soft-serve yogurt, ice cream, and sorbet that is certified kosher. Also, you can take the same Rhino’s soft-serve products home with you in sealed containers found in the frozen food cases at the Shell food mart. But that’s a story for another day.
It’s May. The end of May, pretty much. You and I know what is ahead. Hot weather, muggy days, and sticky evenings for which the Midwest and summer-steamy Cincinnati are famous. For me, nothing is better when the temps outside reach the 90s, and the sun is so hot the pavement radiates its heat right through the soles of your shoes. You know that feeling, right? I sure do. That is when yours truly is likely to make a destination trip to Rhino’s for a cup of its sorbet, or a soft-serve yogurt or ice cream choice. My personal preference among sorbets is the cherry, but the orange and other flavors are okay too, if the cherry is not on the bill of fare when I happen into the place. One of the beauties of Rhino’s is that the flavors, fifteen in all, change every month or so, meaning one never knows beyond vanilla and chocolate (which are always available) what will be found to try.
A shot of some of the add-in trays
As for the kids, and especially Jewish kids, it’s part of the fun of going to Rhino’s to see them go through their routines. Rob Miller, owner of the Shell station and the soft-serve operation housed there, wanted his yogurt and soft-serve ice cream and sorbet offerings to be kosher. For years now, the certificate has hung on the wall at Rhino’s. He did not realize at the time he sought certification that his would be one of the few such soft-serve operations anywhere. He tells the anecdote of the Jewish day-campers we have related in this column. He said: “When we went to kosher (certified status) it was summer, and one day a busload of girls from a Jewish summer camp came in and those kids were losing their minds. I have kids — and grandkids — and when I saw those kids on that bus and how happy they were to be able to eat the ice cream and the yogurt (and load their choices up with kosher toppings). “I’ll tell you, it pulled at my heartstrings to see it, because I didn’t realize Jewish kids probably don’t get that opportunity very often.” From what we’ve found through research, Miller is squarely on point.
In any event, it’s time to think hot-weather cold treats at Rhino’s. If you have not tried the sorbet, I recommend it. Especially the cherry. Yummy! That said, the self-serve soft-serve ice cream and yogurt are very good, and all of it is of the highest quality the soft-serve industry has to offer. Not the powdered formulaic stuff, but the real McCoy, made on a dairy farm from real, wholesome milk products. Very few whippy-dip ice cream and yogurt places can make that claim, so even if you eat kosher-style, Rhino’s is still the solid choice for the good stuff.
See you at Rhino’s Frozen Yogurt & Soft Serve!
