Gill Out: Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant

By Ashley Diaz •

When Christian Garcia walked into Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant, he was welcomed by walls covered in license plates and different pieces of American history and carnival equipment all around.

“First time I walked through this place was in 2018. It felt like I was being teleported back in time,” said Garcia, a 20-year-old customer.
Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant was founded in 1956 by pioneer and restauranter Monroe Udell. Now, Jaxson’s is owned by his daughter Linda Udell Zakheim.

“Monroe was a real pioneer,” said Jerry Smith, general manager at Jaxson’s.

Smith said that Monroe used to call the restaurant Early American Disaster because of its unique decorations.
Jaxson’s makes its own ice cream and soda.

Amy Diaz, sister of junior communication major Ashley Diaz, enjoys a chicken caesar wrap at Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant. PHOTO BY ASHLEY DIAZ.

The restaurant is known for selling large portions of American-style food, like hotdogs, hamburgers and ice cream. Single-serve lemonade is served in a pitcher. Jaxson’s started with homemade ice cream.

Smith said that Monroe wanted to do something different with his restaurant, so he started serving his homemade ice cream inside a “kitchen sink” bowl, which holds pounds of ice cream.

Jaxson’s has the kitchen sink design patented, originally made with old plumbing parts, welding the pieces together.

The initial design was very time consuming, so Smith recreated it with marine exhaust, making it easier to construct.

“One day I was driving over by Lester’s Diner, and I saw a marine exhaust place,” Smith said. “They had a picture of these stainless-steel pipes and I thought, ‘marine exhaust welds really well into stainless steel.’”

Jaxson’s has a variety of ice cream flavors, including traditional flavors like strawberry, vanilla, rocky road and chocolate, and also more creative flavors like cookie monster, bubblegum and gator trax.

“The most difficult thing about the kitchen sink is getting people to agree on the flavors. They get mixed a little,” said Smith. “The only downside to it is if you got someone who loves cherry vanilla but can’t stand mint chocolate.”

The kitchen sink starts with the customers choosing their ice cream flavors. Then, that order is taken to ice cream makers, like Smith. They scoop up whatever flavors the customers choose into the kitchen sink. Once all the flavors are there, the ice cream is topped with whipped cream, banana, nuts and cherries. They also jam a sparkler in the ice cream for show. “The kitchen sink is quite
the spectacle,” said Smith.

When someone orders the kitchen sink, an alarm starts blaring around the entire restaurant to let everyone know someone ordered it. Smith said the people who normally order the Kitchen Sink are celebrating some special occasion, like a birthday or graduation.

When people order the kitchen sink, there is no sharing allowed. Only the people that pitched into buying the ice cream should be the ones eating it.

“This is the only item we don’t allow sharing on, because if a party of 12 came in and ordered the Kitchen Sink for four people, it should be for just the four people,” said Smith.

Though the kitchen sink is served for a minimum of four people, it is possible for one person to eat it all alone. Smith said that he has witnessed four occasions when someone finished the entire sink. Three of them were prompted by a dare made by their friends. The fourth was a defensive lineman at the South Broward High School who did it for fun.

Eddie Hall, who was named the strongest man in the U.K. and created the TV series “Eddie Eats America,” featured Jaxson’s on his show in 2019. Hall challenged himself to finish the kitchen sink by himself.

“When I made his kitchen sink, I spared no scoop, so he was unable to finish it,” said Smith.

“I felt bad for him. I didn’t really grossly over scoop it, but there was no way he was going to make it through.”

Smith enjoys watching people struggle through the kitchen sink and loves his work environment.

“It has been 24 years since I started working here and I still love coming to work,” said Smith.