***** Royal Scoop Homemade Ice Cream, 15 18th Street, Bonita Springs, Florida 34134, (239) 992-2000.

Let me start off by saying, thank GOD that Royal Scoop Homemade Ice Cream is in Bonita Springs and not by house in Boca Raton. I’m telling you, if this fast-food ice cream/soup-salad-sandwich joint was anywhere even close—I’d weigh something like 385 lbs.

Royal Scoop has been around since 1979. Real simple concept…order/pickup at the counter, some of the most amazingly delicious homemade ice cream and yogurt going…as a kicker, the joint also has a menu of soups-salads-sandwiches. At this stage of the discussion, feel free to abandon me and check Royal Scoop’s details at www.royalscoop.com.

A recent outing had me forcing myself to try…espresso chip, mocha caramel crunch, cherry vanilla, pistachio–in addition knowing that you guys would ask, I also “sampled” the joint’s tuna-chicken salads and a grilled American cheese with bacon/white toast. Like I said before, the ice cream is amazingly delicious—the kicker here, Royal Scoop’s tuna-chicken salads and grilled cheese were also very good (which is kinda unusual for an ice cream joint–think Swenson’s, Friendly’s, Dairy Queen, Jahn’s and you may appreciate my thinking on this).

Royal Scoop is open Monday-Saturday 11am-10pm and Sunday noon-10pm.