247 W. 40th StreetIce cream for dinner used to be a pretty popular mantra for one of my former co-workers. We did it on several occasions but our favorite spot was in Holland.
We decided to do a spring break staycation this year that coincided with a milestone birthday for J. We rented a house in Saugatuck and did a bunch of hikes.
Thursday we actually did three different trails in the morning. We found Fairview Nature Park on 138th Avenue near Holland, Husyer Farmer Park on 64th Street near Holland, and Rabbit River Preserve (which was a really nice, well maintained trail) on 135th Street near Hamilton. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired after those back-to-back-to-back hikes.
We spent the afternoon relaxing in the cabin’s hot tub and just generally lounging around. I cooked some burgers for dinner and it was a laid back evening.
The family we were with wanted to go in to Holland for the evening. It was kind of a cold, blustery day and we knew there wasn’t going to be a lot open in Downtown. Holland State Park was an option but J mentioned Tunnel Park. She had never been there so that’s what we decided to do.
The kids were not very happy about leaving again. They were exhausted and just wanted to watch a movie…so we bribed them with ice cream.
Remember that story from six paragraphs ago when I was talking about a former co-worker who loved ice cream for dinner. Well, our favorite place to get ice cream for dinner was always Captain Sundae on Holland’s northside on the way to Holland State Park.
I wanted to take everyone to Captain Sundae but wasn’t planning on going that way to Tunnel Park. We were coming from Saugatuck though so I knew we’d pass the one on the southwest side of town.
Captain Sundae has three locations in the Holland area. There’s the previously menitoned one on Douglas on the northside, one in Zeeland, and one on 40th Street near Washington Avenue near the I-196 Business loop interchange. We chose to stop at the one on 40th Street.
The 40th Street Captain Sundae sits not too far off a very busy Washington Avenue. The building is more of a traditional restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating plus a drive thru. The other locations are more seasonal walk up locations.
I have been to Captain Sundae many times but the rest of my travel companions have not. We decided it was best if we went in so we could all look at the menu.
The restaurant has a traditional fast food restaurant set up. There’s a pretty large dining room with booths, tables, and a window bar. The planked wood flooring really lends itself to the nautical theme of the restaurant.
Ordering is done at an order counter near the back of the space. The large menu kind of wraps around the whole counter area. As it should be no surprise, Captain Sundae is know for it’s sundaes and there are a number of them to choose from.
B was the easy one when it came to ordering. He just wanted ice cream. Nothing fancy. Just ice cream in a cup. The dipped ice cream is from Ashby’s Sterling Ice Cream. B saw the Superman flavor so that’s what he got. A scoop of Superman in a cup.
My eye was drawn right to the sundae board. I picked the Beach Bum. This sundae starts with brownie pieces in the bottom of the cup. It’s topped with a twist of ice cream, hot fudge, hot caramel, cookie dough pieces, whipped cream and a cherry. The cookie dough pieces on top are enough to make this sundae delicious but you really get a treat when you get to the bottom of the cup, think you’re done, and find the brownie pieces.
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J’s sundae pick was called the Sand Dune. This sundae is vanilla ice cream with hot caramel, malt powder, crushed waffle cone, whipped cream and a cherry. Days later J is still talking about how good this sundae was and is now actively making plans to leave me and the kids at home to go back to Saugatuck/Holland with her friends to hike and get more Captain Sundae.
L’s sundae choice was called the Mermaid. This sundae started with a warm donut in the bottom of the cup that was topped with vanilla ice cream, hot caramel, “Captain Crunchies,” whipped cream, and a cherry. Like me, L was super excited when she got to the bottom and there was still a warm donut to eat. There’s like the disappointment of getting to the end but excitement because the end is tasty.
It would be a pretty big understatement to say Captain Sundae was a big hit. The ice cream put all of the kids in to a better mood and we actually had a pretty good time at Tunnel Park during the magic hour despite the winds trying to blow us in to the lake.
I have a history with Captain Sundae because I used to work in Holland quite a bit. Now my whole family has a history with the place as that awesome ice cream joint we went to on our vacation in Saugatuck.