I Spent Three Years Covered in Spumoni Ice Cream at a Kentucky Restaurant

It's National Spumoni Day! Yes, I realize that it's exceptionally weird to have an entire 'national' holiday devoted to spumoni ice cream, but this one comes direct from southern Italy. Honestly, you may be wondering what in the heck spumoni ice cream even is. If you're one of those people who's never had the opportunity to try or enjoy it, check this out.  The bizarre Wikipedia voice will explain-->

Indeed, spumoni is a blend of three different ice cream flavors. Traditionally, it's a combination of cherry, pistachio, and chocolate. That said, there are some varieties of spumoni that replace the chocolate with vanilla. I suppose that could be good, but I, because of my spumoni-infused and checkered past, am a traditionalist who loves the chocolate version.

See, here's the deal, the backstory! When I was in college at the University of Louisville, I worked at the Old Spaghetti Factory at 3rd and Market downtown. I was there at least four days a week. If you've ever eaten at a 'Spaghetti Factory', you know the drill- the restaurant chain's claim to fame. Every entree comes with a loaf of bread, a salad and dessert. That dessert is a complimentary scoop of spumoni (or vanilla) ice cream.

When I was waiting tables at 'Spag' (that's what my coworkers and I called it), we were required to wear long-sleeve shirts. Those sleeves, because we had to scoop our own ice cream for our customers, were routinely covered in spumoni ice cream. I remember it like it was yesterday. We would have to lean down into this big ole freezer, scoop the ice cream out of these monster tubs and put them in the little silver serving dishes we'd then parade out to our tables.

Oddly enough, though I certainly got tired of scooping and serving spumoni ice cream, I never got tired of eating it. The restaurant had us bill the scoop of spumoni as a 'palate cleanser.' After eating a plate full of pasta and garlic, a bite of spumoni would get that breath of yours right back to good. Well, theoretically.

My friend Shannon and I recently met up at The Spaghetti Factory!We tried to organize a reunion with some of our former college friends and coworkers. They didn't show, but we did! Our buddy Tony was there too.

We worked with Tony way back in the early 90s and he's still holding down the spaghetti fort all these years later.

Naturally, to reminisce and celebrate the good old days at Spag, we treated ourselves to a scoop of Old Spaghetti Factory spumoni. Only this time, I didn't have to have anyone hold onto my ankles to keep me from falling in the freezer while scooping it and I didn't leave with any of it smeared on my sleeves.