Harbor Bars, Chessters, and Chipsters | In Praise of New England Ice Cream Novelties
Several weeks ago, I received an email from Keith Davis, a Maine entrepreneur who has devoted the past few years to reviving a beloved Maine treat called the Harbor Bar. Harbor Bars are chocolate-dipped ice cream sandwiches filled with either vanilla or mint ice cream. They were first created in the late 1970s as a […]
Several weeks ago, I received an email from Keith Davis, a Maine entrepreneur who has devoted the past few years to reviving a beloved Maine treat called the Harbor Bar. Harbor Bars are chocolate-dipped ice cream sandwiches filled with either vanilla or mint ice cream. They were first created in the late 1970s as a summer project by members of the Blake family, founders of Friendly Ice Cream, who had a house in Northeast Harbor. The bars were a local phenomenon and over several years, they spread throughout New England, but the Curtis family sold the company in the 1980s and Harbor Bars eventually disappeared.
Harbor Bar Logo
Davis has been reintroducing the bars in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and will soon expand his reach to New York and Pennsylvania. He told me he’d be in New Hampshire in the coming weeks for sales meetings and offered to drop some bars off at Yankee‘s offices in Dublin.
They were a huge hit. A delicious blend of cream, crunch, and chocolate. As one colleague wrote in a grateful email, “Loved the cookie and not-too-thick ice cream layer (just enough to not drip all over). The (slightly bitter? Semi-sweet?) chocolate brings a nice contrast.” Keith uses Callebaut chocolate—very good stuff.
This got me thinking about other regional ice cream novelties, like Vermont Chessters (also ice cream sandwiches), and Carvel Flying Saucers and Chipsters (the company is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut).
I’d love to hear from Yankee‘s readers about their favorite local treats, current or past. What are/were your favorites? Are there any other brands you’d like to see revived? Let us know in the comments below.
2017 Update: The most recent commercial Harbor Bars reinvention seems to have fizzled since this post was first written in 2011, but you can find a worthy recipe for homemade Harbor Bars on Food52.com.
Amy Traverso
Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee and cohost of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with GBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.
Since I was a child I have loved orange sherbert and vanilla ice cream on a stick…Over the years I would look for Orange/ vanilla ice cream as a treat….When I visit the Amish country at Walnut Creek OHIO there is a Walnut Creek Cheese house that sales a mixture of Vanilla, orange sherbert and pineapple ….It is to die for….
When they give you a dip of this treat it is huge…I can not pass the cheese house with out getting a dish of this lovely ice cream…..Awesome!.
looking for the Harbor Bar ice cream sandwich. Had them in Me. where my daughter lives near Bar Harbor in and around the Elsworth/Surry area. I am the Director of a large ice cream making company in RI and would like to submit it to our sales/Mktg. team as it is a very good product and we could help in distributing the product in our part of N.E. / Rhode Island/S.Ma., Eastern Ct.. If you know how to reach them or if they are still being made contact me at barryn140@gmail.com
On a whim, I Googled Harbor Bars and was thrilled to read that, at least five years ago, someone was bringing them back. I had one for the first time as a kid at a Johnny Cash concert in Hartford, CT. I made a horrible mess, but enjoyed every minute. My favorite New England delicacy? State Line potato chips. They taste like summer and happy. No other brand comes close.
I live in Southwest Harbor Maine. Ate a Harbor Bar last night. These are not the same as were served on Mount Desert Island in the 1980s. Not even close. In fact harbor bars aren’t even as good now as they were when reintroduced a few years ago. The major issues are the taste of the cookie, it used to be very unique and the shape of the ice cream, it used to be square inside the round cookies. I’ve likely had my last Harbor Bar.
My wife and I just had our first Harbor Bars today as dessert at the Atlantic Brewery. They were a perfect touch of sweetness after a delicious barbecue meal. Wish they were down in northern NJ!
Since I was a child I have loved orange sherbert and vanilla ice cream on a stick…Over the years I would look for Orange/ vanilla ice cream as a treat….When I visit the Amish country at Walnut Creek OHIO there is a Walnut Creek Cheese house that sales a mixture of Vanilla, orange sherbert and pineapple ….It is to die for….
When they give you a dip of this treat it is huge…I can not pass the cheese house with out getting a dish of this lovely ice cream…..Awesome!.
looking for the Harbor Bar ice cream sandwich. Had them in Me. where my daughter lives near Bar Harbor in and around the Elsworth/Surry area. I am the Director of a large ice cream making company in RI and would like to submit it to our sales/Mktg. team as it is a very good product and we could help in distributing the product in our part of N.E. / Rhode Island/S.Ma., Eastern Ct.. If you know how to reach them or if they are still being made contact me at barryn140@gmail.com
Thanks for your help in the quest.
Barry N
On a whim, I Googled Harbor Bars and was thrilled to read that, at least five years ago, someone was bringing them back. I had one for the first time as a kid at a Johnny Cash concert in Hartford, CT. I made a horrible mess, but enjoyed every minute. My favorite New England delicacy? State Line potato chips. They taste like summer and happy. No other brand comes close.
I live in Southwest Harbor Maine. Ate a Harbor Bar last night. These are not the same as were served on Mount Desert Island in the 1980s. Not even close. In fact harbor bars aren’t even as good now as they were when reintroduced a few years ago. The major issues are the taste of the cookie, it used to be very unique and the shape of the ice cream, it used to be square inside the round cookies. I’ve likely had my last Harbor Bar.
My wife and I just had our first Harbor Bars today as dessert at the Atlantic Brewery. They were a perfect touch of sweetness after a delicious barbecue meal. Wish they were down in northern NJ!