New ice cream shop inside St. James Gate offers monster milkshakes and other frozen treats
By Lorne Chambers | editor
Back in 2019, before the pandemic, St. James Gate co-owner Stephanie Mahan had the idea to open an ice cream shop. She and her long-time partner John Teevan even bought much of the equipment, which ended up living in their garage for quite a while. With the arrival of COVID-19, plans and priorities shifted and the dream of having a stand-alone brick and mortar ice cream shop were put on the back burner.
“And then in the middle of it all, we had a string of really bad days here at the pub,” recalls Mahan. “No one was happy, guests were not happy. They were drinking and getting even more unhappy, so I was like ‘I need some happiness and some joy in my life!’” And there’s not much that can bring more joy than ice cream. Except, maybe more ice cream.
Teevan told Mahan if she could find a place inside St. James Gate to put her ice cream concept, why not go ahead and test out it. They decided to call it Three Monkeys Ice Cream Parlour, in honor of their three young children, their two twins, who will turn 7 next month, and their four-year-old.
Thre Monkeys currently offers nine ice cream flavors from local creamery Wholly Cow Ice Cream as well as soft-serve vanilla, chocolate, and swirl. Mahan says she has already ordered a case that will allow her to have 12 flavors, but like so many things since the pandemic, delivery has been delayed.
According to Mahan, the soft-serve is a special high-butter fat ice cream that is shipped in special from dairy farm in New England. Teevan, who is a native of Ireland, wanted to recreate the popular Ninety-nine ice cream treat he remembered from his childhood. A ninety-nine is a soft serve vanilla ice cream with a chocolate Cadbury “flake” stuck in it.
“Basically if you go out for ice cream in Ireland you go out for a Ninety-nine,” explains Mahan. She and Teevan are proud that Three Monkeys’ ninety-nine is as close to the real thing as you’re going to get on this side of the Atlantic.
However, the star of the Three Monkeys menu is undoubtedly the monster milkshakes creations. Mahan herself came up with these outrageous edible works of art, such as the Birthday Shake, which is birthday cake ice cream, sprinkles, lollipops, cupcake, frosting, and whip cream or the Magically Delicious, which is mint chocolate chip ice cream, fudge swirl, lucky charm marshmallows, rainbow ribbon, chocolate gold coins, buttercream frosting, and whip cream, or the Coffee & Donuts, which is cappuccino chip ice cream, espresso, donuts, chocolate chips, chocolate butter cream, and whip cream.
There is also a Nana Pudding, a Strawberry Shortcake, Worms & Dirt, and the Chocolate on Chocolate, which Mahan says is probably the most popular. It consists of “very chocolate” ice cream, milk chocolate icing, chocolate chips, brownie, chocolate whip cream. For the less-adventurous, there is also a traditional shake that comes in either chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. Mahan also says she likes to have one rotating flavor, like the Red, White and Blue Shake they offered for Memorial Day and bringing back this month for Fourth of July.
Initially Mahan had been running the ice cream shop herself in addition to helping manage the restaurant and bar and raising three young kids. Thankfully, she now has hired two local high school girls who live on Folly Beach to work the shop, allowing Three Monkeys to now be open every day just as the summer season kicks into full swing.
For the first month Three Monkeys was open Mahan relied on what she called the “built-in audience” of patrons of the restaurant.
“It allowed us to experiment and try things and get feedback. We still did better than I expected with the built-in audience that was already in here,” says Mahan who is currently working on signage to help drive traffic from Center Street.
