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Neighborhood Report

Tanya & Matt churn out sweet success

Newlyweds decide to lead a life centered on ice cream, to the delight of customers 15 years later.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published July 14, 2006

It was a match made in a boring hospitality class at the University of Nevada.

Matt Walsh strolled in on the first day, looking for the cutest classmate to sit next to. Tanya Rubin was skeptical of the guy sitting next to her with the slicked-back hair.

"I didn't know if he was some kind of player or what," she said.

Turned out, they got along like cookies and cream. They married soon after and moved to Florida, where Tanya & Matt's Ice Creamiest was born.

Fifteen years and hundreds of flavors later, their homemade ice cream shops in Northdale and Westshore Plaza still serve scoops of sweet success.

The recipe was simple: Tanya had grown tired of her management job at the Marriott. Matt hungered to put his culinary experience to work, but needed someone to run things.

Ice cream would sell in Florida. They thought of opening a Ben & Jerry's, but franchising was too expensive. So they put their own names on the Northdale storefront.

Tanya and Matt opened their second shop in the Westshore Plaza food court seven years ago and grew anxious when Haagen-Dazs moved in to compete.

A few weeks ago, their competition moved out.

"We did survive the big boys," Tanya Walsh said. "We said we were going to do it one scoop at a time."

Customers can choose from Kahlua Cream Crunch to sorbets to a blue marshmallowy Smurf flavor - 44 flavors every day, and they're rotated often. You can even request another cone if you don't like what you ordered.

The Walsh girls have simple tastes. Kaiya, 3, likes chocolate, and Talia, 5, sticks to vanilla with sprinkles. Tanya and Matt adopted them from China when each was 11 months old.

Passers-by outside the Northdale shop might spot Matt Walsh on the sidewalk carving a huge block of ice -- an art form he learned at a culinary school class he sneaked into.

He makes sculptures to order for hotels and private parties. For younger audiences, he saws at the giant ice cubes to make snow.

On almost any night, bands fill the parlor with live music as the afterdinner crowd rolls in.

Last Friday, Amber Herndon ordered a sorbet. Jim Liepkalns opted for a scoop filled with almonds.

The ice cream shop was a hangout for their huge group of friends from Gaither High School. Countless checkers games were played in the parlor's corner couch area.

But when they all graduated last year, Amber went to college in Orlando and Jim went to school in Georgia.

The 19-year-olds were in town for the summer and hadn't visited the parlor since graduation. The old friends approached the cash register.

"Together?" the cashier asked. They fumbled awkwardly for their wallets.

Amber and Jim had been classmates for years but had been a couple for only 2 hours. Turned out, they got along like cookies and cream.

It was a match made at Tanya & Matt's.

Alexandra Zayas can be reached at 226-3354 or azayas@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 13, 2006, 12:25:04]