Grub Hunt: Ice, ice (cream) baby

We all love ice cream, but we college students often tend to settle for a reasonably priced tub of something more affordable instead of buying more expensive individually priced cones.

Six dollars on a tub of Tillamook, for instance, is certainly a worthy investment, especially if you get the extra creamy kind. Even the 99 cent budget tubs are tasty, albeit somewhat less so.

But as good as those options are, sometimes splurging on something special is worth it. We all know about the magic that is Ferdinand’s (if you don’t, please stop and go inform yourself immediately), but I have another ice cream recommendation that might just change your life.

Some of you may have heard of Panhandle Cone & Coffee; some of you may have even been there. Walk inside and you’ll immediately be greeted with the smell of warm waffle cones and sugar.

The ice cream shop that opened last year in Moscow is a new location of a regional chain, and it’s absolutely worth the drive over the border.

I recently visited for the second time ever and discovered “Sasquatch.” Not the big, hairy, forest friend and mascot for my former college — I see you, Spokane Falls Community College Pullman — but an ice cream whose flavor is the definition of everything Pacific Northwest.

The flavor is a combination of fir tree oil, honey, huckleberry and granola. You’d be forgiven for thinking that sounds weird, but trust me when I say you won’t regret it and I’ll fight anyone who says different.

Excuse me in advance for the flowery metaphor, but my pallet and vocabulary are not refined enough to describe Sasquatch’s flavor without one: The ice cream tastes like what going on a hike, overlooking a scenic mountain and finding inner peace feels like.

OK, maybe a little extreme, but you get the point.

If you’re not ready to go on the flavor adventure that is Sasquatch, the ice cream shop has plenty of other options. There’s a salted caramel and brown butter ice cream, buttermilk huckleberry and, of course, Mill Town vanilla among other flavors.

Porter Palouse-a is another unique, slightly less intimidating flavor and a Moscow branch exclusive. It includes the Postal Porter from Paradise Creek Brewery, porter malt syrup and porter brownies with a salted caramel swirl.

You may be thinking at this point, “Rachel, why would I get ice cream right now? It’s cold and snowy and wet. We just had a snow day.”

To that I say, buck up buttercup. Ice cream is a delight no matter the weather, and if you can’t appreciate that, you never deserved it in the first place.

You can also get a hot cup of coffee along with your ice cream while you’re there. Then you don’t have to let anything stop you from living your dessert dreams.

Panhandle Cone & Coffee is located at 511 S. Main St. in Moscow.