South Beach Cafe
10 Water StreetIt took us all dang summer to get to the beach. We had so much going on this year that we could never carve out a few hours to make a trip to the beach. We couldn’t let summer end without at least one trip….including B’s first trip to Lake Michigan…now could we?
We got up on Labor Day and decided it was now or never as far as a beach trip goes. As we were pulling out of the driveway, I asked J St. Joe or South Haven. She picked South Haven thinking it would be less crazy, so west we went.
We spent about two hours at South Beach. The water was around 50 degrees, so it was a little cold, but L and I played in it for a while and played on the beach as well. We set B down right on the edge and let the water splash up to him. He didn’t care. He just wanted to eat the sand.
As our day in the water was winding down, we took the beach gear back to the car and got a change of clothes for L and I. The only changing rooms are the bathrooms, so I headed over there with L to change.
The bathrooms are right next to a new concession stand and they have ice cream. L had been so good all day and didn’t throw a fit when it was time to leave, so J suggested treating ourselves to ice cream.
South Beach Cafe appears to be a new building this year. The last time we were at the beach in South Haven was apparently in 2013, the South Beach Concession Stand was a mobile trailer. In the place of that trailer is now a large concession stand with a small souvenir shop attached to one end.
We were just in the market for ice cream, but there’s a lot more offered at this stand. They have coffee drinks from Bear Claw Coffee as well as concession stand type snacks…pretzels, popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, etc.
The ice cream that is served at South Beach Cafe is one of J’s favorite. They have Sherman Ice Cream…which is made in South Haven. They didn’t have a lot of options left after a long weekend, but both J and L found something they thought they couldn’t live without.
L chose Blue Moon. I honestly have no idea what it is other than L wanted it because it was blue. She’s been on a kick lately that blue is her favorite color because I’ve always told her it’s my favorite color (my high school colors were blue and white, so that’s what I usually choose when she asks.). The one scoop of ice cream is quite large….and at $4, it probably should be. It was way too much ice cream for L and I wasn’t a huge fan of the flavor so when she was done, it ended up in the garbage 😦
J also got one scoop for herself. She chose the mint chocolate chip. That’s a pretty self explainable flavor. The mint flavored ice cream is studded with chocolate chips. J at all of hers and once she finished, we got L cleaned up and went for a walk on the pier.
Both J and L got cups and, as the pictures show, the single scoop is pretty large. The also offer sugar and waffle cones, but, as the people in front of us found out, it’s not a true cone. They still put the ice cream in the cup then put a cone upside down on top of it. The people in front of us were pissed about it…they just wanted a small cone to eat and ended up with a lot of ice cream and still having to sit down to eat it with a spoon. Personally, I wouldn’t complain about more ice cream, but that’s just me.
I wasn’t really hungry and there was nothing on the menu I was dying to have, so it was just the two of them that ate. We also got a bag of Cheetos for L because she just can’t pass up a bag of Cheetos…at least not without a fit and we were having such a great day, we weren’t going to ruin it over something so trivial.
The South Beach Cafe is a pretty big improvement over the trailer that was on the spot last time we were there. It seemed a little understaffed seeing as how it was a holiday and all. It took a little longer than expected, but it’s always worth the wait when Sherman ice cream is involved.
SW Michigan Dining 
