Along a busy stretch of highway in the quiet Mississippi River village of Lomax, population 404, is a seasonal ice cream stand that has become more than just a place to grab a cone. For the past 14 years, Jenni’s Ice Cream and Grill has been a gathering place — a repeat stop for travelers, bicyclists and locals since it opened in 2012.
“I had just had my daughter, and I kept seeing this building sit empty,” says owner Jenni Ewing, so she decided to open her own ice cream shop. “I worked at Dairy Queen all through high school and college, and I absolutely loved it.”
She says the owners of that Dairy Queen, located in Monmouth, were huge supporters of her dream from the beginning. “They were actually my very first customers when we opened,” Ewing says with a smile.
The restaurant, open seasonally from April through early October, sits along one of the area’s busiest roads. A traffic study once counted nearly 30,000 vehicles passing by each day — a number so surprising officials ran the study twice to confirm it.
“It’s a direct route to Burlington and Fort Madison,” Ewing explains. “And when the bridge closes, everybody must come through here. Plus, it’s on a national bicycle route [the Mississippi River Trail].”
That steady stream of travelers has turned the little ice cream stand into an unexpected destination. Inside, visitors from around the world have marked pins on a giant map on the wall.
Guests have come from England, Poland, Singapore, Zimbabwe, New Zealand and beyond. “We always ask people, ‘How did you end up in Lomax?’” Ewing says. “Everybody has a story.”
The restaurant’s menu may seem simple at first glance — burgers, tenderloins, fries, chicken strips, pulled pork and plenty of ice cream — but her focus on quality foods makes it anything but simple. The signature Juicy Lucy cheeseburger features two beef patties wrapped around a molten center of cheese.
“Our fries don’t even need ketchup, in my opinion,” she laughs. “I mean, they’re that good. The pulled pork is cooked for 14 hours. We just [keep] trying to improve every single year.”
That attention to detail carries throughout the entire menu. Ewing recalls being frustrated by low-quality frozen food at other restaurants, so she spent years testing products and attending food shows to find the best options available.
“Our ice cream is what really makes us different,” she says. “We use Anderson Erickson Dairy out of Des Moines, Iowa. It costs more, but it’s so much better. We’ve had no complaints. They do a great product for us.”
The ice cream is soft serve, including chocolate, vanilla and swirl, with a variety of topping options for shakes and sundaes. The Hurricane is a blended ice cream dessert — similar to a Dairy Queen Blizzard — where soft-serve ice cream is mixed with candy, cookies or other toppings until thick and creamy.
While most of the menu items are always available, Jenni’s does offer limited weekly ice cream and smoothie flavors that are shared on Facebook.
Inside, photographs of local kids and longtime customers cover the walls. Ewing lights up when talking about the young employees who have worked there over the years.
“They’re not just employees to me — they’re my kids,” she says.
Her desire is to make the restaurant a welcoming place for everyone. “I want kids to have somewhere they can go,” Ewing says. “Somewhere safe. Somewhere they’ll remember.”
That atmosphere may be the secret ingredient behind her success. Families and travelers gather beneath the outdoor canopy on summer evenings, and regular customers make weekly visits part of their routines.
Ewing says a pair of sisters meet there every Sunday, spending hours catching up over lunch and ice cream. The restaurant sits halfway between their homes and provides the ideal spot for them to hang out.
Ironically, despite owning an ice cream shop, she can’t partake of it herself. “But ice cream makes people happy,” Ewing says with a grin. “That’s why I wanted to sell it.”
Jenni’s Ice Cream and Grill
