Sugar Shack
Ripple’s New Ice Cream Sandwich Emporium

Nice out there, isn’t it...

And, of course, all this talk about sun, early summer and general outdoorsy-ness leads us, inexorably, to bacon.

In the form of an ice cream sandwich.

Say hello to Sugar Magnolia, opening Thursday in the front of Ripple to serve all your subzero sandwich needs.

This looks like an old-fashioned malt shop plopped down in Cleveland Park—if the soda jerk happened to have a fetish for things like beet ice cream and bacon-roasted pecans.

You’ll walk through the front door and see a counter festooned with brownies, cookies and meringues. Below are seasonal ice creams to go, like strawberry, beet and maple-bacon. And sure, you can get them all packed up in pints. But really, when it comes to snacking on your patio at 10pm, ask for them in sandwich form. Think maple-bacon sandwiched between two waffles, or coffee-coconut ice cream in chocolate cookies.

But nothing goes with ice cream sandwiches like... regular sandwiches. If you’ve been tasked with procurement duties for this weekend’s games, you’ll want to grab a passel of sandwiches with stuff like prosciutto, hot coppa and even smoked mackerel. Your sides: bacon-roasted pecans and pork terrines.

Eat them all before the Syracuse fans arrive.