Henry Gentry has been serving his ice cream for nearly 27 years.
Take a moment to consider the cone. At its most basic, it’s a dry pastry; just another wafer served in stacks of a hundred and conveniently shaped for its purpose. And of course there’s the waffle cone, but again, its basic design is no marvel of nature – it’s a waffle, shaped to hold ice cream. Yes, it’s clever, but ultimately the cone is basically just a vehicle for the good stuff – a convenient and edible means of conveying ice cream. It is not the star; rather, it is the star’s chauffeur. And at Henry’s Homemade Ice Cream, where for 27 years Henry Gentry has been serving some of the area’s most coveted ice cream, it especially would stand to reason that the cone should know its place.
That is, until you talk to Gentry himself.
A selection of the cones at Henry's Homemade Ice Cream
“Oh, the cone is very important,” he says. “That’s why we don’t just have a regular cone and a waffle cone. We have pretzel cones, chocolate chip cones, fancy cones, nutty buddy cones, waffle bowls and then we also have the same choices in the kid’s line – not to mention that we also have sugar cones. There are so many different ways to present ice cream, but nothing sells ice cream like a cone.”
Despite the fact that it’s his ice cream that’s being served in hundreds of establishments across the Metroplex (Bob’s Steak and Chop House, Patrizio’s, David Anthony Temple has served it in his pop-up dinners, and many more), Gentry’s focus is on making the ice cream shop experience a memorable one, whether that means considering the cone or inventing a variation on one of his thousands of different recipes.
“A lot of times the parents remember the feeling of going to an ice cream shop when they were children, and they want their child to have the same feeling. And a lot of them find that here – it is amazing how many times they will take a picture to capture the moment. We have a lot of pictures over there on the walls,” Gentry says with a smile. “And to keep seeing that after 27 years, that makes me feel good, like I’ve done my job.”
The Santa Cake, which can be made in any of the flavors at Henry's.
But all that cone consideration and good intent won’t take an ice cream shop far without great ice cream, and as hundreds of customers – from six-year-olds to sixty-year-olds – will attest, Henry’s does indeed make great ice cream.The smooth, rich concoction has been made the same way since Gentry founded the shop in Philadelphia in 1984 (they moved to Plano in 1992).
“None of our recipes have changed; we make everything the same way we did nearly twenty-seven years ago. We use sixteen percent butterfat cream from Schweppes; I don’t think anybody in the Metroplex uses that but me, and for a reason – it’s very expensive. But if you’re going for the highest quality, that’s where you need to be, is with the sixteen percent,” he says. “And we incorporate a low overrun – which is air – into our ice cream, and we use double the flavoring ingredients. So yeah, our ice cream may cost a little bit more, but there’s going to be a great wow! impact, and a great sensation for your taste buds.”
And it’s not just one or two ice creams that of which Gentry is particularly proud. He estimates that the shop will produce more than 1,000 (yes, the comma is in the right place) flavors in a year. Henry’s even goes seasonal – for Valentine’s day, they’ll have the Honey Do, Can’t Elope and Berry White Chocolate, and for St. Patrick’s Day there’s the Baily’s ice cream. And the Santa-shaped ice cream cake is of their most popular items in December. Pumpkin Pie, Maple Walnut, Butterscotch Blast, they’re all just a whim away for Gentry, though one of his greatest creations also happened to be for one of his greatest occasions.
“Well, for my wedding I made Henry And Caroline’s Ice Cream Cake,” he says. “And that actually won the National Ice Cream Contest a few years ago!”
The clever names add a bit of personality to a shop already brimming with it (especially when the gregarious Gentry is there), and the thought that goes into each of the thousands of creations that have passed the counter at Henry’s is commendable. What results is a shop where a child can go for a special occasion or a grown man can stop by for a treat. There’s no age, no demographic that precludes someone from going to Henry’s, and that includes seven-foot-tall NBA Finals MVPs.
“Dirk says we’ve got the best Coconut Ice Cream in the world – he has someone who comes in and gets it for him, and he told her to tell me that,” Gentry says. “And that’s pretty good; he’s been all over the world!”
Whether it’s Dirk Nowitzki, Roger Staubach or twelve-year-old Betsy Smith from down the road, though, Gentry’s focus is on ensuring the experience at Henry’s Homemade Ice Cream is a great one, whether they want the Blue Vanilla with Marshmallows (Dinosaur Egg), regular Chocolate or Coconut. Picking a single ice cream from Henry’s can be a daunting task, but there’s one thing to remember after the final selection has been made:
You still have to consider the cone.
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For more information, go to henryshomemadeicecream.com
