
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993                   TAG: 9307280120
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT'S BUSINESS A LA MODE

Lisa Thi Beskar says her father jokes that it's a good thing she's learning to make ice cream because it might do more good than the degree in art she's seeking.

He probably shouldn't encourage the ice cream experience any further, though.

The Virginia Commonwealth University student is really into her summer role as manager of Big Lick Ice Cream on Wall Street in downtown Roanoke.

And she is as surprised as anyone at her interest in doing such things as breaking up Heath bars for the Heath bar flavor.

The fudgey chocolate "is so intense," she points out.

It "blows their minds" when customers learn the chocolate sorbet is fat free, she said.

"Intense" is also a good word for the vanilla flavor in the Mexican vanilla, Beskar notes.

Beskar said the ice cream making is settling down some, however, since the owners are doing less experimenting and concentrating on flavors that prove to be favorites with customers.

Last weekend, Beskar kept the place open Friday and Saturday evenings for the first time to try to capture business from the theater crowd coming to Center in the Square.

Beskar got into the ice cream business when she applied for a job with Brothers Bakery, which is also on the City Market. Brothers' owners and some of its staff own Big Lick, which is in the bakery's former quarters.

Wayne McWilliams, the chef at Brothers, develops the ice cream recipes, but Beskar gets to make the gallons in the electric freezer that's on view to the public.

Beskar said the owners had wanted to use crankstyle ice cream makers but couldn't get permission for that from the health department.

She said she's glad for the health department's decision because the electric freezer is so much faster.

Big Lick's owners, in addition to Wayne and Karen McWilliams, are Richard and Cappy Johnson, who own Brothers; Trudy Blandford, who manages Brothers, and attorney Philip Parker.

Blandford said the shop, which opened in late May, is paying for itself and that she believes it will do even better when they have time to add to its offerings.

"Eventually, we want to have homemade ice cream sandwiches and things like that," said Blandford.

Last week, some of the bakery's homemade pies were sent to the ice cream shop so that Beskar could selling pie a la mode.

by CNB