There’s no “right” way to visit Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour, the beloved red-and-white striped Dania Beach landmark along U.S. 1. Locals may suggest ordering the 1-pound hot dog. Others will dare you to tackle The Original Kitchen Sink sundae. But inside, ordering quickly takes a back seat to the atmosphere: Tiffany lamps glow overhead. Hundreds of license plates and antiques cover every surface. Somewhere near the back, a siren wails, and a table of friends erupts in applause.
Few Greater Fort Lauderdale restaurants carry Jaxson’s emotional weight. It’s a multigenerational landmark, with memories tied to nearly every table and regulars who measure time here in birthdays, dates and post-beach visits. Even celebrities, including Adam Sandler and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, have visited. In Dania Beach, the city named a street in honor of founder Monroe Udell.
Today, owner Linda Udell Zakheim carries her father’s legacy, welcoming visitors to experience a slice of Greater Fort Lauderdale history that tastes as sweet as ever. For newcomers, it’s a rite of passage.
The ice cream alone is reason enough to make the trip. Monroe attended ice cream school in the 1950s and later developed his own proprietary recipes. The homemade blend makes scoops that are denser, richer and unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere. “No one makes ice cream like we do,” Linda says with a smile. “No one knows our recipe.”
Monroe’s drive to do things differently touched everything. “He was very Willy Wonka-like,” Linda says of her father. “He was different, edgy and cool.” The toppings follow suit: whole pistachios instead of pieces, real Oreo cookies broken into massive chunks and a thick “Linda’s special” chocolate brownie crackle for chocolate lovers. Nearly everything is made in-house, from sodas and syrups to whipped cream.
But none of it happened overnight.
The story of Jaxson’s starts, as many good South Florida stories do, with a Florida transplant who never left. Back in the late 1940s, Monroe’s family, Russian immigrants who ran a Connecticut diner where everything was made from scratch, packed up and headed south. They opened Harry’s Good Food on Hollywood Beach, and even then, Monroe was already working the floor. “They were very hard workers,” Linda says. “In our family, the kids were expected to work.”
Then one summer, a young woman named Connie came down from Brooklyn to babysit for a family spending the season in Fort Lauderdale. The kids had a habit of running into Harry’s on the boardwalk for snacks and lunch, with Connie following close behind. Monroe took notice, and by the end of that summer, they had fallen in love. They married quickly and soon began building something of their own.
That something became Jaxson’s, which opened in 1956. At that time, Monroe carefully chose the location: on the west side of U.S. 1, where traffic from Miami to Palm Beach funneled past the door and floodwaters wouldn’t. “Location was everything,” Linda says. Now, 70 years later, Monroe’s original vision is still visible in every corner.
Past the candy, the walls tell their own story. Decades of donated license plates cover the walls, layered alongside antiques Monroe began collecting when Dania Beach was known as the antique capital of the South. Keep an eye out for the heart-backed parlor chairs, which are never to be replaced, per Monroe's instructions.
Chances are, you’re visiting Jaxson’s because you’ve heard the lore of the sundae to end all sundaes: The Original Kitchen Sink. This massive treat for four is easily the restaurant’s most iconic menu item, and not just because it arrives in an actual sink.
Picture digging into four one-pound scoops of ice cream of your choosing, topped with sliced bananas, homemade whipped cream, mixed nuts, lots of cherries, and generous pours of housemade syrups and sauces. The best part? It arrives tableside, crowned with American flags and lit sparklers, accompanied by oversized spoons as Jaxson’s signature siren fills the room.
“[People order it] all day, every day,” Linda says of the showstopper that keeps locals and visitors coming back—many of whom plan their trips to Greater Fort Lauderdale around it.
Aside from the indulgent ice cream, Jaxson’s has always been a restaurant at heart. “People don’t realize that we’ve always had really good food,” she says. “My father was a great cook.”
Start with in-house corned beef and pastrami, trimmed several times before being served. Guests often compare the sandwiches to Katz’s Delicatessen in New York. “It just falls apart,” Linda says.
Then there’s the hot dog, available in half-pound and full-pound versions, served on custom challah-style buns made by a local bakery to Monroe’s exact specifications. The burger, an eight-ounce classic, has its own loyal following. Even the salads surprise guests. “Women come in all the time and say, ’I can’t believe how good the salads are,’” Linda says with a laugh.
Jaxson’s prepares its own coleslaw, soups and deli meats in-house, and offers dairy-free sorbets, vegan ice cream and sugar-free options. “There’s something for everyone here,” she says.
It’s a destination to celebrate everything from birthdays and straight A’s to anniversaries and even celebrations of life. Recently, a family came in to mark the first anniversary of a kidney transplant. Linda sent over a giant pretzel to the table in honor of the milestone. “We hear every story,” she says. “It’s always attached to something warm.”
Children celebrating their birthdays receive a crown and a siren-blown welcome when their sundae arrives. They receive a gold coin embossed with The Original Kitchen Sink, a keepsake they exchange for a prize from a treasure chest near the register. “I came up with the treasure chest idea,” Linda says. “When I was little, I went into a toy store and never forgot it.”
Then there are the notes. Recently discovered cigar boxes hold napkins covered with guest messages, love letters from those who grew up here. Linda says she cried the first time she opened them.
“Where else can you go today that’s exactly how you remembered it when you were a child?” Linda says.
During Jaxson’s 70th anniversary celebration, customers were invited to share their most treasured memories. The response filled pages. Here’s a taste:
“I am now 44 years old with my own family. But my favorite memory is when I was in first grade and got straight A’s on my report card. My parents took me on my first trip to Jaxson’s to celebrate… I now live in Boynton Beach and drive down every year for my birthday celebration.”
“The first time I moved to Florida in the first place me and my mom went was Jaxson’s standing parlor. From now on, every time we bring visitors to Florida, we bring them here…happy to be part of the Jaxson’s family and celebrating 70 years.”
“Burning the pork on Christmas Eve, and the first place we thought of was Jaxson’s. We had an amazing Christmas Eve dinner at our family’s spot!”
“Coming here with my parents, who are both gone now. Best pastrami and best ice cream. My son’s first ice cream…”
“Seeing my granddaughter’s smile the first time she visited the candy area, and then when her ice cream sundae arrived.”