There is more to Stevie D’z House of Freeze than just the freeze nowadays.
Owner Steve Dantin has taken his humble little sno-ball shack at 300 S. Broadway Street in McComb and turned it into a hot spot for lunch.
“Mainly it is just a sno-ball shack,” he said. “But I wanted to stay open during the winter.”
Stevie D’z has been open since March 2011 when Dantin decided to get out of the flooring industry for a change of pace. His niece gave him the idea to open a sno-ball shack.
That is how homemade hot soups, hot tamales and hot chocolate made their way into the House of Freeze.
“A lot of people don’t know that I have food, too,” Dantin said.
Stevie D’z has red beans and rice with ham and Cajun sausage, Creole gumbo with chicken and Cajun sausage, vegetable beef soup with cornbread or a grilled cheese sandwich, chili, tamales and tamale pie, all cooked by Dantin.
“I have been cooking since I was literally 3 years old,” he said.
Dantin attributes his style of cooking to his New Orleans background and his mother’s recipes.
He got into the food industry as a change of pace from the day to day.
“I just wanted something different,” he said. “I have always loved to cook.
Customers can grab lunch to go or sit at picnic table on Stevie D’z from porch. Simply walk up to the colorfully decorated front windows and place an order.
Stevie D’s boasts that lunch can usually be served in less than five minutes, but it’s only served on Monday through Friday.
If it’s not too cold Stevie D’z offers more than 50 flavors for their sno-balls with 50-cent extras like condensed milk, cherries, crushed strawberries, crushed pineapple, crushed peanuts and and “real” whipped cream.
The sno-balls can also come stuffed with ice cream for 50 cents extra. Customers also can purchase soft serve ice cream separately.
The most popular flavor is the strawberry cheesecake with the condensed milk topping, Dantin said.
Also offered are sugar free flavors such as banana, cherry, clearly bubblegum, clearly strawberry, coconut, granny smith apple, grape, ice cream, orange, strawberry and strawberry cheesecake.
Stevie D’z also offers gift cards as stocking stuffers.
Dantin said he has noticed no gift card from Stevie D’z goes unused.
Dantin’s creative business front was painted by an art teacher from Higgin’s Middle School after an art contest among the students determined the design.
Dantin chose two designs to win, and gave the young artists — Bobrianna Perkins and Ayanna Bratton — free sno-balls for a year.
Stevie D’z House of Freeze is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday in the winter and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week in the summer.
