Dog days of summer no match for ‘best ice cream in the world’

Matthew Day

Staff

August 3, 2026

BOULDER JUNCTION – Mad Dog Jake’s may have “dog” in its name, but Owner Patrick Downs said the Boulder Junction shop is, at its core, an ice cream business.

“I work really hard to tell people this is an ice cream shop,” he said, “and I happen to have food.”

Though Madison-made Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream may be the star, Downs said with a menu of hot dogs, burgers, fries, cheese curds, nachos and more, he acknowledges Jake’s is “kind of the closest thing to a fast-food joint in Boulder Junction.” 

Still, he said, that comparison is relative.  

As the latest owner of the 30-some-year-old shop, Downs said he takes each customer seriously. 

“Every order takes time to make,” he said, “and when I say every order, I mean each individual order.” 

Downs said Jake’s opens for the season in early May, hits its busy season in July, ramps up to a crescendo with the annual Musky Jamboree (Aug. 7-9 this year) and then winds down, more or less closing once the last of the ice cream’s sold out. 

Presently, he said Jake’s is right in the middle of its 2026 season. 

Further, Downs said the shop is “right in the center” of the municipality. 

“Actually, if you Google[-search] ‘Boulder Junction,’ where Google Maps will put the center of the town, is about the intersection I’m at,” he said.

Mad Dog Jake’s has expanded its role as a local destination even further – per a post on its Facebook page – recently becoming an official stop on the area’s geocaching trail. 

‘The best ice cream in the world’ 

However one finds Jake’s, Downs said once there, customers will find “the best ice cream in the world” – crediting this “premium” product for his personal discovery of Boulder Junction itself.

Downs said he was such a fan of the brand that he began working as a delivery driver, dropping off orders of Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream. 

“This particular location, Mad Dog Jake’s in Boulder Junction, was the last stop before you reached Hurley, and this route was called ‘the Hurley route,’” he said. “My grandparents lived in Hurley when I was a kid, so as a delivery driver, I was always pestering my boss to give me the Hurley route, because it was nostalgic for me.” 

Every time he delivered to Jake’s, Downs said the shop’s previous owner would ask him if he knew anybody who would be interested in buying an ice cream shop.

“After about two or three years of him asking me that, the [COVID-19] pandemic had happened, and I was looking for something that wasn’t driving, so I said, ‘Well, maybe I’m interested in it,’” he said. “Then, we kind of talked about it for months, and I eventually found a way to purchase it from him.” 

Having never owned a business before, Downs said the venture amounted to “trial by fire” – but with plenty of his favorite ice cream on hand to cool things down. 

Now in his sixth summer as owner, he said it’s still a thrill to witness customers’ reactions to the brand. 

“I find the ice cream aspect of it really rewarding, because I like ice cream, and I like sharing new flavors with people,” he said. “Especially when somebody comes in and they say something like, ‘I only like butter pecan…’ Every once in a while, you turn somebody on to a new flavor.” 

Downs said two of the current most popular flavors are Zanzibar® Chocolate and This $&@! Just Got Serious®. 

The latter, he said, is a salted-caramel ice cream with a sea-salt fudge swirl and cashews – “so it’s very salty and sweet at the same time, and people love it.” 

Downs said he also regularly features a no-sugar-added flavor as well as three dairy-free options, which can include Italian ice or flavors made with Chocolate Shoppe’s “oat cream.” 

“I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I do have to say, sometimes I think it tastes better than the dairy,” he said, adding he actually prefers the brand’s vegan version of black cherry. 

Who’s Jake? 

Though its ice cream flavors have certainly evolved, Downs said Mad Dog Jake’s has consistently served as a staple of the Boulder Junction community for more than 30 years. 

The shop’s precise history, he said, has been difficult to discern, but based on what he’s learned from locals, Jake’s opened in the early ’90s and he is its sixth or seventh owner. 

Before that, Downs said the realtor who facilitated his purchase of the building, Jeff Long (since deceased), told him its most recent, non-ice cream shop incarnation had been a real estate office.

He said Long had a personal connection to the building that remains etched in history. 

“As soon as we were done signing the papers, [Long] said, ‘I don’t know if it’s still there, but if you go up into the attic and look at the door that leads to the front of the building, there should be a little face carved into the door,’” he said. “And I asked, ‘Why would you know that?’ He said, ‘Because when I was seven, that was my bedroom, and I got a spanking for carving that onto the door.’” 

Immediately following the transaction, Downs said he checked and, sure enough, found the carving. 

He said Long and his sister provided further information as well as photographs from when they lived there in the ’50s and ’60s. 

“Their dad ran a butcher shop out of the back, and the front of the building was a grocery store,” he said. “During the ’50s, I guess it was the only grocery store [in Boulder Junction].” 

Downs said the details get less clear from there, with no confirmation of the first owner of Mad Dog Jake’s. 

The story he said he’s heard, though, is the owner was a woman with a young grandson who vehemently resisted doing his chores. 

“When he would throw temper tantrums as a child, his grandmother – the woman who opened the shop – would make fun of him by calling him a ‘mad dog,’” he said. 

The nickname stuck for the young boy – Jake – and Downs said the owner named the shop “kind of as a joke but also as an homage.” 

He said during one busy shift, the shop’s namesake himself came in to visit. 

“He did come in one year and introduced himself to me…,” he said. “I think he still lives in the area, but I’m not exactly sure how much of a connection he still has to the town.” 

Downs said he estimates 90% of the shop’s business comes from tourists, whose lack of familiarity often leads them to ask if he is Jake. 

He said he has considered renaming it to something like “Mad Dog Ice Cream” for clarity.

However, Downs said from the moment he bought the shop, “the most frequent question I got was, ‘You’re not going to change the name, are you?’”

So, Downs said, Mad Dog Jake’s it remains.

Fresh but classic 

From the shop’s name to its menu, Downs said he feels a sense of duty to uphold Mad Dog Jake’s as it’s been, while also curating a menu that retains fresh appeal. 

“I’ve got some people who come in and they just get french fries, because they think I have the best french fries anywhere, [for example],” he said. “So, there’s kind of a social pressure to maintain the things people really enjoy about the place.”

Downs said the shop’s rotating ice cream flavors are mostly out of his hands – a fact he finds frustrating after Chocolate Shoppe discontinued one of his favorites, Spicy Whiskey Truffle.

“Every summer, Chocolate Shoppe does these limited-edition flavors that are only available for like a month or two, and then sometimes, if they’re really popular, they become permanent flavors,” he said. “Sometimes, you’ll never see them ever again.” 

Other than ice cream, Downs said Mad Dog Jake’s represents stability in the community, with multiple generations of family members working at the shop over the decades, and regulars often stopping in for conversation – “they’re not just here to get ice cream.” 

Cherishing his role as the shop’s current steward, he said Mad Dog Jake’s has a reliable outlook. 

“This shop has been here for 30 years,” he said, “and I hope and pray it will still be here for another 30 years.”