Artisanal ice cream, a San Francisco treat: Ici, Sketch, Bi-Rite, Slocombe
There’s no rhyme or reason why the ice cream scene is poppin’ so hard in the Bay Area. Beyond the few parlors mentioned above, there are infinitely more independent ice cream shops all churning out their very own treats. As the Romans would like to say, produzione propria gelato, or go home; San Franciscans apparently take this to heart.
In May, I had the opportunity to force 4 fine establishments into my gullet within 1 day. This was a rare chance to consecutively sample an inordinate amount of ice cream which most sane, intelligent people wouldn’t normally afford themselves. And to toot my own unbiased horns, creameries from both Bays were covered, creameries from different SF city districts were covered, ditto to Berkeley. Here we go:
First, I’ci. I am melo-emo over this place. Instant tranquility once the threshold is crossed despite the constant mob. Mary Caneles belongs to the Chez Panisse family tree, ’nuff said. I’ci bears the grace of a room planned by bridezillas obsessed with HGTV and pastel wedding colors. The room, with the purposeful sneak peak into the kitchen, screams: “I am Slow(er) food than you”. But I love it. I want to drink it up.
This is the essence of all that is right with Alice Waters’ disciples. Metal tasting spoons offer water conservation and old school parlor freel. Herbal flavors carry locally grown produce; nearly all organic ingredients; “chocolate .. piped into the bottom to fill the hole of handmade cone”; mostly simple, yet delectable flavor combination. NO BROWN BREAD, NO FOIE GRAS, NO SHTICK. And it tastes good! Creamy as buttermilk can be, not too fattening, not too overpowering. The orange rosemary toffee & honey lavender combo would please every Francophile. Just completely adorable despite the N. Oakland gentrifying crowd.
For the complete Berkeley Chez Panisse infused experience, come after a quick sammie at Bakesale Betty. I am so in love with the entire Slow-Cal food it’s disgusting.
Ici ee’cee
Berkeley
Second up, Sketch. Full disclosure: I’ve previously visited at least twice. That is not to say I prefer Sketch over others. Blame the multiple visits on my brother’s school locale. Since the last visit, Sketch began serving “gelato” in “soft serve” machines. They still call themselves an ice cream parlor tho the interior now looks a bit like Yogurtland with the adorning machines. This particular Berkeley institution is like… the hippie gone Republican: high falutin’, righteous, with a self-declared cultural relevance bearing a hint of artsiness. God, get the F over yourself. Your soft serve, while still locally produced, can no longer hang, especially in the uncharming service environment. I still want my ice cream/gelato to be SCOOPED, not pooped, into a cup/cone. Don’t scowl at me because I’m a tourist carrying a camera, not here to steal your trade secrets, a*hole.
What flavors did I get? I don’t even care to tell you. It was fine. Nothing stood out. Something lavender, ya know, for your inner flower child.
Sketch
Berkeley
Bi-rite, Bi-rite. Everyone knows the story. All I want to know as an outta-towner was: is it worth the line. Flavors obtained that sunny, yet chilly afternoon before pizza at Delfina: salted caramel, malt vanilla, lavender honey. All good but quite expensive. Lavender was my theme during this rundown. I think I wanted to smell, think, eat, and taste “pretty” that afternoon. There was a very balanced lavender profile, perhaps a bit stronger than even Ici’s. The combo of salted caramel and malt vanilla was just too overbearing. Salted caramel was too sugary and rich and salty at the same time. Malt vanilla was sadly dwarfed by He-man salted caramel. It’s hard not to like this place with its faux old school charm. Bon Ap just ranked this shop top 10 in the nation. Hell! They grow their own produce!
Finally, the rockstar of the SF ice cream scene, Humphry Slocombe. Think post modern ice cream from an experienced pastry chef. At only half a year of age, HS is already challenging Bi-Rite for a stronghold of the SF dessert scene. Yes, Gourmet noticed as well. Here, the Mckevoy olive oil and infamous Secret Breakfast were ordered. As Ms. Liberty Huang likes to say “mmmmm secret breakfast is my fav slocombe flavor”. Yes, I gravitated to a popularized busy variety, but I used my noodles and managed to counter balance with an extremely simple, slightly savory profile. By now, the single speed riding hipsters of LA are screaming: “it’s just like Scoops”! Relax son, it’s not. This guy’s a chef. He shops the market for inspiration and roasts prosciutto bones with herbs as ice infusions. Unlike Scoops, the funked ice cream flavors also has great texture and mouth feel. The final amazing bit of Slocombe’s endearment? Reasonable prices. Ice cream coup complete.
Humphry Slocombe
http://twitter.com/HumphrySlocombe
The bottom line.
All you really want to know is, what’s the best. Screw the best. The “B” words forces this stigma of inferiority onto others. Besides Sketch, every one of these shops are highly effective tongue pleasers. Humphry Slocombe is edgy and new, people are still scared by it. Bi-Rite is an institution still unmolested by tourists, a palatable alternative to Mitchell’s. Ici is the East Bay darling carrying the Chez Panisse panache and pedigree. SF is a great Ice cream town, period.
A HOWTO: Don Chow Tacos, Chinatown/Venice
I’ve been stalking eating at the Don Chow Tacos truck for the past few weeks. Below are a few tips for those folks who suck at street fooding.
1) Please don’t take the order to go. Dom and Lawrence might ask if you want it to go, but… THINK ABOUT THIS: ATM machine. DSL Line, DMZ Zone. All redundancies. Taco truck food to go? Redundancy. You’re already on the friggin’ sidewalk. You can’t eat ON the taco truck nor IN the truck, so just eat BY the truck. The tacos already left the truck the moment you take posession. It’s gone. Go. Gone.
Getting 2 steamed tortillas packed with meat “To-Go” simply means the steam from the meat will al vapor the masa even further and turn it into a crumbly, useless mess. The char will lose its crisp and if you order the shrimp, it’ll still be cooking during the ride home. Don’t be a gringo, especially at a Chinese taco truck. Eat with your hands, on the sidewalk, with the masses.
2) Try the fusion items. It’s what brought you here. Don’t fight the curiosity, especially if you’re a cat lady. The soy ginger shrimp taco works. Don’t freak out, the shrimps are deveined. The stir fry shrimp in the taco I had last weekend was better than the $10 sweet/sour shrimp at Ludobites. Granted they weren’t ginormous, but it wasn’t over seasoned, and it was perfectly sauteed, warm off the griddle. Topped with a fierce habanero salsa, the spicy soy ginger shrimpies slid gently out of rolled tortillas and into my mouth. I much prefer these to deep fried camarones tacos dorados from elsewhere in LA.
Then there’s the Ultimate Ghetto Tacos (Tm, Sinosoul, 2009): street meat of your choice, amply overpowered by grilled onions and crisped bacon chunks. You don’t need a publicist to tell you the inspiration for this piece - hello ghetto dogs! Now top that whole schbang with more habanero salsa for a complete ass-kicking experience. By the way, they do have mayo. Yes, mayo. Call it “off the menu” condiment. Whatever. It’s awesome:
3) Don’t over order. I know you want to give Don Chow your money but… these folks are generous. There’s no need to drop $19 for 2 people. These folks are Chinese. “Chinese” alliterates with “cheap”. They want you to get fed without breaking your bank. Really. The tacos are strictly normal sized, but they aren’t $0.50 taco nite mini-sized. There’s a good chance at 2am, in front of Zanzibar, your stomach’s already sloshing about (not sexy in bed), pumped full of alchi. Just sample couple of items, your stomach will thank you, and you will recall the experience tomorrow at 10am with delicious fondness. And you’ll go back.
The story of Don Chow Tacos is a bit curious. The partners were long term patrons at a San Gabriel Mexican restaurant (Coronados in San Gabriel), and decided to partner with the restaurant’s owner. One gent is in IT, the other is in the food biz; they met when they “were both undergraduate students and have known [each other] for well over 10 years now”.
The current chef is Hispanic (the partnership with Coronados has since dissolved) and some recipes are painstakingly learned from a Mexican friend’s mother while the rest is procured from the bests cooks in Dom & Lawrence’s families.
“What originally started off as an experiment has now taken on a life of its own.” says Dom, “[but] as of now, there are no plans for either of us to quit our day jobs.” No matter, DCT is committed to taste and organic feedback. Lawrence works hard every night to attract grubbers, never shunning a potential buzz agent, even if they’ve never heard of Twitter; Dom insists on maddening number of beta tasters whenever a new product is added. Don Chow is the David of the taco truck battle and it’s also the one you can take home to your mother. (Not a figure of speech, I met 2 sisters who brought their mother to Chinatown at 1am one particular Saturday night).
DCT’s typical schedule is as follows:
Thursday - Zanzibar in Santa Monica - 1301 5th St.
Friday - Soul Sessions at Grand Star in Chinatown - 943 N. Broadway
Saturday - Townhouse Bar in Venice - 52 Windward Ave.
Of course you can follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/donchowtacos and yes, they even cater birthday / block parties with unique menus (think creme brulee?).
Last Minute Epic Weekend Meal Alert: FOUND comes to LA!
Bites of grubbin news:
Free (bad) burgers in Malibu: http://tr.im/pSlM
Eater tracks historical Ruby’s
pix by AmbientImages
Dean and DeLuca
Are we excited? Hellz to the yes. But will there EVER be a view as cool as the one from the coffee bar looking out at Broadway and Prince? Hellz no.
And the deepest dig of all which came from, of all people, my brother, who lives in Oakland:
A Razar, A Shiny Knife, ie, FOUND Dinner, comes to LA June 27th:
These are the same guys that did the 24 hours Le Mans of cooking, as well as the beyond epic Alinea Tribute dinner.
To RSVP, email: info@arazorashinyknife.com
And finally, NOT that I watch Top Chef, but Stephan invites you to have beer with him at his new/old restaurant, LA Farm, before closing this weekend:
Hi everybody:
Im closing because i can not serve food in a 25 year old place with chairs looking like made in the 70 and plates looking like fiesta dishes. And everybody is in Vacation in the month of July. For all the ones who are happy for me, welcome to swing by to check out the plates and chairs LOL and buy some and the ones who don’t like me still swing by have a beer with me in the next 2 days and have a chat and you can get to know me
Have a great weekend
Stefan
It’s not about the food, silly! Ludobites, Los Angeles somewhere
A few realizations came to my door steps after last Thursday’s monstrous meal. But the *click to enlarge please* photos first:
It’s not always about the food, it’s about the people. The 7 of us had a gay evening imbibing, arguing, merrymaking. We were, as cliches go, high on gastro life.
Ludochef & Ludowife are amazing. If I & mine can be as nearly blissful after 10 years of marriage, I’d stop going to church and stop praying. They are the epitome of an LA love story: chef comes to America, chef meets smart, pretty girl at restaurant, they marry. Girl gets on TV, chef gets on TV, girl turns chef into a “passion” with alchemy and HTML, chef and girl tries to adopt a child from China… I am lovestruck by only 1 other couple in LA, Shin & Chris.
Alcohol is the anti-christ. EtOH turns us into savages for food, sex, and violence. It destroys substance behind praise. Bring prohibition back. I don’t need $5 corkage, I certainly don’t need to mar credibility with 3 glasses of vino, red, white, or pink.
Finally - the relentless pursuit of perfect, while great for Lexus, shouldn’t be considered by chefs. Bernard Loiseau tried with a sad ending. After all, restaurant owners/chefs are mere mortals. There will always be detractors. In this web 2.0 space, many of these will be annoying peons, ie, bloggers like me.
Tonight, Mr. Ludovic Lefebvre will be on Top Chef Masters. I’m sure he and the Mrs. will be watching together. Moi? I dunno.. maybe getting a burger somewhere. No cable - that’s how we afford these non-comped meals.
