Heat Wave=Ice Cream+A New Find

Earlier this week, we San Franciscans experienced a rare treat:  true ice cream weather.  Ice cream weather demands temperatures that are so warm that you only crave two things:  big, sweating glasses of ice water and cold, cold foodstuffs.  We got that on Monday and Tuesday: mornings so sunny and warm that you didn't need a jacket to leave the house; soft breezes making their way through downtown streets at lunchtime; and the inevitable (not so enjoyable) late afternoon bus rides home on unairconditioned MUNI lines.

San Francisco is not a city that's prepared for heat of any kind.  Most apartments and even a lot of the stores and restaurants don't have air conditioning.  So it's rather wonderful that the temperature only rises to 80 degrees about twice a year.  When it does, though, watch out.  Everyone acts like it's the end of the world and begs for the fog to return.  To me, it just means that ice cream can be enjoyed as the refreshing treat it's meant to be.  {OK, OK, I did complain a little.  But only on hot buses, really.}

On Tuesday night, Cole and I headed into the Mission to Humphrey Slocombe, which you may remember from the fabled Shira Ice Cream Tour of June 2010.  It was a perfect, balmy evening, and damned if we weren't going to take advantage of it.  The Mission was busy with everyone out on the streets, fans blowing in windows, music wafting from markets.  Cole sampled the Balsamic Caramel ice cream (she liked; I didn't) and I had the strange but delicious Red Hot Banana.

As great as Humphrey Slocombe is, what piqued my interest on Tuesday evening was this old diner/soda fountain/ice cream shop called St. Francis, which we passed on our way down 24th Street. 

{image via}

This place looks spectacular at night, with all of its neon signs lit up, including a big, awesome vintage sign up higher on the building, screaming out the name in red neon.  It's got an old school soda fountain counter that's been serving up delicacies since 1918.  That's what I love about this city:  almost every place you stumble upon has a story to go with it.  You don't find the cookie-cutter chain restaurants that a corporation threw up in a week in a strip mall.  People worked hard to get these places started, and even when they're later sold to new owners, as in the case of St. Francis, there is an enduring respect for history and what has come before.

Turns out that St. Francis no longer makes its own ice cream (boo hoo); they serve Mitchell's (which was the first stop on our ice cream tour and my favorite, so I can't complain).  In any case, I have a feeling that the sundae combinations on the menu are all special St. Francis creations, not to mention the wide variety of diner food available.  In the running list of new restaurants to try that I keep in my head, St. Francis just jumped to the top.

Closing the Loop

This weekend we kind of unintentionally checked the two remaining ice cream shops from the tour off of our list.  On Friday night, we walked through thick fog up the hill to Maggie Mudd for a scoop.  Cole and her friend Anne tried Moose Tracks (a chocolate/caramel/crunch concoction), Sam got Green Tea and I opted for Birthday Cake.

We were all impressed.  Sam's Green Tea ice cream had a nice, strong flavor to it.  My Birthday Cake made me think a lot of a Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake--which might be my favorite dessert in the whole world.  That frozen cake, that mint chocolate chip ice cream, that frozen icing...mmmm.

Even though it wasn't typical ice cream weather, we were glad to have braved the fog to visit Maggie Mudd.  This joint gets extra points for the larger than life ice cream cone statue on display in the front window.

Yesterday, we spontaneously decided to drive up to Stinson Beach.  It also happened to be perfect ice cream weather (sunny, not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze, about 70 degrees) and we just happened to be driving right by Three Twins, so we stopped.  I was a bit disappointed that Lemon Cookie was not among the day's offerings.  All of the flavors had either been whipped up or renamed in honor of Pride weekend:  Pink Triangle, Hot Cookie (a bakery in the Castro), etc.  We tried the Hot Cookie, which was vanilla ice cream with large chunks of different kinds of cookie in it and it was fabulous.  Even better, in my estimation, was the Pink Triangle, a very dark chocolate ice cream with a hint of orange in it, complete with little triangle pieces of dark chocolate.  This flavor gives Swensen's Swiss Orange Chip a run for its money.

After visiting all five shops, I can confidently say that Humphry Slocombe's Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee still tops my list.  Coming in at a close second is the Pink Triangle from Three Twins, followed by Mitchell's Mexican Chocolate.  I sense a theme here...do you?

Oh, Humphry Slocombe...You're Too Much

This third and final installment of the ice cream tour saga continues with the journey from Bi-Rite to Humphry Slocombe, the shop that we were most excited to visit.  This was mostly due to the Food Network's coverage of it and rumblings I'd heard about town regarding its crazy flavors.

{An incredibly cool building we passed on the way to HS}

If you paid any attention at all to my Google map, you might be wondering what happened to our stop at Three Twins on Fillmore.  Well...just minutes into the tour, we started batting around the idea of axeing it because we weren't sure if our stomachs could handle FIVE ice cream shops in one afternoon.  After our scoops at Bi-Rite, it was clear that the only way we'd be able to try anything at Humphry Slocombe was if we saved Three Twins for another day.  {I will be stopping in to try their Lemon Cookie sooner rather than later, though, let me tell you.}

From its understated blue awning and facade, one would never guess that an entire world of  ice cream riches is contained within the modest walls of Humphry Slocombe.  It was overwhelming.  In a good way.  Kind of.

{Karie pre-ice cream.  That soup can behind her head was Fetal Kitten-flavored.}

Now, the flavors at this place were so outlandish that we had no qualms about trying a few before committing to anything.  Sam tried the Salt & Pepper and rejected it, describing its flavor as "sweaty."  I tried the Peanut Butter Curry and really liked it, which led Karie to order it as one of her scoops and then promptly become disgusted by it ("I feel like it should come with a side of chicken and rice," she groused).  Karie tried the Milk Chocolate Passion Fruit and enjoyed it enough to order that as her second scoop.  So at least she had one flavor she found edible.

{Possibly my favorite photo of the day}

By this time, Sam was actually pretty repulsed by ice cream in general, so she ordered a cookie, thinking it might settle her stomach.  WHAT?  As soon as it was in front of her she questioned the logic of her choice.  It was a dang good cookie, though.

I ordered two extremely tasty flavors:  Secret Breakfast (bourbon and cornflakes) and Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee.  Secret Breakfast, besides having possibly the best name ever, was really pleasing--definitely a hearty cornflake flavor with the sweet bite of bourbon.  But the Vietnamese Coffee, which had little bits of coffee grounds/beans in it, was my favorite flavor of the entire day.  It was creamy, sweet, and espresso-strong.  Looking back, I really enjoyed my flavors together too--I mean, what's better than coffee with cereal?

We did note that the Humphry Slocombe ice cream left a strange dairy coating on the roof of our mouths.  It dissipated after awhile, but we didn't like it.  We did like the fact that HS had a nice water dispenser with glasses right on the counter.  Water is a crucial part of any ice cream tour.

We left Humphry Slocombe a little overwhelmed by ice cream.  If we had been physically able, we would have tried some of the other insane flavors in the case:  Jesus Juice (wine and Coke), Basalmic Caramel ("vinegar, vinegar, vinegar!" the sign said), and Candied Ginger.  This place definitely wins the prize for the most imaginative flavors.

{Tracking our progress from the Mission into Bernal Heights}

After making the hike up Bernal Hill to Maggie Mudd, we decided we just could not take any more frozen concoctions.  To our credit, we did actually walk into Maggie Mudd, but after about five seconds we were out the door and headed home.

Stay tuned for another ice cream tour next time the three of us are here together.

Bi-Rite or Bust

The ice cream tour continues.  Here's part two of the saga: from Mitchell's to Bi-Rite Creamery; Noe Valley to the Mission.

The kid-sized scoops at Mitchell's whetted our appetites for more ice cream.  As you may have seen from my Google map, we headed up Guerrero to 18th in order to get to our second stop, Bi-Rite.  The walk up Guerrero was quite invigorating, as it gets pretty steep in places.  This street is also home to some amazing houses, such as these two beauties above.  They made us think of Disneyland--high praise when coming from a member of our Disney-obsessed family.

{Karie happily waiting in line outside Bi-Rite}

Now, Bi-Rite was the only shop on the tour that we'd been to before.  It has basically become the pinnacle of ice cream for us, so I had to include it.  Karie was dead set on getting her signature flavor, Salted Caramel, but I decided I needed to try a brand new flavor, so I got the Cherry Almond.  Sam chose Roasted Banana with a peanut brittle topping.

Consensus:  AMAZING ICE CREAM.  Not a surprise.  The Salted Caramel was as delicious as ever.  I loved the creaminess of the Cherry Almond, along with the frozen cherries inside.  Sam's concoction was to die for.

Stopping at our favorite ice cream shop was not a mistake.

Next:  we make our way through the Mission to Humphry Slocombe.

3 Girls, 3 Ice Cream Shops, Roughly 5 Miles: Part One

So we only made it to 3 of the 5 ice cream shops on our route, which came in at 5 miles instead of 7.1.  General consensus: the afternoon was a success, in that no one really got sick or had to break down and take the bus home.  I've got too many pictures to squeeze everything into one post, so today I'll cover our journey to Mitchell's, followed by later posts on Bi-Rite and Humphry Slocombe...along with things we saw along the way.

{My hand drawn map of the route}

As planned, we started out in Bernal Heights with our first hill climb of the day up to Holly Park to admire views of the city and to drink some water.  The weather was decent but not wonderful:  sunny, highs in the low 60s, with a wind that alternated between a gentle, welcome breeze and a very unwelcome gale.  After being pummeled by wind at the top of the hill, we headed down to Cortland Avenue, over to Mission and then to our first stop, Mitchell's Ice Cream, in Noe Valley.  I had heard that one of Mitchell's best flavors is Mexican Chocolate, and I was eager to try it.

{Karie and Sam fresh at the start of the tour}

{Sam and me at the park}

{Getting to and at Mitchell's Ice Cream}

Once inside this venerated shop, we took a number and started scoping out the flavors.  We actually used Sam's phone to record live dispatches of our tour, but as she and her phone are both up in Napa right now at an organic farm, I'll have to reconstruct our adventure from memory.  My aged mind cannot remember what flavor(s) I tried, but I ended up going with a kid-sized scoop of the Mexican Chocolate in a sugar cone.  Mmmmmm.  I loved it!  In fact, it would become my second favorite flavor of the day.

{Enjoying my Mexican Chocolate cone}

Karie made a bold choice and tried the Avocado, which she really liked--including its soft green color.  Sam got the Butterscotch Marble and also enjoyed her pick.

{Going, going, gone...}

Other things going for Mitchell's:  two nice benches right outside where a girl can sit to enjoy her cone; earnest employees; and placement on a relatively quiet street.

I will be going back for sure.

Thai Chile, Honey Thyme, Secret Breakfast

...are all totally imaginative ice cream flavors available at various ice cream shops in San Francisco.  Secret Breakfast, in particular, is one that has come up in my conversations with Karie several times now.  As a result (and also due to the general Shira love for ice cream), we started joking around about doing an ice cream tour of the city.  We decided then and there that it would be doable (and not even all that guilt-inducing) if we walked between locations.  We surmised that we could hit 4 or 5 shops in an afternoon.

{photo from Daily Candy}

This is perfect timing because Karie and Sam are coming for a visit at the end of this week today!  They are making the seemingly-endless slog up I-5 as I type.

Not one to procrastinate, last week I started designing the route for our tasty tour.  Though this city boasts great ice cream shops in the double digits, I narrowed my list to five.  Our tour will take us on a lopsided loop through Noe Valley, the Inner and Outer Mission, Duboce Triangle, and Bernal Heights.  I adjusted it so that we'll go through or past some of the nicest parks in the city--Holly Park, Dolores Park, Precita Park, and Bernal Hill Park.

I'm calling this undertaking "3 Girls, 5 Ice Cream Shops, 7.1 Miles."

Which shops made the oh-so-elite list, you ask?  Well, I chose Mitchell's, Bi-Rite Creamery*, Three Twins, Humphry Slocombe, and Maggie Mudd.

Practical considerations for this tour include wearing comfortable shoes, bringing a large amount of water, and limiting ourselves to one scoop at each joint. 

Of course, as I was mapping out the route, I started to calculate the probability of us burning more calories on our walk than we were planning to ingest at the ice cream shops.  Even with our 7.1 mile loop, which does include hiking up the north side of Bernal Hill (very steep in places), I don't think we'll burn more than we take in.

But that's okay.  You only live once.

Here's my ice cream-tastic Google map of the route:


View Larger Map

*Bi-Rite is not new to us.  But we love it so much, especially its heavenly salted carmel ice cream, that it simply had to be included.