It’s summer, it’s hot and Sunday is National Ice Cream Day. And... we don’t need to keep justifying this whole thing when we all clearly worship the stuff. And there are some pretty cool developments going on in the world of frozen desserts these days, from unique new flavors from your favorite brands to strangely angled pops from a Michelin chef to a Roy Choi collaboration with a San Francisco legend. We also have a couple of great deals for you. So have a look and keep cool out there.
The Museum of Ice Cream: Not content to rule the dominion of your friends’ Instagram feeds alone, the MOIC leapt into the actual, physical world of ice cream sales with the recent debut of its own pints. Coming in seven flavors like Sprinkle Pool, Churro Churro and Piñata, laced with animal crackers, the flavors are sold online as well as in Target, a new Pint Shop in NYC and a huge Los Angeles event this Sunday.
Scoop, a Wonderful World of Ice Cream: Speaking of ice cream museums, the British Museum of Food is back with a major exhibition on the frozen phenomenon, tracing its rich history back to Victorian times. Behind its stiff upper lip, the boring old British Museum seethes with jealousy.
The Bear Extraordinaire: You may have heard about this, a $1,500 sundae at New York’s Baccarat Hotel in a hand-painted white chocolate shell with black truffle crumbles, all kinds of high-grade chocolate and Madagascar vanilla, edible gold with a hibiscus champagne sauce and fondant butterflies in a crystal bowl. All we want is for Ben & Jerry to go back to using real Heath Bars.
Banana Peanut Butter Chip: That’s a new flavor from Haagen-Dazs. Elvis would have fucking gone crazy. This is why you don’t want to die too early. You miss out on cool things like peanut butter banana ice cream and the next season of Black Mirror and... just don’t.
McConnell’s Dairy-Free: A long beloved, nationally available ice cream brand from Santa Barbara still adhering to quaint practices, McConnell’s just innovated a dairy-free ice cream that’s actually quite good. So good you’ll may steal a scoop or two from your hot vegan date/most lactose-intolerant senior family member.
Dream Pops: These eye-catching, geometric, plant-based ice cream pops come from three Michelin-starred chef Juan Amador and have been a hit in LA. Now they’re available around the country through a new, national online ordering option. And you know someone out there would really appreciate one right now.
Magnum: Yes, naming your ice cream after condoms for giant dongs was a curious marketing choice clearly made by a roundtable of people with no knowledge on the subject (hey, it’s cold in he ice cream business). A much better decision was putting your decadent, brittle-shelled ice cream pops into pint form encased with a crushable shell. 1-for-1, we guess.
Chillin’ the Roast: This is a new cold brew flavor from Ben & Jerry’s. The name makes me think of “weezin’ the juice” and now I’m a little upset that they haven’t created a “Weezin’ the Juice” flavor filled with fruit rollups and hemp seeds or something. I just need time.
Mint Cookie Crunch and Chocolate Caramel Blondie: Talenti is such a ho. One minute you see it at Bristol Farms and it’s like seven-thousand dollars for a jar. Then you’re, like, at 7-11 the next day, and you see the same pint hanging out beside some real trash ice cream that’s 95% air, on sale for like $3.99. Get it together, honey. Anyway, these are new flavors from Talenti.
Alcoholic Gelato at Eataly: The new LA location of the Italian mega-market is now offering boozy gelato at its counter, including negroni and Bellini flavors. Check out the menu.
The 76er: NY State apparently just legalized the sale of ice cream made with beer or cider. And Melt bakery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side is already offering ice cream infused with Sam Adams’ Sam 76 ale sandwiched between two peanut butter cookies. Available until August 2, which is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. Hmf.
Ice Cream Alley: It sounds like another honey trap lying in wait to ensnare Pinocchio on Pleasure Island, but we assure you, it’s real. Smorgasburg in LA is launching Ice Cream Alley this Sunday, a gauntlet of notables that includes scoops from Nancy Silverton, Sweet Rose Creamery, McConnell’s and a collaboration between San Francisco’s Humphrey Slocombe’s truck and the great Roy Choi.
Halo Top: The low fat ice cream company is offering a new breakfast sundae to the first 50 people who show up to its Topanga and Century City stores in LA on Sunday. Wait, sundaes aren’t for breakfast already?
