Enjoy scoops of vanilla to Milkiest Chocolate in time for summer
Any ice cream lover knows that July is the perfect time to enjoy a scoop or two. Popular trends in the ice cream arts, such as rolled or allergen-friendly ice cream, are surfacing for the summer, and the traditional cone and cup add to the variety. This summer, taste your way through tried-and-true vanilla to Red, White and Blue Cheesecake at these eight local ice cream shops (described in alphabetical order).
Bennett’s Ice Cream just celebrated its 55th year in the Original Farmers Market. The family-owned shop offers 24 flavors, with favorites including coffee-based Fancy Nancy, with caramel swirls and banana bits, and Choffee Choffee with chocolate-coated toffee pieces.
The shop is reminiscent of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. Owner Scott Bennett hopes to remind customers of the classic ice cream shop feeling and taste with his ice cream.
“In a big city, if it has things going on all the time, you’re so overstimulated. It’s nice to have traditions,” Bennett said. “Going to the Farmers Market, going to your ice cream store… that’s important.”
6333 W. Third St., #548.
Cocobella Creamery specializes in allergen-friendly varieties. The entire shop is vegan, gluten- and peanut-free. Customers can choose from 16 flavors, including two seasonal flavors, in a homemade gluten-free waffle cone, sundae or float. Cocobella also offers ice cream cakes, ice cream sandwiches and custom cakes. The most popular ice cream is Unicorn Magic, which has a vanilla-coconut base with marshmallows, rainbow sprinkles and animal cookies.
Owners Alice Cherng and Belinda Wei opened Cocobella last year so that anyone with an allergy could feel safe knowing that their ice cream is accommodating, colorful and delicious.
“I feel like there’s always been this stigma attached to plant-based foods where it doesn’t taste good, so I wanted to break that idea and just come out with something that everyone can enjoy,” Wei said.
1253 Vine St., #12.
Cold Rolled Ice Cream Company serves up one of the trendy ice cream fads of the summer: rolled ice cream. Customers choose among more than 20 ice cream base flavors and 50 toppings to create their own unique ice cream. Employees mix and freeze customers’ preferences into a thin sheet on a frigid stainless-steel plate and, if preferred, drizzle their names on top before scraping them into rolls.
The ice cream shop rotates bases and toppings based on seasonal ingredients, adding flavors such as Strawberry Avocado Cream this summer. Customers can also purchase milkshakes that come in six different flavors.
7266 Melrose Ave.
The Dolly Llama specializes in a trendy ice cream cone called the “bubble waffle” cone. Batter is poured into semi-spherical-celled waffle irons and cooked to create “bubbles” in the cone. The shop also offers waffles, waffle sticks and shakes.
“Our recipe is based on a 2,000 year old recipe from Belgium. Also, our waffle machines are incredibly unique. Each one is custom-made for The Dolly Llama in Belgium to ensure a quality product each time!” co-owner Jane Shomof said. Shomof formerly wrote for the Larchmont Chronicle as a school reporter.
Customers can choose among 10 sauces and eight ice cream flavors, including a vegan coconut ice cream just in time for summer at its newest location on Western.
273 S. Western Ave.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams draws in customers by the smell of their homemade waffle cones. Jeni’s serves classics, such as Milkiest Chocolate and Ndali Estate Vanilla, and unconventional favorites, like Brambleberry Crisp and Brown Butter Almond Brittle. Customers can choose among scoops, sundaes or floats and sit back in a retro, beach-themed back patio.
Jeni’s is the brainchild of Jeni Britton Bauer, whose ice cream enterprise is managed from her home base in Columbus, Ohio.
This summer, Jeni’s is rolling out seasonal flavors Strawberry Buttermilk, Watermelon Buttermilk Frozen Yogurt and Pickled Mango. They are also adding blueberries to their regular Lemon Buttermilk Frozen Yogurt.
123 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Local Ice opened recently in the Original Farmers Market, in the location long occupied by Gill’s Ice Cream. Local Ice, a family enterprise, whose original shop was in the San Fernando Valley, offers customers approximately 23 flavors of ice cream and Italian ices. Owners Lisa Wood and Greg Gabel wanted to create a healthy dessert alternative for sweet-tooth customers, so they make their ice creams on-site with organic dairy and sugar and real ingredients, and they offer non-dairy options.
Local Ice is scooping Watermelon Ice all summer, along with Red, White and Blue Cheesecake ice cream for Independence Day and Peaches and Cream ice cream all July.
“Our goal at Local Ice is to make the best ice cream in Los Angeles and to have the most hospitable and friendly service,” Wood said.
6333 W. Third St., #416.
Salt and Straw is a Portland-based ice cream shop that opened a Los Angeles location on Larchmont in September 2014. The shop serves 12 classic flavors, including fan-favorite Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons. The shop also serves unconventional pairings of flavors, such as Black Olive Brittle & Goat Cheese. Each flavor is handmade in small batches, so the ice cream tastes slightly different every time.
Salt and Straw featured a five-flavor Guest Chef Collaboration Series in June, where chefs created ice creams based on their own restaurant-inspired flavors, such as Jeweled Brown Butter Rice Gelato from Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson at Kismet Restaurant in Los Angeles. In July, the shop’s limited edition flavors, such as Birthday Cake & Blackberries, are featured in their Berries, Berries, Berries Series.
“Our mission in the shops is to be the most fun and best part of people’s days, which is a great thing to come into work having that be your mission,” Larchmont store Manager Cate Jinings said.
240 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Thrifty has been a long-time, old-school ice cream option on Larchmont. The brand historically serves its ice cream in drugstores since its founding in 1929, and Albertsons will soon carry on that tradition after buying the Thrifty brand from Rite Aid.
Many of the ice cream recipes have not changed for over 50 years, and each scoop is distinctive in its cylindrical shape.
226 N. Larchmont Blvd.
By Talia Abrahamson, a junior at Marlborough School.
Category: Entertainment