Equipped with a double scoop cone—one of cardamom, pistachio and chocolate, the other of honey walnut—I pause to find out how business is going at the chic Penny Ice Creamery. “We couldn’t make enough olive oil, chocolate and sea salt ice cream,” admits Kendra Baker, who along with her partner Zachary Davis is experiencing the breakneck pace of success. “And we ran through candycap mushroom ice cream immediately—which is an unusual flavor.”
What about flavors for traditionalists? “We always have vanilla—Tahitian vanilla bean—and dark chocolate sorbet,” she assures me. Sampling the spectacularly well-balanced black pepper cheesecake ice cream, I forget all about vanilla.
Why the public’s quest for the unusual? “I think ice cream’s an amazing medium for experimenting with flavor experiences,” Baker says. So far the Penny Ice Creamery has utilized unorthodox items like basil, celery and tomato in its popular frozen organic creations. Baker confirmed the rumors I had heard over at the Dirty Girl farmers’ market booth: she is creating something using green strawberries for a benefit for the public libraries happening later in the evening. “Who knows what the future will bring?” Baker notes. “It takes me back to my Manresa roots.”
New Leaf Libations
Couldn’t help but notice the “on-site” beer and wine license application posted on the front door of the Westside New Leaf, where I shop ’til I drop. So what does it all mean? According to Scott Roseman, New Leaf co-owner, it doesn’t yet mean wines sold by the glass at the sleek natural foods market. “The reason we decided to apply for it was so that we could do wine tastings and wine pairings in the classroom and in the wine department,” Roseman revealed. “We would have liked to have been able to also sell single servings of wine and beer,” but so far, Roseman says, the city is a bit hesitant. “Perhaps at a later time.”
Top Plates
My dining partner went nuts last week when he saw the Cellar Door pizza of the evening. Chef Jarod Ottley, now holding down the tasting room’s exhibition kitchen, had dreamed up a pizza topped with roasted romanesco—sweet and nutty—garlic confit, bacon and Bellwether ricotta. It was nothing short of dreamy. This dish went supernova when paired with glasses of the flagship Le Cigare Volant 2006, and we scarfed down every last trace, watched over by the sculptural version of the flying cigar.
Send tips about food, wine and new dining discoveries to Christina Waters at xtina@cruzio.com. Read her blog at http://christinawaters.com.
