three twins ice cream

santa monica, ca

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yet another picture of my sister's hand holding food. and my peeling nail polish. anyway - cindy was visiting, so i took her to main street in santa monica to check out some boutiques and the new muji store. couldn't resist stopping at a little scoop shop. can't go wrong with gourmet ice cream. my strawberry ice cream was creamy and delicious. cindy's lemon cookie ice cream was "really really good." a perfect treat to eat while shopping along main street or walking along the ocean. gotta love southern california.

sweet rose creamery

los angeles, ca

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i've never tried an artisan ice cream shop that i didn't like. extra creamy. quality ingredients. i usually get some crazy flavor - sweet rose creamery doesn't get as crazy as coolhaus- but they'll still have something unique. but this time at sweet rose creamery in brentwood country mart, i was pretty boring: a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of chocolate - all in a waffle cone. still tasty.

coolhaus

culver city, ca

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jenny in LA! when jenny and i get together, there's a lot of good eating. this time we went to lukshon, a fancy asian restaurant from sang yoon - the father's office guy. (forgot to take a picture!)

when cindy c heard that we would be in culver city, she told us to go to coolhaus. and jenny and i generally do everything that cindy c tells us to do. so we walked down the street from lukshon, past a gelato shop, past a lot of closed shops, and eventually found the brightly lit coolhaus. very interesting flavors. with jenny, i got a scoop of the fried chicken and waffle ice cream. weird, but a nice salty sweet mix with flecks of fried chicken skin and chunks of maple waffles. when i brought derek, we split an ice cream sandwich made with a double chocolate chip cookie, a smores cookie, and coffee and donut ice cream. everything is very sweet, so half of an ice cream sandwich was the perfect size. yum.

emack & bolio's

new york, ny

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perfect snack when you're shopping in soho on a hot summer day. my favorites are the mud pie (coffee with chocolate chips and oreos) and the grasshopper pie (creme de menthe with chocolate chips and oreos). and they don't skimp on the oreos - lots of big chunks.

lala's creamery

petaluma, ca

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adorable little old-fashioned ice cream shop. when we walked by on the way to central market the night before, i made a mental note to check out lala's later. although it opened fairly recently, it has the old-timey soda shop feel that fits in perfectly with historic downtown petaluma. i ordered a sundae with tea & honey ice cream topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, chopped nuts, and a cherry. the ice cream was delicious - tasted like taiwanese milk tea but less sweet. definitely stop by if you're ever in petaluma.

main street burgers

los gatos, ca

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derek discovered this spot while he was driving back from some firm retreat in the south bay. he saw the advertisement for "invent your own" ice cream sandwiches and knew that he had to take me here. derek ordered a massive burger with bacon and melted cheddar on an egg bun. the burger was pretty good, but nothing amazing. the egg bun is buttery and rich, which might be good on its own, but it ended up making the greasy burger taste even heavier. i enjoyed the mushroom swiss burger (with truffled mayonnaise), but mostly because of the mushrooms and truffle flavor.

for the ice cream sandwich, you can choose either graham cracker cookies or brownie cookies and fill it with any of their excellent ice creams. i went with graham cracker cookies and rocky road ice cream for a s'mores effect. they have a special machine that hard-freezes the ice cream before its placed between the soft, chewy cookies. makes a perfectly frozen and non-drippy ice cream sandwich. amazing. we went again a few weeks later with derek's parents: ordered burgers, walked through downtown los gatos to burn off the burgers, and came back for ice cream sandwiches. delicious and perfect for a hot summer day.

bi-rite creamery

san francisco, ca

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jinny and i drove by the beach at half moon bay but it looked too chilly to get out of the car. instead, we drove up to san francisco for ice cream. probably not the smartest decision, but it made sense at the time. san francisco was freezing and jinny and i were shivering as we waited in the long line outside the bi-rite creamery near delores park. thankfully when we made it to the front of the line, a table had opened up inside and we could eat our ice cream in relative warmth.

bi-rite is famous for its ice cream sundaes and is frequently featured on those various what-to-eat-in-sf shows on the food network and travel channel. jinny and i shared a sam's sundae (chocolate ice cream with bergamot olive oil, maldon sea salt and whipped cream) and a sundae with honey and strawberries (if i remember correctly). both were pretty good, but probably not worth waiting in line for when it's cold and windy in san francisco. i think i'll stick with rick's down here in the south bay, where it's warm.

rick's ice cream

palo alto, ca

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slowly but surely, derek and i are discovering all of the little hidden gems in the south bay. rick's ice cream is definitely one of them. tucked away in a little strip mall (as everything in california tends to be), there's a little ice cream shop serving incredible small-batch ice cream. my mocha almond fudge tasted of strong coffee, rich chocolate, and had tons of almonds. there's so many other flavors i want to try - salty caramel, sideways (cabernet flavored!), rocky road, computer chip, chocolate brownies, black raspberry crunch ... i'm sure we'll get to them all eventually.

big gay ice cream truck

check twitter

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i have been trying to find this truck for several weeks now. the problem is that it looks like a normal mister softee truck. so whenever derek and i walked by a mister softee, i would check to see if it had a picture of a large rainbow-colored ice cream cone on the side. there are a LOT of mister softee trucks in the city, so its been a laborious process. but turns out the truck is on twitter, which is very helpful. i finally managed to catch the truck on 17th and broadway on friday afternoon.

the menu had several excellent options, including an ice cream sandwich made with nutella. but, of course, i had to order the "salty pimp" - a cone with traditional soft-serve vanilla ice cream, covered with dulce de leche, sea salt, and then dipped with chocolate. as you can see from the photo, i attempted to start eating it while walking back to my apartment. it was extremely unwieldy - the chocolate coating and ice cream were too soft and melting quickly in the 90+ degree weather. i walked very quickly back to my apartment and stuck the cone in my freezer. a couple of hours later, derek and i enjoyed an excellent frosty treat. the ice cream had turned to a frozened mousse-like texture and the chocolate turned into a crunchy shell. the sea salt provided a lovely contrast to the caramel and chocolate. if you're a salty caramel fan, this is the cone for you.

van leeuwen truck

twitter

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on the way into mesa grill, jinny shrewdly noticed the van leeuwen truck parked outside. instead of ordering mesa grill desserts, we decided to get ice cream from the truck. van leeuwen is another one of the fancy food trucks - this one serves gourmet ice cream and coffee. it's a little pricey, but still cheaper than a plated dessert at a restaurant.

and it was perfect for a sunny afternoon. seriously, everyone eyed our ice cream enviously as we walked down the street. someone even shouted, "hey, that ice cream looks good!" and it was good. gourmet ice cream from a truck! awesome.

shake shack

new york, ny

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my favorite thing about rainstorms in new york city is that after the rain subsides, derek will run out to the shake shack and bring back burgers for us to eat in our apartment. i get the shack burger (no cheese) and fries - and if i'm feeling decadent - a concrete as well. a concrete is like a blizzard, but with frozen custard. yes, custard.

in nyc you can find every possible iteration of burger (i love this city), but this is hands-down no-contest by-a-long-shot my favorite burger. it's the combination of a soft chewy potato bun, flavorful juicy beef, juicy fresh tomato, crisp fresh lettuce, and light "Shack sauce." all for $5. sure, some people like thinner or thicker patties, brioche buns, charred meat, different toppings, different cheeses, etc. but for me, the shack burger is burger perfection.

and because it's the shake shack, i'm even writing more than two paragraphs. a short note about the line. from the first lamppost, it takes about 16 mins to get to the order window and about another 12 mins to get your food. yes, i've timed it. if the line is longer than that - and it usually is - it can take up to an hour or two to get your food. after a rainstorm? no line and 5 min wait for your food. sweet.