I am not ice cream's biggest fan. I rarely "seek it out" and you will never see me curled up around a pint of Ben & Jerry's getting teary-eyed while watching The Notebook. For me ice cream, like chocolate, is on my "very rarely" list. I might get a craving one day but then not again for like a month or so. This is why it took me so long to set foot inside Carmen and David's. Its not that I don't enjoy ice cream...I do. And its not that I had anything against Carmen & David's...I don't. I just never really found myself "in the mood". I decided to change that a few weeks ago and just said "Damn it all, I am going to get some ice cream!" That's really what happened: I yelled that out the window (well maybe I didn't yell, and maybe it wasn't out the window, but I did think it very loudly inside my head).
I've past by Carmen & David's HUNDREDS of times, always intrigued by the bright colors and fun-times atmosphere. "Its an ice cream shop...whoopee," I would think sarcastically. I should explain my cynicism here:
The last time I had been to an "ice cream shop" in the city I was served store-bought Hershey's Ice Cream from a tub, and the actual ice cream "shop" was half the size of my closet. Hershey's is an okay ice cream I guess, but I felt cheated by this. Like, why even bother having an ice cream shop if you are just going to serve plain old generic ice cream that anyone can buy anywhere? Where's your sense of adventure? If you are going to convince me to have some ice cream you better do it with pizzazz.
A friend of mine pointed out that Carmen & David's does in fact make their own ice cream and that they have a constantly changing menu of flavors, one of which is Chocolate Mole: this made my ears perk up. Again, spicy food should burn in hell forever, but in ice cream?! That's what I'm talking about when I talk about pizzazz. Now I may never try this particular flavor (or I will and I'll write about how it was cold yet burned my mouth, and everyone will read it and laugh at my horrible experience as it seems you people like to do) but whatever, my girlfriend will enjoy it and I'll try something else and we'll have an ice cream date in a candy castle...la la la la la...sorry.
So my girlfriend and I went to Carmen & David's for our ice cream date (not really...we just stopped in one day after market and picked up two pints to go. We have very busy lives). Walking in, I immediately felt good. The bright-colored walls and the openness of the space made it was all very welcoming and fun, like an ice cream shop should be. I felt young again. I also felt mild anxiety while looking at the giant wall of current flavors and not being able to decide which ones to get. I narrowed my choices to three that I wanted to sample (I really wanted to sample every single one with the tiny little spoon, but I figured that the guy- presumably David- would get ticked off... I would too if some punk kid came in and made me give him a nickel-sized sample of every single flavor available. "What a jerky kid," I would think. "Make your choices like an adult and narrow your options to only a few. It saves time and doesn't make me want to murder you." Perhaps I should not ever work in an ice cream shop). The gentleman, who we will call David (I should have asked), was very kind and accommodating and as soon as my final flavor sample, Butter Brickle, hit my lips, my decision was made. So rich, so delicious, oh Butter Brickel, its been a while...
Butter Brickle is my favorite kind of ice cream. It is rarely available in stores. There is only one of which that I know of and that's Pine View Dairy in New Danville, otherwise I just don't see it. Apparently Butter Brickle is a registered trademark (that's right, I do "research") which is I guess why larger ice cream companies do not offer it as a flavor. It makes me think of my childhood, but I'm not sure why. I don't remember having Butter Brickle very often as a child, but it just sort of triggers in me the feeling like its a special day and I am being treated to ice cream. I don't know...I'm weird.
Typically, Butter Brickle is a toffee-flavored ice cream with crushed bits of toffee mixed throughout. I guess that's the "brickle?" The variety I am most familiar with, which is Pine View Dairy, has pieces that are mostly uniform, and their taste is a little closer to crushed up butterscotch candies which it may very well be. The ice cream is flavored a little closer to vanilla than it is to toffee, but in a world where Butter Brickle is a registered trademark for some reason, and bigger ice cream companies don't produce it, Pine View's version will suffice.
Until now...
Carmen & David's done changed the game, kid!
The toffee flavor in the ice cream is dead on. It's like I'm eating a Skor Bar (which are the best, BTW) and the "brickle" is not bits: its more like its ground up. This creates an absolutely delicious gooey ribbon of sugary toffee heaven: it's almost like caramel, but not as thick. The ice cream was smooth and creamy, with an occasional crunch (from the "brickle" dust), and considering that I eat ice cream one scoop at a time, the pint that I took home has lasted me for awhile. I must savor this rare and delicious treat.
8.9
8.2
So Carmen & David's has made a believer out of me...not all ice cream shops serve ice cream that comes from a wholesaler. And though I still might only be in the mood for ice cream on a rare occasion, at least now I know where to go to get the "good stuff" when that rare occasion arrives.
I really need an ice cream scoop.
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