In 1987, after the stock market plunged, Ben & Jerry’s introduced the limited edition flavor “Economic Crunch.” The flavor now exists only as part of B&J’s “Flavor Graveyard,” outside of its Waterbury, Vt. headquarters.
Perhaps, given what’s going on right now, it’s time to bring back “Economic Crunch” — vanilla with chocolate-covered almonds, walnuts and pecans.
(More on our B&J visit to come.)
It was 100 degrees this weekend. It would have been a crime not to visit Scoops. So visit we did, and we wound up getting some of my most favorite Scoops flavors yet. Our selections:
Maria: Banana Macadamia Nuts and Black Sesame Coconut
Mike: Mango ricotta and Horchata
Evan: Almond tiramisu (yes, that’s a “Kids’ cone” — they’re quite generous with the scoops. And to make things easier on him, we told him it was chocolate.)
The Horchata is one of the best ice cream flavors I’ve ever tasted. Clearly we must make some at home.
Just steps from our house 63 years ago, Irv Robbins opened up the Snowbird Ice Cream shop (above, in Adams Square — a kebab shop now sits where Snowbird once stood). A few years later, his brother-in-law, Burt Baskin, opened an ice cream shop in Pasadena. The two eventually merged their operations, and Baskin-Robbins was born.
Given my love of ice cream, I kinda like the fact that we live so close to the spot where the modern ice cream shop was born. That’s why we pay tribute today to Robbins, who has passed away at the age of 90.
Robbins cashed in an insurance policy soon after leaving the Army in 1945; with $6,000 in his pocket, he opened Snowbird. The L.A. Times writes:
“There was really no such thing anyplace as a pure ice cream store,” Robbins told The Times in 1985. “I just had the crazy idea that somebody ought to open a store that sold . . . nothing but ice cream, and could do it in an outstanding way.”
Baskin, who was married to Robbins’ sister Shirley, also had recently returned from serving in the military in World War II. In early 1946, he opened Burton’s Ice Cream in Pasadena.
By 1948, the five Snowbird and three Burton’s shops had been combined into a single enterprise, and they had devised their 31st flavor — Chocolate Mint. But the new partners realized they were too busy to give the stores the attention they needed to succeed.
“That’s when we hit on selling our stores to our managers,” Robbins said in the 1985 Times story. “Without realizing it at the time, we were in the franchise business before the word ‘franchise’ was fashionable. We opened another store and another and another. . . .”
In 1953, they renamed the company Baskin-Robbins, deciding the order of their names with a coin toss. The “31 flavors” concept was introduced that same year to bring attention to a deep menu that featured a flavor for every day of the month.
They sold the company in 1967, but Robbins remained involved through the end of the 1970s. More:
His family often filled the role of ice-cream taste-testers around the dinner table at their Encino home with its backyard pool shaped like an ice cream cone. He named his boat the 32nd Flavor.After retiring, he moved to a Rancho Mirage home equipped with a six-flavor ice-cream counter and was known to start the day with a bowl of cereal topped with a scoop of banana ice cream.
OK, that sounds like the most awesome breakfast ever.
Even as a kid, I turned my nose up at boring, traditional flavors, and always chose the more unusual scoops at Baskin-Robbins or other stores. Baskin-Robbins paved the way for the even more exotic offerings of Ben & Jerry’s and yes, our fave East Hollywood spot, Scoops.
31 cheers to ice cream man Irv Robbins!
Scoops is probably the only spot that deserves its own blog post every time we visit. (Here’s the scoop on our last visit, back in February.) This time out, I’d say we sampled some of the best Scoops flavors yet.
Oh yeah, you read that right. Banana/Peanut Butter/Bacon. I wasn’ t planning on getting this flavor… but then I sampled it. Something about the hint of bacon — Scoops is subtle with its flavors, after all — meshed nicely with the peanut butter flavor (the banana was a little more obscured). For my second flavor (remember the Scoops mantra — One Scoop Is Two Balls), I chose Tiramisu Guinness. Slightly more disappointing — I barely tasted the Gunness, and the rest tasted less like tiramisu, and more like plain chocolate.
The Kid Formerly Known As Blogger Toddler enjoyed — seriously, he inhaled the whole thing before we were even done — his Chocolate/Jalapeno flavor. Indeed, the jalapeno was subtle, but added a nice kick.
Maria may have picked best of all: A Red Wine/Lychee Sorbet.
Gridskipper lists the best Hot Fudge Sundaes in Los Angeles — and apparently the epicenter is in the Alhambra/South Pasadena area, where three hail: The always wonderful Fosselman’s in Alhambra — where Twohey’s Restaurant also resides — and South Pas’ Fair Oaks Pharmacy.
But you’ll never guess Gridskipper’s choice for top Sundae in town: The Disney Soda Fountain tourist trap across the street from Hollywood & Highland. Guess we shouldn’t pooh-pooh it until we try it, and Gridskipper swears by the joint’s Black & White creation. Hey, if it doesn’t fit the bill, you can always grab a milkshake from Lucky Devil’s, a coupla blocks east on Hollywood.
We get a lot of press releases here at Franklin Avenue, but when one includes those magical words — “Scoops Ice Cream” — I gotta take notice.
Rebecca writes to tell us about the film <a href=”
http://www.americanzombiemovie.com” target=”_blank”>AMERICAN ZOMBIE, which opens
at the Laemmle Sunset 5 today.
The movie, about a group of L.A. zombies struggling to gain human acceptance, hasn’t received great reviews. But for Angelenos, the setting alone should be interesting: The film was shot in and around Hollywood, East Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Altadena, the Valley and Downtown.
Now, the Scoops part: In conjunction with the film, the “American Zombie” folk are putting on an art exhibit at Scoops Ice Cream Shop’s Gallery. “<a href=”http://theartofamericanzombie.blogspot.com
” target=”_blank”>The Art of American Zombie” runs through April 20; to mark the occasion, Scoops maestro Tai has whipped up a few special flavors. (Nothing brain-related, Rebecca promises.)
We get a lot of press releases here at Franklin Avenue, but when one includes those magical words — “Scoops Ice Cream” — I gotta take notice.
Rebecca writes to tell us about the film <a href="
http://www.americanzombiemovie.com” target=”_blank”>AMERICAN ZOMBIE, which opens
at the Laemmle Sunset 5 today.
The movie, about a group of L.A. zombies struggling to gain human acceptance, hasn’t received great reviews. But for Angelenos, the setting alone should be interesting: The film was shot in and around Hollywood, East Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Altadena, the Valley and Downtown.
Now, the Scoops part: In conjunction with the film, the “American Zombie” folk are putting on an art exhibit at Scoops Ice Cream Shop’s Gallery. “<a href="http://theartofamericanzombie.blogspot.com
” target=”_blank”>The Art of American Zombie” runs through April 20; to mark the occasion, Scoops maestro Tai has whipped up a few special flavors. (Nothing brain-related, Rebecca promises.)
East Hollywood’s famed Scoops ice cream shop is probably the only eatery that deserves a blog post every time we visit. Owner Tai Kim’s unique ice cream flavors are forever changing, forever ambitious and forever a reason to keep coming back.
For our first visit since last June, I got one scoop — which, in Scoops speak, actually means two balls of ice cream. This time out, I got Scoops’ signature Brown Bread flavor (vanilla with caramel swirls and Grape Nuts for a nice crunch) and Olive Oil & Vanilla Sea Salt — one of my favorite Scoops flavors yet.
Maria got the Coconut Thai Ice Tea flavor. And Blogger Toddler enjoyed the Hazelnut & Peanut flavor. (Both of them got the kid’s size — one scoop for just $1.50.)
Scoops has also just launched a new art show: “One Scoop is Two Balls: A Works on Paper Show with Ice Cream.” Art and ice cream? In your FACE, LACMA!
Scoops, 712 N. Heliotrope Dr., Los Angeles.
