Humphry Slocombe's sign is the shop's most straightforward aspect.
L.A. has Scoops, so exotic flavor combinations are hardly foreign in SoCal, but it was still interesting to see what Jake Godby has been up to in the Mission. Last December, Godby opened his adventurous ice cream shop – Humphry Slocombe – naming it for two characters from the British series “Are You Being Served?” He uses premium Straus Family Creamery milk and has a serious pedigree; he was opening pastry chef at Daniel Patterson’s Coi. Hell, he’s so passionate about ice cream that he has miniature ice cream cones tattooed on his left forearm. That all bode well, and the payoff was just as sweet as we’d imagined.
Godby clearly has a twisted of humor, as evidenced by his flavor names and the art on his walls. He paid homage to Andy Warhol with his Campbell’s soup cans. He’s already introduced Salt & Pepper, Secret Breakfast and Hibiscus Beet. Hopefully he doesn’t follow through on the fourth flavor: “Fetal Kitten.” There isn’t much that can faze me in a bowl, but “Fetal Kitten” ice cream would do the trick.
During our visit, I sampled Rosemary’s Baby (toasted pine nuts + rosemary) and Salt-N-Peppa (Push It Real Good) and liked them both, but opted to fill my single cup ($3.25) with scoops of two different flavors. The Humphry Slocombe ice cream with the most acclaim is Secret Breakfast (bourbon and cornflakes) and it deserves the hype, with corn flake bits, deep flavor, and a distinct Bourbon finish. It’s probably not worth ordering sorbet at Humphry Slocombe since it doesn’t use rich Straus milk, but Thai Chile Lime sorbet brought enough heat to leave an impression.
Allison got scoops made with luxurious McEvoy Ranch olive oil and Blue Bottle Vietnamese iced coffee. I’ll begrudgingly admit to enjoying my taste of Vietnamese iced coffee ice cream, which is hard to do after Blue Bottle wrecked me in 2008.
Humphry Slocombe is clearly producing some of the best ice cream in San Francisco, vying for supremacy with nearby Bi-Rite Creamery.
Blog Comments
mattatouille
August 23, 2009 at 5:46 PM
it’s interesting to see all the name-dropping at Humphrey Slocombe. Tai at Scoops is sure never to quote the source of his ingredients since he thinks it detracts from the actual flavor. Either way, H.S. is some great ice cream.
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August 23, 2009 at 5:09 PM
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