I've never been a total fan of ice cream as a dessert, the SO loves it, it's one of his 4 food groups. For me I can usually take it or most often leave it. I like my desserts to have heft to them, like cake or pie or donuts--they are both filling and satisfying when good. Ice cream can often feel like Chinese food to me, after eating it I'm still a little hungry and my sweet tooth doesn't feel totally satisfied. Still I was willing to give Humphry Slocombe a try as I'd heard many good things about over the few years it's been around. Plus we were only a few blocks away strolling through the Mission, it was hot and something different to do. It's a small place tuck on a side street off the 24th Street corridor, which has become a new hotbed of trendy hipster foodie places that draw people there specifically to eat.
On any given day there are roughly 12 or so flavors made up to try. These can change on a daily basis so I'm only reviewing what we had to choose from. It's $3.75 for the first scoop and then $1 for each additional up to 3 choices. Though if you just get one scoop you do get more of that flavor than if you get 2 scoops of different flavors, which is kind of standard at ice cream shops. After perusing and sampling a few of the flavors of the day we get a scoop of secret breakfast then double scoop of McEvoy olive oil and chocolate with smoke sea salt.
Secret breakfast is bourbon and corn flakes in a vanilla ice cream and is one of their more popular choices. For the most part I did like this and as a counterpoint the SO thought it was great. You can taste the bourbon and the corn flakes give the smooth creamy ice cream some nice added texture, which I think is what I miss with this as a dessert choice for me. While you can taste the bourbon, but not overwhelmingly, what strikes me is there seems to be a back taste of brown sugar almost in the bites with the corn flakes. It's the brown swirlish looking brown lines you see in the picture. It's not unpleasant in the least, though I will say it can be on the sweet side and I don't think I could eat more than just a scoop of this without sugar shock. And coming from me that says something considering the frosting laden stuff I've had in past posts.
The McEvoy olive oil had flakes of orange zest in a vanilla ice cream and this was probably mine and the SO's least favorite. I couldn't taste any olive oil as the orange was quite overpowering and pretty much the only flavor I got here. Not quite orange push-up territory but more like orange cake flavor--which I'll admit is one of the few cakes I dislike and usually avoid. Texture wise, spot on, flavor wise, not so much.
Finally was chocolate with smoke sea salt. And after a few bites me and the SO agreed it was the best of the three we had. I'm always a sucker for the salty and sweet and this had it in spades. The chocolate was pronounced enough to taste and salt was plentiful and you do get the small hints of smokiness that abound throughout. My one thing though was that towards the end the salt became the overpowering flavor, masking even the chocolate and my mouth felt a little dry afterwards. If ever there was a dessert that could keep you from over-indulging, this would be it. It's tasty in small doses but anymore than that might turn you off. My recommendation--get a small scoop, it will serve you best.
Humphry's offers an array of flavors that will appeal to the off-beat foodie and most hipsters as some trendy thing to try. Such as black sesame, red hot banana, grapefruit tarragon, Blue Bottle Vietnamese coffee (of course) and so on. Because this is in Outer Mission for the most part though, you don't have to worry so much about excessive line waits like you would at say Bi-Rite Creamery by Dolores Park. I mean ice cream is nice and all but it's not worth a 30 to 40 minute wait, in that regard Humphry Slocombe is totally worth a visit, plus there a number of good eating places in the area you can try and make it a two for one--dinner and a light ice cream for dessert. Date night anyone?
Hipster ice cream sounds really good :))
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