Best ice cream in America not just from a shop

by Laurel Miller on

Since Memorial Day is past, I think it’s safe to say we’ve officially entered ice cream season (National Ice Cream Day is July 17) Unless you live in Seattle, in which case, it’s still winter, but never mind. We still have great ice cream.

What makes for acclaim-worthy ice cream? Food writers like me tend to look for an emphasis on local/seasonal ingredients, including dairy. I love high butterfat ice cream, because my feeling is, if I’m going to indulge (I’m also lactose intolerant, so it’s really taking one for the team) I want something insanely creamy and smooth, with a rich, full, mouthfeel. Gummy or chewy ice cream is the hallmark of stabilizers such as guar or xanthan gum. The fewer the ingredients, the better, in my book. Hormone/antibiotic-free cream, milk, eggs; fruit or other flavoring agent(s). That’s it.

Much ado is made of unusual ice cream flavors, and I agree that creativity is welcome, as long as it remains in check. But there’s something to be said about purity, as well. If you can’t make a seriously kickass chocolate or vanilla, you may as well shut your doors.

Below is a round-up of my favorite ice cream shops, farmers market stands, food trucks, and carts (the latter two a growing source of amazing ice cream) across the country. If your travel plans include a visit to one of these cities, be sure to drop by for a dairy or non-dairy fix; most of these places do offer sorbet, or coconut milk or soy substitutes. Some also sell via mail order and at other retail outlets; check each site for details.

1. San Francisco: Bi-Rite Creamery & Bakeshop
When I lived in Berkeley, I used to make special trips into the City just to shop at Bi-Rite Market, a beloved neighborhood grocery in the Mission District that specializes in all things local, organic/sustainable, and handcrafted, from produce to chocolate. When they opened a tiny, adorable creamery across and up the street a few years ago, it was with the same ethos and business practices in mind. Organic milk and cream are sourced from Straus Family Creamery in adjacent Marin County, fruit from nearby family farms. Salted Caramel is a best seller; I’m a slave to Brown Butter Pecan, and Creme Fraiche. Every rich, creamy mouthful is about purity of flavor, but sundaes and new soft-serve flavors are also available.

[Photo credit: Flickr user Barbara L. Hanson]Runner-up is three-year-old Humphrey Slocombe, also in the Mission. Personally, I can live without Government Cheese, Jesus Juice (red wine and Coke), or Foie Gras ice cream, but I can definitely get behind Secret Breakfast (bourbon and corn flakes), Prosciutto (somehow, it makes sense, whereas I just don’t like my diseased goose liver in dairy form), Honey Thyme, and Cucumber Ice Milk. Like Bi-Rite, dairy also comes from Straus, and local food artisans and farmers provide the goods for most of the esoteric to downright freakish flavors. Bottom line: what doesn’t repulse you is good stuff

2. Brooklyn: Van Leeuwen
While in Williamsburg two weeks ago, I stumbled upon one of Van Leeuwen’s famous, butter-yellow ice cream vans (co-founder Ben Van Leeuwen used to be a Good Humor driver). It was tough to decide on a flavor, given the lovely, lyrical sound of the mostly botanical flavors such as ginger, currants and cream, and Earl Gray. I chose palm sugar, which was an ethereal blend of sweet, high-quality dairy Van Leeuwen sources from a farmer he knows in Franklin County, and the caramelly richness of the sugar. Props too, for using all biodegradable materials. Van Leeuwen also has stores in Greenpoint and Boerum Hill. A trusted friend in Brooklyn also highly recommends the Asian-inflected flavors at Sky Ice, a Thai family-owned spot in Park Slope.

3. Chicago: Snookelfritz Ice Cream Artistry
Pastry chef Nancy Silver stands behind her unassuming little stall at Chicago’s Green City Market in Lincoln Park, dishing out some of the most spectacular ice cream in the country. Snooklefritz specializes in seasonal ice creams, sherbets, and sorbets using Kilgus Farmstead heavy cream and Meadow Haven organic eggs. The result are creations such as the deeply flavorful maple-candied hickory nut, and heavenly brown sugar and roasted peach ice creams, and a creamy, dreamy Klug Farms blackberry sherbet.

4. Seattle: Full Tilt Ice Cream
The city’s most iconoclastic ice cream shop (on my first visit, the ska-punk band Three Dead Whores was playing…at the shop) has opened several locations in the last two years, but the original is in the ethnically diverse, yet-to-gentrify part of South Seattle known as White Center. That accounts for flavors like horchata, Mexican chocolate, ube (purple yam), and bourbon caramel (if you saw the patrons at the open-at-6am tavern next door, you’d understand). Enjoy Memphis King (peanut butter, banana, and chocolate-covered bacon) with a beer pairing while scoping out local art on the walls or playing pinball. Over in hipster-heavy Capitol Hill, Bluebird Homemade Ice Cream & Tea Room does the PacNW justice by offering an intense, almost savory Elysian Stout (the brewery is two blocks away), and a spot-on Stumptown Coffee ice cream. Not as high in butterfat as the other ice creams on this list, but well-made, and full of flavor, using Washington state dairy.

5. Portland, Oregon: Salt & Straw
“Farm to Cone” is the motto at this new ice cream cart/soon-to-be-storefront in the Alberta Arts District. Think local ingredients, and sophisticated, fun flavors that pack a punch like a lovely pear and blue cheese, honey balsamic strawberry with cracked pepper, hometown Stumptown Coffee with cocoa nibs, and brown ale with bacon. The 17% butterfat content is courtesy of the herd at Oregon’s 4th generation Lochmead Dairy.

6. Columbus, Ohio: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Jeni’s has a clutch of stores now, but the family-owned original is in Columbus. The Brown Swiss, Jersey, Guernsey, and Freisan cows at Ohio’s Snowville Creamery produce high-butterfat milk and cream, which, according to Jeni’s, goes from “cow to our kitchen within 48 hours.” The result are flavors ranging from signature Buckeye State (salty peanut butter with chunks of dark chocolate) and Riesling Poached Pear sorbet, to seasonal treats such as Backyard Mint, Goat Cheese with Red Cherries, and Strawberry Buttermilk. Down home and delicious.

7. Boston: Toscanini’s
From Burnt Caramel to Grape Nut, Cake Batter, Cardamom Coffee, or Banana sorbet, this wildly popular Cambridge shop is, in the words of a colleague, “consistently original and good.” Equally wonderful is Christina’s Homemade Ice Cream, also in Cambridge. It’s attached to the family-owned spice shop: the results are fresh, potent flavors such as Cinnamon, Herbal Chai, French Vanilla, Fresh Rose or Mint, and Bergamot. Five sorbets are available daily, as well.

[Photo credits: bourbon, Flickr user gigaman; bacon, Flickr user miss_rogue]

This eggnog ice cream from Van Leeuwen is admittedly Christmasy-sounding, but just think of it as “custard” ice cream (and a way to subconsciously cool off, while watching this clip). Pair with luscious summer fruit, such as sliced nectarines, cherries, strawberries, or plums.

Top five things to look for in a travel doctor, and why you should have one

by Laurel Miller on

Despite writing about food and adventure travel for a living, I used to be somewhat blasé about the concept of travel medicine. Multiple incidents of Giardia/dysentery/traveler’s diarrhea/full-body outbreaks of mosquito and sand fly bites just taught me to carry a serious stash of antibiotics in my first-aid kit. At least I’ve always been conscientious about travel immunizations and educating myself about the primary diseases indigenous to my destination.

When you’re young and healthy, it seems silly to have a travel medicine specialist. Although this article is primarily directed at adventure travelers, odds are, the worst thing you’ll come home with is a backpack full of crappy souvenirs. But no one’s invincible, and should you require a specialist for something not responding to conventional treatment or with progressive symptoms, time is of the essence. Many “exotic” diseases progress rapidly, and can cause irreversible damage or death if not properly diagnosed and treated. Even with incurable diseases, the earlier you catch them, the easier it will be to manage symptoms and prevent them for worsening.

No, I’m not a doctor, although I come from a medical family. But I got seriously schooled after visiting Ecuador two years ago. After a fantastic month of adventure activities in remote parts of the Andes and Amazon Basin, I fell seriously ill the last day my trip. Two years of at-times crippling symptoms, 10 CT scans, five medical facilities, dozens of specialists, four surgical procedures, two surgeries, one cancer diagnosis, and near-medical bankruptcy later, I’ve become an expert at being my own advocate.

My infectious disease doctor believes that I contracted a form of bartonellosis called Oroya Fever after being bitten by sand flies. The good news: My health is currently stable, but we don’t know if the disease is in remission or not. But I have permanent cognitive damage, scarring or tumors on most of my internal organs, and intermittent arthritis. But believe me, I feel lucky.

I don’t want anyone to go through the health and medical nightmare I’ve endured, so I’ve compiled a list of essentials in a travel medicine doctor. Ergo, number one with a bullet:

1. Is he/she a travel or tropical medicine specialist?
Pre-bartonella, I used an internist as my GP/prescriber of antibiotics. If you can find an internist, gastroenterologist, or infectious disease doctor who is also a specialist in travel medicine, that’s a huge plus. 2. Does he/she have personal experience traveling or practicing in developing nations?
There are a lot of practicioners who aren’t globally aware, so to speak. You can’t diagnose what you don’t understand, know about, or have first-hand experience with. Period.

3. Is he/she a good listener and empathetic?
It’s difficult to find these qualities in any doctor, especially in today’s medical climate. But it’s imperative to find someone you can communicate with, and who understands what you’re going through if you’re suffering from a mystery travel ailment. Don’t settle, even if you need to travel to another state or country to seek treatment (what stumps doctors here is often commonplace in the country of origin).

4. Does he/she have a good network of colleagues in multiple specialties (including travel/tropical medicine) to consult for additional opinions?
My current mantra is to seek a third opinion, from at least two different medical facilities. That, and to have a travel physician who actively consults colleagues and does additional research to assist with a diagnosis and/or treatment. My infectious disease doctor talked to specialists at a medical school in Peru on my behalf, and even tracked down a relevant medical paper from 1897 as he honed in on a diagnosis. And while I wouldn’t consider it a deal-breaker if the answer is no, see if your doctor is an active and participating member of the International Society of Travel Medicine.

5. Does he/she return your calls/provide you with email, pager, or office number so you can get in touch directly?
I’ve learned that a good doctor who is invested in your recovery will provide an open line of contact to address questions, concerns, and exchange pertinent information. Tip: Please don’t abuse this privilege. Physicians work insanely long hours, under constant stress. And don’t expect to hear back immediately if you leave a non-urgent message; be realistic. A couple of days, fine (many specialists aren’t in clinic every day). A week? Make a polite follow-up.

Whether or not you end up getting a travel doctor, the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers (IAMAT) provides loads of useful information, including a directory of global travel medicine clinics with English-speaking staff, and a destination-specific travel health planner. And depending upon what you plan to do on your trip, where you’re traveling, and your financial situation, you may want to invest in travel insurance.

[Photo credits: blood transfusion, Flickr user CarynNL;patient, Flickr user kk+; legs, Laurel Miller]

China’s “red tourism” commemorates 90th anniversary of Communism

by Laurel Miller on

Come up with a wacky tourism concept, and they will come. For the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party’s founding on July first, enterprising operators throughout China are creating a new crop of cultural and commemorative “red” tours.

On the idyllic island province of Hainan, visitors young and old alike travel to rural Qionghai, to visit Pan Xianying. At approximately 95 (Hainan isn’t so great at archiving old birth records), Pan is one of three remaining members of a famed, all-female Chinese Communist army unit. As such, she’s a living attraction on a “red” tour of Hainan, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Pan was about 15 when she joined the unit in 1931; the battalion was formed by a Hainanese Communist to promote gender equality. The unit was disbanded after several years, when Nationalist forces drove local Communists underground. In 1949, the women gained national attention after Chairman Mao overtook China. The battalion is now the subject of several films and a song.

Enterprising authorities in Qionhai are now offering tours of the unit’s former training ground and meeting spots, and offering hikes, during which one can experience the thrill of following a difficult route once used by Red Army soldiers. Adding a further note of authenticity: guides wear era-appropriate green hats adorned with red stars (also available as souvenirs), and hikers willing to cough up an extra 100 yuan can even slog in full soldier regalia. The hikes are said to foster “army-style camaraderie.” Does that mean dysentery is included?

Not surprisingly, there has been official encouragement behind revolutionary tours, although red tourism isn’t new. Mao’s home city of Shaoshan in Hunan province, as well as the Communist base of Yan’an in Shaanxi province attract tourists, and authorities in places like Chongqing encourage the learning of “red songs” printed in local newspapers or on websites.

Chen Doushu, head of the agency organizing the Hainan tours, says red tourism reflects a desire by many to look back fondly on the past, after more than 30 years of focus on the future during China’s rapid recent modernization. “Chinese people cannot forget their history, and the best way to do that is to go and remember it, to study it. That’s where red tourism comes from.”

Apparently, absence does make the heart grow fonder.

[Photo credit: Flickr user xiaming]

What airlines could learn from cruise lines

by Chris Owen on
Most cruise lines operate efficiently out of necessity. If they don’t take care of business, ships sink and people die. They sail floating cities out into the ocean where there is very little help to fall back on. At sea, the Captain is simply “the master of the vessel” as they tell say on ships and whatever gets thrown his way gets handled.

Just to look, one would think that airlines must have an efficient operation too, also out of necessity. They fly hundreds of people from place to place and they too don’t have a lot to fall back on. They might be in a worse position because they can’t launch lifeboats to save their passengers should the aircraft have a problem like a cruise ship can. In the sky, we are told that the captain is in command of the aircraft. That is surely true to a point, but there are a lot of factors that are out of his control. Still, almost everyone has a story about their worst flight ever and most love to tell it.

“It is unlikely that airlines will ever rank at the average, and certainly not above the average, in customer satisfaction because of some of the intrinsic factors … that will never change,” David Grizzle, a longtime executive at Continental Airlines told USAToday.

Let’s compare how one cruise line handles things compared to how one airline does.

At least one cruise line has has come up with a brilliant plan to make for a smooth disembarkation process. While most guests on a ship will be wading through a sea of luggage to find theirs after the sailing, this new program lets guests leave luggage outside their stateroom on the last night of the cruise to be seen again when they arrive at their home airport. The program saves guests time looking for bags after the cruise and effort toting them around from place to place.

The process also streamlines going through customs , normally a time-consuming task, by disembarking all the guests who signed up for this service and their luggage at the same time. Once disembarked, they are put on a special bus that is then sealed until they arrive at a secure area at the airport. If the seal is unbroken, customs authorities board the bus, process the guests right there, verify the security level of the bus driver then send the passengers on to board their flights. Their luggage goes through a similar process, also on a sealed truck, then it is scanned, photographed and loaded on the appropriate flight.

There’s more to it than that but you get the idea: very convenient, very secure, very fast, and the price, $20 to use the service then $25 per bag, is a steal. We did this in Vancouver B.C. not long ago and experienced the process first-hand. It was a really good example of a company going out of their way to accommodate their customers.

Contrast that pleasant experience to our flight on a major airline flying from Vancouver to Atlanta then on home to Orlando.

Before it is too late, I should throw in that I am a huge fan of flying. Any kind of flying. My dad had a little Cessna airplane when I was a kid and we flew all over the place. I am also one of those people who have never had any luggage lost or damaged, ever. I have no gripes with airlines.

Starting off badly, we were held on the ground departing an hour late while the airline “had to add some oil to one of the engines” said the Captain, master of the airliner. No problem there, we do want to be safe flying and who knows what might have happened on the flight before us to slow things down. We don’t sweat the small stuff.

But what happened after that, the sequence of events that unfolded next, is what I believe to be a great example of how not to handle a customer.

The “we’re doing you a favor taking your money and flying you places” attitude is getting really old. Combine that attitude with a downsized workforce that can barely keep up with demand during peak times and it’s a bad scene that can have cascading bad results.

As soon as the flight in Vancouver took off and headed for Atlanta, one of the airline’s major hubs, those with connections were rightfully concerned about missing their flights. In the olden days, I would see flight attendants go from row to row answering questions about where guests would go for their connection.

Today an apathetic airline worker (she never rose to the level of “flight attendant”) came on the loudspeaker after she had just about enough of the pesky questions from edgy passengers. “The flight attendants don’t know where your connecting flight will be!” she said, adding “Check the magazine in the seat back in front of you for where the terminals and gates are and then you will get specific information when you get inside the terminal” in a totally dismissive way. She was done with us so she retired to the safety of the galley where mere passengers were not allowed to tread.

“Oh my, she sure told us didn’t she?” one passenger noted. “What a bitch” another one chimed.

I had some problems with that.

First thought: “Liar! You do too know connecting flight information” I thought but dared not say out loud.

Second thought: “So you want us to memorize the layout of the airport, find out which terminal and gate we need to be at then recall the layout we memorized and then what? Beam over to the correct terminal?”

I can get more information than that with my iPhone app FlightTracker which can look up any flight in about 9 seconds. I offered my services to surrounding passengers, all of whom had begun to take on a mob-like demeanor.

My thought was “So what ARE you doing here other than a bad job of selling over-priced food and drinks?”

By then we had started our approach to land at Atlanta. I planned on quickly getting that connection gate info as soon as we were on the ground and I had a signal for those who needed it.

It turned out that I had plenty of time.

First we land then taxi around for 15 minutes, looking for someplace to park the airplane as all the gates are full, kind of like we had landed at a suburban shopping mall on a busy Saturday. The Master of the Airliner announces, ” We just need to move some equipment out of the way and then we will get to the gate, should be pretty quick”

The passengers with connecting flights are getting more nervous as time slips away.

After a few more minutes we arrive at a gate but its a different gate than we had been told previously. No problem for me, it’s actually closer to where I needed to go. Apparently this was a big problem for a guy up in first-class who I could hear screaming at somebody from my seat in coach.

The next 30 minutes were spent trying to find someone to drive the jetway up to the plane to let us off. Apparently no one was available. Now to me, just thinking, shouldn’t it be part of the procedure that when they change a gate that they tell the guy driving the jetway? I would think that would be part of Ground Operations 101, right after “No smoking when driving the jet fuel truck”

So here now we have a whole lot of runners in the Atlanta airport, not totally sure where they were running to because they got the gate number from some writer guy on the plane with an iPhone but it was the best they could do.

I was one of those runners too with my wife not far behind shouting when I would occasionally look back “Go! Go!” like I should throw my body in front of the plane so everyone could get on in time and save the day.

Arriving at the gate I see the plane is still there but the waiting area is almost empty and there is a lady on “stand-by status” with 6 kids (dumb) working the gate staff for seats. In my crazed I-gotta-get-on-that-plane-and-nothing-is-standing-in-my-way state of mind though she was on “standing-in-the-way” status and needed to move.

“I have a ticket right here” I triumphantly announced and was waved past the mother and her pack of kids then on to the plane.

On board, moving down the isle towards our seats, we are now the hated, disgusting, nasty people who are holding up the show to all the seated passengers. You would have thought we burned a flag at a war veterans meeting the way they looked at us.

Almost ready to take off, all the overhead bins had been closed and were full. Now, stowing my backpack and our small suitcase was a problem too. The other passengers were scream-thinking “You wouldn’t have this problem if you boarded like a normal person you idiot!”

It was then that a flight crew member said sternly, “Sir you need to stow that bag and sit down!” like I was a bad little kid who had not picked up his toys for the umpteenth time.

Not to be intimidated I countered “Where? They’re all full!” in the same I-hate-your-guts derogatory tone.

“How about here!…or here!… or here!… or here!” she screamed walking up and down the plane, opening previously closed overhead compartments, revealing open spaces/pouring salt on the wound/flirting with disaster with the mood I was in. Then she stopped, turned around, crossed her arms and like a scene from the old west, dared me to draw first.

“No problem!” I countered back and might have mumbled something about her being a (bad b-word) not totally under my breath which drew more looks of disgust from other passengers, obviously not feeling my pain.

I felt much like I imagine others have felt before being escorted off the plane by unmarked air cops.

I spent the next 20 minutes furiously typing this thinking I would feel better about the whole experience. I don’t feel better but it’s one of those things that we can’t really do anything about. At least I provided a story for my wife to tell over and over for years to come which will probably be remembered as “the time I almost got arrested on a plane”

Remembering my customer service experience with the cruise line just before this flight, there is a lot airlines could learn from them. We’ll explore specific things that could be done next, when we continue to explore what airlines could learn from cruise lines.

Flickr photo by Atomic Taco

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Mobile farmers markets: the next “big thing” in food trucks?

by Laurel Miller on

2010 was the Year of the Food Truck, with cities from Seattle and San Francisco to D.C. taking it to the streets, literally. While street food and taco trucks have long been a part of U.S. culture in places like New York, Los Angeles, and Oakland, health regulations have historically made it considerably more difficult in other parts of the country. Eatocracy reports that Atlanta–despite its tight mobile cooking laws–now has a “hybrid” approach that enables food trucks to exist, albeit in a different form. Could 2011 become the Year of the Mobile Farmers Market?

For the uninitiated, street food technically refers to food that is prepared (cooked, if applicable) and sold from a street cart, stall, or permanent stand. Food trucks are essentially mobile street food, and can change location from day-to-day, or remain parked in a stationary spot. These are not your “lunch” trucks of old, selling flabby sandwiches and processed, grab-and-go items. Today’s food truck offers food prepared from seasonal produce and other ingredients likely sourced from local family farms.

Until recently, state and county health departments largely prohibited street eats due to fears regarding potential foodborne illness. It’s harder to regulate things like sanitation and temperature control in a non-stationary kitchen, but far from impossible. Thanks to the open-mindedness of city officials across the country, enterprising chefs and other food industry professionals have been able to give mobile food operations a shot, the most successful of which have gone on to achieve national acclaim. Portland, Oregon, has been so supportive, there are now permanent designated locations for food cart clusters.

But even as we’re becoming more of a food truck nation, it’s still an uphill battle. Eatocracy states that Chicago is just one city making it next to impossible for actual cooking to be done on-site. Instead, food must be pre-packaged, which is a buzz-kill for many budding entrepreneurs. Atlanta requires convoluted logistical wrangling (trucks selling cooked-to-order food must change location every half-hour, nor operate at more than two locations a day) as a deterrent. One local farm’s solution: focus on the raw ingredient, not the end product.

[Photo credit: Flickr user star5112]


Riverview Farms of Ranger, Georgia, has created a mobile farmers market that brings sustainably-grown produce to various locations in Atlanta. As creator Elmer Veith puts it, “We’re going to bring the farm field to the neighborhood, so you don’t have to come to us.”

Veith retrofitted a Mac Tools truck to create Riverview’s Farm Mobile. Customers enter the truck from the rear, and pay before exiting at the front. The sides are outfitted with shelves for produce, as well as the farm’s cornmeal and grits. There’s a freezer for Riverview’s grassfed beef and heritage Berkshire pork. Other offerings may include bread, pasture-raised chickens, free-range eggs, and cheese from other local food artisans and farms.

Customers get updates on Farm Mobile’s location and that day’s product via email, Facebook and Twitter. The social media aspect is a key part of the success of today’s food trucks. Yet Farm Mobile is subject to less regulations, because they’re not selling prepared food. They are, however, licensed by state authorities, and require permission from property owners to park on their land. If outfits like Farm Mobile (or Richmond, Virginia’s Farm Bus) catch on, can we expect to see more markets on wheels servicing urban areas? Greg Smith, President of the Atlanta Street Food Coalition, hopes so.

“Street food adds life and vibrancy to the city,” he says, predicting that in the future, “There will be multiple ‘food truck lots’ around the city and the trucks might move on a daily basis from lot to lot.” The Coalition, which seeks to help entrepreneurs break into the industry, is yet another sign that mobile eating is here to stay. TruxMap is an iPhone app that lets users hunt down their favorite food trucks, while dedicated sites such as Food Carts Portland are attracting legions of fans. The best way to show support, however, is to start eating on the street. Check out Eater.com, to see if there’s a food or farm truck (coming) near you.

To sign up for Farm Mobile updates, click here.