Summer 2020 Issue
FOOD & COMMUNITY IN PHILADELPHIA AND BEYOND
Philly Ice Cream: What’s New
What’s new in frozen treats this summer
Photo: ozmen-stock.adobe.com, Ice Cream Photos provided by source
PHILADELPHIA HAS LONG BEEN AN ICE CREAM TOWN. In the 1920s, the city produced so much of the sweet stuff, it became known as the ice cream capital of the country. We made another big splash in the early 2000s with Franklin Fountain. The retro vibes and from-scratch flavors gained national media attention, drawing tourists and locals into lines that can still stretch around the block. Today, we’ve got Weckerly’s and Zsa’s propelling the city’s ice cream game forward.
The last couple of years have brought some tough losses—notably Capogiro Gelato Artisans and Little Baby’s Ice Cream—to the frozen treat scene. But new ice cream artisans have emerged, bringing with them nostalgia, local ingredients and modern selling strategies, including direct shipping and pop-up events. There’s no doubt that Philly’s ice cream industry is still strong. And now is the time to enjoy all the scoops, cones, sundaes and sandwiches you can. Here are the new treats you must check out to make 2020 your summer of ice cream.
1-900-ICE-CREAM
When Ryan Fitzgerald started 1-900-Ice- Cream in 2018, media coverage—and an endorsement by Philly native drummer Questlove—boosted its following. Today, the ice cream wizard’s pints sell out online in two minutes to a cult-like fanbase.
What makes 1-900’s ice cream irresistible? Flavor and nostalgia, according to Fitzgerald. But he’s also got a winning formula: a high-quality ice cream base made with grass-fed cows’ milk, a chunk or crunch and a flavorful swirl of something like caramel or fruit puree.
Fitzgerald uses hand-picked Madagascar vanilla beans, high-end chocolate and real fruit purees, but also mix-ins like breakfast cereals and candy bars.
To keep those treats from getting soggy, Fitzgerald created something he calls the crunch cluster. He coats the snacks in a shell of chocolate, peanut butter, or white chocolate. To further boost that texture contrast, he layers ice cream, the swirl, and mix-ins in a hotel pan and then freezes it. “I cut it like a cake to preserve all the layers in the pint,” he says.
Through the COVID-19 shutdown, 1-900 has sold its ice cream exclusively online for shipping or pickup. With customers staying at home, sales have been stronger than ever, and Fitzgerald says he plans to continue growing as an e-commerce business even after the pandemic ends.
LIL SCOOP ICE CREAM
Nathan Purcell, co-owner of Lil Scoop Ice Cream with Terasina Bonini, has spent his life in underground activities. He was involved in Philly’s rave scene as a teenager, gained fame in the pro-marijuana community as a glassblower making collectible pipes and now runs a small-batch ice cream business from his home kitchen.
Purcell and Bonini taught themselves how to make ice cream by working through the Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook, by Tyler Malek and JJ Goode (Clarkson Potter, 2019). In 2019, they started selling their munchies-themed ice cream flavors at pro-weed events, then became a Friday and Saturday night staple at pizza shop Circles + Squares.
As with 1-900, nostalgia has been a winning tactic for Lil Scoop—its most popular flavors have incorporated the breakfast cereals Fruity Pebbles and Frosted Flakes. Purcell particularly liked their Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpet blend and “Philly Pothole,” a renamed version of Rocky Road.
Purcell and Bonini’s venture is on hold until the coronavirus crisis ends, but the duo plans to be back at it soon with new flavors each week and the introduction of cones and ornate sundae cups.
Get the latest information on Instagram @lil_scoop_icecream.
HARPER’S ICE CREAM
For the last year, Ryan Pollock and Chris Perotti have been selling 500—600 pints a week of their small-batch ice cream at Pollock’s sandwich shops, Rybread in Fairmont, and Rybrew, in Brewerytown. You can also find it at Primal Supply Meats and Riverwards Produce. (All of those locations have continued selling Harper’s during the COVID-19 shutdown.)
This isn’t Perotti’s first time in the ice cream business. While living in Florida, he founded Urban Creamery in St. Petersburg. He brings a chef’s touch to Harper’s Ice Cream, using fresh-baked shortbread crust in its pie-inspired ice creams. He also roasts raw nuts and uses local fruit, local wildflower honey and Pennsylvania dairy products.
Harper’s usually has eight to ten ice cream flavors available at a time, including cookies and cream, cinnamon honey graham and caramelized banana pudding. Look for dairy-free and vegan flavors as well.
Perotti says he’s inspired by other ice cream companies. “I couldn’t think of a better ice cream town in the country right now . . . Zsa’s, Franklin Fountain, 1-900, Weckerly’s. I love what’s going on.”
MILK JAWN
One of the newest ice cream makers in Philly is Milk Jawn, based in MaKen Studios North. Milk Jawn’s ice creams mix the classic flavors with dairy maven Amy Wilson’s creative whims. “I love to do limited edition fun things like Take Me Out to the Phillies,” says Wilson. That concoction swirled beer-spiked caramel and peanuts into a popcorn flavored ice cream base. Specials like that come and go, but expect mainstay flavors like malted milk toffee crunch and chocolate peanut butter. “I am really looking for as close to homemade as you can get—short ingredients list, no extracts, scratch-made mixins,” says Wilson, who got the ice cream bug when she received an ice cream maker as a holiday gift almost a decade ago.
For the moment, Milk Jawn takes orders for pints for delivery via its website and hosts pop up sales around the city, where you can buy pints to go as well as scoops. Follow @milkjawn on Instagram to stay in the loop. The plan has always been for Milk Jawn to settle into a shop of its own, but the Coronavirus crisis required a pivot. “We hope to hit the streets with a new ice cream bike soon,” says Wilson.
Photo by Paulovilela
MR. SOFTY
A number of Philly restaurants have added soft serve to their menus, including Pizzeria Vetri’s fiordilatte (and a seasonal flavor like pumpkin spice), fun cones at Frankford Hall and the hottest cool treat in town: Pizzeria Beddia’s light and creamy dessert. The soft serve at this heralded pizza destination in Fishtown comes in sweet cream and espresso flavors. It’s so good that it’s the only dessert offered.
Photo: ozmen-stock.adobe.com
GELATO
TIP: Gelato typically has less fat than ice cream.
With Capogiro Gelato’s 2018 closing, Philly lost one of the pioneer artisans that established the city as a world-class food town. The gelato scene continues to grow, though, thanks to a few creative ventures.
Melanie Diamond-Manlusoc worked at a few of Chicago’s top restaurants before moving to Philadelphia to open Flow State CoffeeBar, a combination coffee shop, bakery, co-working space and gelateria. Flow State sells gelato in scoops, pints and flights of six—plus ice cream sandwiches on cookies or brioche. Her signature flavors include orange cardamom, honey cashew and Mexican chocolate, and she also sells three different flavors of vegan gelato: guava cinnamon, mango togarashi and buko pandan.
Gran Caffe L’Aquila serves its many flavors of gelato— created by Stefano Biasini, a World Cup of Gelato winner—to its seated guests, but also in scoops to Center City passersby. At lunch and dinner, diners can order a scoop of savory gelato to melt over pasta— think bacon gelato over carbonara.
In Pennsport, Fiore Fine Foods has been spinning gelato to serve with its elegant Italian-influenced desserts since its opening day. In summer of 2019, though, the pastry team decided to experiment with selling pints and scoops. A few times a week, the restaurant will post an Instagram Story with behind-the- scenes videos of gelato in production. Though the pastry team tends to make more refined gelato flavors for restaurant guests, they’ve found that the more playful flavors, like birthday cake with sprinkles, sell best to the Instagram audience. Co-owner and pastry chef Justine MacNeil says most people don’t know about the fancy gelato being sold from the bar in pints and scoops because “we’re a restaurant first, not an ice cream shop.” Social media has helped by letting people peek into the kitchen, she says.
Photo by Smspsy
GOT LOCAL MILK?
Much of the dairy for these artisanal ice creams comes from Cold Run Creamery. About 150 miles away in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Cold Run Creamery uses local milk to make its all-natural ice cream mixes. But it hasn’t always been the first choice of discerning dairy artisans.
At one time, Trickling Springs Creamery was the go-to milk purveyor for local ice cream makers, but it closed in 2019 after fraud allegations. For small batch ice cream companies, Cold Run Creamery was a great option for keeping the local milk flowing. Philadelphia companies get it through distributor Lancaster Farm Fresh.
Other milk sources for locally-minded business include Tanner Brothers Dairy in Bucks County and Camphill Village Kimberton Hills in Kimberton, Pennsylvania.
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