Turn Dough, in Venice, CA, taught me that sometimes it is ok to just walk down the street, take a gamble, and get a great reward.
I had a fabulous dessert, featuring one of my top passions (soft serve ice cream), served in a unique (and delicious!) way, without ... research and planning ahead. And yes, this was novel to me.
But let me back up.
I'll admit it. I was walking down the boardwalk, and I was drawn in by the sign. Not drawn in by the prominent word on the sign "milkshakes", but, by the images of the crazy cone creations.
I had a fabulous dessert, featuring one of my top passions (soft serve ice cream), served in a unique (and delicious!) way, without ... research and planning ahead. And yes, this was novel to me.
But let me back up.
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| Captivating Sign. |
I rarely wind up somewhere on a whim, without pre-meditated decision and thorough research, but ... it happened here, at Turn Dough ... the home of chimney cones, filled with soft serve ice cream, drizzled and topped with elaborate things. Yes, these had Instagram written all over them, which, is often not a good sign for actual taste. And why would I expect a random place in the long line up of shops serving ice cream stuffed into baked goods to be good? Seriously, donut ice cream sandwiches and soft serve with churros sticking out were both on the same block, and nearly every third shop had some kind of ice cream ...
I dunno. I was drawn in, what can I say? A quick Yelp search showed four stars, so, at least no immediate red flags.
Perhaps a red flag would be that no one, literally no one, else was there. No one else even seemed to look over, and the area was quite busy, 1:45pm on a sunny Friday.
The storefront is along the boardwalk, with menu boards showing their signature chimney cake ice cream creations (most, with pictures!), along with options to build your own, plus the beverage line up.
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| Storefront. |
The storefront is along the boardwalk, with menu boards showing their signature chimney cake ice cream creations (most, with pictures!), along with options to build your own, plus the beverage line up.
You order at one end, and it comes out at the other.
There were a few standing tables as well. I had the place to myself, which was actually quite nice.
The signature creation lineup did look pretty amazing, full of really fun components, but nearly every one had just one element to it that I wasn't excited for, so I choose to build my own (although I really did almost get the signature tiramisu one, which came with amaretto mascarpone inside, plus nutella dipped lady fingers as garnish, and espresso and cocoa powders sprinkled over it!).
The signature creation lineup did look pretty amazing, full of really fun components, but nearly every one had just one element to it that I wasn't excited for, so I choose to build my own (although I really did almost get the signature tiramisu one, which came with amaretto mascarpone inside, plus nutella dipped lady fingers as garnish, and espresso and cocoa powders sprinkled over it!).
The build-your-own system is listed out, step by step:
Step 1: Spreads. Your choice of nutella, dulce de leche, crunchy peanut butter, or cookie butter (+$1). I didn't know it at the time, but, these get slathered *inside* the chimney cake.
Step 2, the base ice cream, vanilla bean or vegan coconut (+$1). They used to have chocolate, but, the market demanded a non-dairy option.
After that, toppings: walnuts, almonds, graham cracker crumble, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, gummy bears, cap'n crunch, or fruity pebbles.
And finally, sauces: chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, sea salt caramel sauce, raspberry sauce, mint chocolate sauce, white chocolate sauce.
All are $8.90, for signature creations or create-your-own, and come in a chimney cake. There is no option to just get a cup or regular cone of ice cream, no option to get no toppings, no alternate sizes. I did find the inability to just get ice cream a bit odd, but I guess there are so many other places to go if you just want simple ice cream? Nor could you just get a chimney cake, slathered with a spread (although I guess you could say "hold the ice cream"?)
Extras of nutella shell or fresh fruit are listed on the menu for additional $1, but I also found out that any signature components of other creations (e.g. matcha kit kats, matcha pandas, toasted marshmallows, Toffifays, Oreos, Ferrero Rocher, brownies, nutella dipped ladyfingers, lemon curd, etc, etc) are also available to add on for $1.
Once you order, you are given a number (which, was amusing, given that I was the only one in sight), and, two wet wipes. "You'll need these", the server said with a smile, and, well, she was very, very right.
Step 1: Spreads. Your choice of nutella, dulce de leche, crunchy peanut butter, or cookie butter (+$1). I didn't know it at the time, but, these get slathered *inside* the chimney cake.
Step 2, the base ice cream, vanilla bean or vegan coconut (+$1). They used to have chocolate, but, the market demanded a non-dairy option.
After that, toppings: walnuts, almonds, graham cracker crumble, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, gummy bears, cap'n crunch, or fruity pebbles.
And finally, sauces: chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, sea salt caramel sauce, raspberry sauce, mint chocolate sauce, white chocolate sauce.
All are $8.90, for signature creations or create-your-own, and come in a chimney cake. There is no option to just get a cup or regular cone of ice cream, no option to get no toppings, no alternate sizes. I did find the inability to just get ice cream a bit odd, but I guess there are so many other places to go if you just want simple ice cream? Nor could you just get a chimney cake, slathered with a spread (although I guess you could say "hold the ice cream"?)
Extras of nutella shell or fresh fruit are listed on the menu for additional $1, but I also found out that any signature components of other creations (e.g. matcha kit kats, matcha pandas, toasted marshmallows, Toffifays, Oreos, Ferrero Rocher, brownies, nutella dipped ladyfingers, lemon curd, etc, etc) are also available to add on for $1.
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| Wipes? |
I needed more than two, and I certainly needed more than two napkins, which she provided alongside my treat. Protip: GET EXTRA.
For my creation, I decided to create my own, inspired randomly by the Coconut Raffaello. For some reason, I decided I really wanted a raffaello, and this seemed like a great time to get one. The raffaello version normally comes with no spread nor sauce, and is covered with coconut and sliced almonds (plus the rafaello as garnish), but I wanted spread and sauce, and didn't want coconut, so, I say "inspired by", as, really, the only things I kept were the nuts and rafaello. It came with two chocolates, one perched on either side.
For my spread, I went for cookie butter. I almost got the dulce de leche, but decided last minute to go for cookie butter, as I wasn't sure the dulce de leche would go well with my sauces, and I knew I wanted those. I kinda wanted all of sauces, honestly, but I also knew they wouldn't combine great, so I went with my first choice (mint chocolate!) and added the white chocolate as it seemed like it would compliment it better than the salted caramel that I also wanted. My ice cream choice was the vanilla, I had no interest in trying the vegan coconut one. I kept the sliced almonds from the raffaello signature one, as I had my own sprinkles with me, and nothing else appealed. And of course, added on the raffaello.
It was quickly assembled and handed over, and I was a bit surprised to see that while it was a cone, the cone was in a cup, which turned out to be extremely practical, and this wouldn't have worked at all without it. It also came with a tiny wooden spork, that I hated ... I know plastics are not good for environment, but, the mouthfeel of the wooden thing was not pleasant, and it was too tiny to get a real good bite of ice cream, but, again, while I thought this was going to be a lickable cone creation, it, wasn't.
So, starting with the ice cream. It was very good soft serve, above average, creamy, and, it reminded me a lot of Japanese soft serve, very, very milk forward, not a classic American style vanilla bean. I really liked it, and it was quite refreshing (an odd word choice, I know, but really, it was!), particularly when combined with the chimney cone (more on that soon!). It melted quite nicely, which, matters to me.
My sauces were fine, pretty average mint chocolate sauce and white chocolate sauce, thin style, drizzled over it, not particularly good nor bad, likely just purchased. The sauces did add some flavor, but I suspect simple salted caramel would have been a nicer choice. The sliced almonds added crunch, and I'm glad I had them for texture. I added my own sprinkles too. I plucked the raffaello off and ate them at the end, a delightful, creamy, sweet post-treat treat.
Honestly, I would have been pretty happy with just this soft serve, in a normal cone, with these (or other), toppings. But, there was much more to it.
My creation wound up pretty expensive, $10.90, since I had two upgrades, and just the base is usually $8.90. I can't say it was necessarily worth $10.90, but, it really was an excellent creation, and I'd get another.
So, the chimney cake. This was another dessert itself! And, I'll admit ... this was my first time ever having a chimney cake, although I've seen them before (never stuffed with ice cream though).
If you aren't familiar, these are an Eastern European pastry, known by many names in their respective countries of origin, made by wrapping dough around a dowel, buttering it, and dipping in something (traditionally cinnamon sugar), and then baking, and then re-dipping in cinnamon sugar. They come out crispy and slightly caramelized on the outside, yet soft and fluffy inside, and the dough has a croissant-like buttery flaky quality to it. Many places I've seen them before make them to order, but Turn Dough did not, although it did seem quite fresh.
This thing was delicious. Like a hybrid churro croissant donut ... sorta. A bit hard to describe, but, crispy and soft, fluffy and flaky, sweet and buttery ... just all at once. I also liked the experience of eating it, just ripping a little off, as it pulled off the cylinder shape, was really quite fun. Of course, this is also why one requires the wet wipes ... my fingers quickly got quite sticky with cinnamon sugar and melty ice cream, but I kinda didn't care.
The spread you pick comes as a lining inside the cone, and mine was very generously slathered in cookie butter. The cookie butter was quite tasty, but, I found that it did somewhat over power my experience - there was quite a bit of it, and it was very rich, thus taking over many bites entirely. It needed the ice cream to temper it. In the future, I'd pick a different spread, most likely the dulce de leche.
Much like the ice cream, I actually would have been pretty pleased with just the fresh chimney cake on its own, no ice cream, spreads, or toppings required. But the combination of the refreshing, cool, creamy ice cream and the flaky pastry really was fabulous. I liked to alternate bites too, ripping off a chunk of cone, and then taking a spoonful of ice cream. So very good.
As I neared the end of my cone, I quickly realized why it came in a cup and not just a cone, as the ice cream had melted out all over the place. I can only imagine how much more messy I'd be without the cup. The chimney cake doesn't really form a full structural cone.
One thing I liked is how the eating experience changed as you progressed through it - first, it started as mostly just an ice cream sundae, spoonfuls of ice cream with toppings, then you get into ripping off some cone, and then near the end the ice cream had really soaked into the cone, which was totally different too. And at the very end? Of course I just drank up all the melty ice cream in the cup.
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| Custom Creation: Cookie Butter / Sliced Almonds / Mint Chocolate Sauce / White Chocolate Sauce / Raffaello. $8.90 + $1 + $1. |
For my spread, I went for cookie butter. I almost got the dulce de leche, but decided last minute to go for cookie butter, as I wasn't sure the dulce de leche would go well with my sauces, and I knew I wanted those. I kinda wanted all of sauces, honestly, but I also knew they wouldn't combine great, so I went with my first choice (mint chocolate!) and added the white chocolate as it seemed like it would compliment it better than the salted caramel that I also wanted. My ice cream choice was the vanilla, I had no interest in trying the vegan coconut one. I kept the sliced almonds from the raffaello signature one, as I had my own sprinkles with me, and nothing else appealed. And of course, added on the raffaello.
It was quickly assembled and handed over, and I was a bit surprised to see that while it was a cone, the cone was in a cup, which turned out to be extremely practical, and this wouldn't have worked at all without it. It also came with a tiny wooden spork, that I hated ... I know plastics are not good for environment, but, the mouthfeel of the wooden thing was not pleasant, and it was too tiny to get a real good bite of ice cream, but, again, while I thought this was going to be a lickable cone creation, it, wasn't.
So, starting with the ice cream. It was very good soft serve, above average, creamy, and, it reminded me a lot of Japanese soft serve, very, very milk forward, not a classic American style vanilla bean. I really liked it, and it was quite refreshing (an odd word choice, I know, but really, it was!), particularly when combined with the chimney cone (more on that soon!). It melted quite nicely, which, matters to me.
My sauces were fine, pretty average mint chocolate sauce and white chocolate sauce, thin style, drizzled over it, not particularly good nor bad, likely just purchased. The sauces did add some flavor, but I suspect simple salted caramel would have been a nicer choice. The sliced almonds added crunch, and I'm glad I had them for texture. I added my own sprinkles too. I plucked the raffaello off and ate them at the end, a delightful, creamy, sweet post-treat treat.
Honestly, I would have been pretty happy with just this soft serve, in a normal cone, with these (or other), toppings. But, there was much more to it.
My creation wound up pretty expensive, $10.90, since I had two upgrades, and just the base is usually $8.90. I can't say it was necessarily worth $10.90, but, it really was an excellent creation, and I'd get another.
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| Cookie Butter & Chimney Cone. |
If you aren't familiar, these are an Eastern European pastry, known by many names in their respective countries of origin, made by wrapping dough around a dowel, buttering it, and dipping in something (traditionally cinnamon sugar), and then baking, and then re-dipping in cinnamon sugar. They come out crispy and slightly caramelized on the outside, yet soft and fluffy inside, and the dough has a croissant-like buttery flaky quality to it. Many places I've seen them before make them to order, but Turn Dough did not, although it did seem quite fresh.
This thing was delicious. Like a hybrid churro croissant donut ... sorta. A bit hard to describe, but, crispy and soft, fluffy and flaky, sweet and buttery ... just all at once. I also liked the experience of eating it, just ripping a little off, as it pulled off the cylinder shape, was really quite fun. Of course, this is also why one requires the wet wipes ... my fingers quickly got quite sticky with cinnamon sugar and melty ice cream, but I kinda didn't care.
The spread you pick comes as a lining inside the cone, and mine was very generously slathered in cookie butter. The cookie butter was quite tasty, but, I found that it did somewhat over power my experience - there was quite a bit of it, and it was very rich, thus taking over many bites entirely. It needed the ice cream to temper it. In the future, I'd pick a different spread, most likely the dulce de leche.
Much like the ice cream, I actually would have been pretty pleased with just the fresh chimney cake on its own, no ice cream, spreads, or toppings required. But the combination of the refreshing, cool, creamy ice cream and the flaky pastry really was fabulous. I liked to alternate bites too, ripping off a chunk of cone, and then taking a spoonful of ice cream. So very good.
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| Melty Mess. |
One thing I liked is how the eating experience changed as you progressed through it - first, it started as mostly just an ice cream sundae, spoonfuls of ice cream with toppings, then you get into ripping off some cone, and then near the end the ice cream had really soaked into the cone, which was totally different too. And at the very end? Of course I just drank up all the melty ice cream in the cup.
Find delicious ice cream cakes in Ibaco stores near you
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