Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream

Update 2021 - 2022

It has been a while since Humphrey Slocombe invaded the SF ice cream scene with notable flavors like their boozy Secret Breakfast.   Many years since my completely memorable, but very embarrassing, total wipeout on their floor (yup, that happened).   For the most part, I’ve always found the place fairly overrated, but an update review was in order. 

The good news? I found some flavors I really, really grew to enjoy.

Honey Graham.

"Raw blackberry honey ice cream with delicious housemade graham crackers folded in."

This was my first time having Honey Graham, although I've had the very similar Harvey Milk & Honey Graham several times before (a special made for SF Pride, with a milk flavored base, honey, and graham crackers, named after, obviously, Harvey Milk).

I hadn't ever really cared for Harvey Milk & Honey Graham before, finding the honey far too sweet and cloying, so I wouldn't have actively ordered this flavor, nor sought it out, but when it was provided at an event I was at ... of course I had to try it right?  Just to, uh, compare?

At first, I only found it ... ok.  The honey wasn't quite as sweet and dominating as I remembered, but, it was still a very honey forward ice cream, and you need to be in the mood for honey.  It wouldn't pair with everything.  I like honey, don't get me wrong, but it has its place: in my greek yogurt, granola, and fruit parfaits?  Sure.  In baklava?  Obviously.  But really wanting the taste of honey, in my ice cream, isn't something I generally lean towards.  The honey is an interesting sweetness though, more interesting in many ways than standard vanilla or sweet cream.

The bits of graham cracker I had mixed feelings on too.  I liked the variety of sizes, big bits that called out "dig for me!" and little flecks, but, like happens with my flavors of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, I found the actually texture of the graham bits not entirely appealing, a bit gritty, a bit mushy.  But they were just big enough for that to be less of an issue than in other flavors, and I liked having *something* in there to dig for.

So overall, better than I remembered, but, this really isn't a flavor I'd ever going to be inclined to order myself.

***.

Update: But ... it grew on me, until I found myself actually craving it.  Regularly.  The sweetness, when you want it, is just ... perfect?

****.

Salted Caramel Cocoa Nib.

"Salted Caramel ice cream with toasted cocoa nibs. Crunchy, sweet, and salty. Everyone wins."

I ended up loving this flavor.  I enjoyed it so much more than I ever expected.

Sure, I love cocoa nibs.  I like crunchy things.  I like salty + sweet combos.  But ... I had never been all that impressed with Humphry Slocombe before, and, well, salted caramel just so often is "on trend", but way too sweet, and not actually tasty.

This however was marvelous.

It *was* sweet, very sweet, don't get me wrong, but the caramel had an extremely deep, complex flavor.  I loved the flavor of this base ice cream, and the quality was high - very rich and creamy, it melted perfectly.  I didn't really detect the "salted" nature though.  And the nibs?  They complimented it expertly - of course I loved the crunch, but they also provided a bitterness to offset the sweet caramel.

A beautiful flavor, strangely addicting, shockingly complex.

I'd get it again.  ****.

Secret Breakfast.

"Bourbon ice cream with cornflake cookies folded in. Your secret (breakfast) is safe with us."

Secret Breakfast was one of Humphry Slocombe's breakout flavors, a signature item, back when things like cornflakes in ice cream were less commonplace (yeah, imagine the world, before things like "cereal milk").  And bourbon in ice cream? Definitely long before that was a "thing". 

I've reviewed it before, both in my original review and in an update in 2014.  It turns out, my opinion 7 years later is still entirely unchanged: I like the boozy base, and yes, you can taste the bourbon, but, the soggy, gritty cornflakes don't do it for me.

**+.

Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee.

"Our version of a traditional Vietnamese coffee – a complex blend of Blue Bottle organic coffee, sweetened condensed milk, and chicory."

Coffee ice cream is rarely my goto, because I try to avoid caffeine in the afternoon/evening, which is when my prime ice cream consumption is.  That said, there are some coffee based ice creams I just adore (like Mitchell's Mocha Fudge, which is just incredible), and I love the fact that Humphry Slocombe did a collaboration with Blue Bottle, the coffee shop that really drew me in deep when I first moved to SF (a combination of incredible baristas at the location near me, ritual of visiting with a good friend before the farmer's market, and discovery of single origin beans from Ethiopia).

This was ... well, coffee ice cream.  Strong coffee flavor, but sweet, it really did mirror a Vietnamese coffee, rather than regular black coffee, with the addition of sweetened condensed milk.  It was reasonably creamy.

I didn't find this particularly more notable than any other coffee ice cream, but I did love pairing it with warm chocolate cake, and easily finished my pint.

***+.

Caramel Pretzel Swirl. Single. $4.95.

"Chocolate covered pretzels and caramel in tahitian vanilla ice cream."

One day I stopped by the scoop shop in the Ferry Building, eager to get ice cream. I was excited to see what flavors they'd have. And ... sadly, I was kinda let down. They had all their classics (Secret Breakfast, Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee, Malted Milk Chocolate, Vanilla ...), a vegan choice, and only 3 others: a fascinating sounding olive oil and rhubarb flavor, this caramel pretzel swirl, and one other I'd had before. The olive oil one really was tempting, but per covid restrictions they couldn't offer samples, and I was not willing to take that "risk" on a full scoop. So, I selected this flavor kinda out of not wanting anything else, not because I had high hopes.

I love salty pretzels and sweet pairings, and I like caramel and chocolate, but, pretzel (or waffle cone, corn flakes, etc) usually disappoint me inside ice cream - so often they get soggy.  I hoped the chocolate coating would help mitigate this.

To Humphrey Slocombe's credit, the pretzels were not soggy.  However, I rather hated this favor.  It tasted ... stale.  Really, really stale.  Which is a very odd flavor when it comes to ice cream!  Even the base flavor just tasted off, not like vanilla.

The cone was a basic sugar cone, and I wasn't really into it either.  Not sure why exactly, it wasn't stale, but it also just wasn't very good.  I'm more of a cake cone, or waffle cone if I really wanna go for it, girl.

*.

Update 2017

Humphry Slocombe hasn't ever been my top ice cream choice, but, when I had a chance to try an exclusive new flavor, of course I took the opportunity.

The flavor, Hong Kong Milk Tea, is a collaboration between Top Chef Finalist Melissa King, Whole Foods, and obviously, Humphry Slocombe.  It is available only at Whole Foods, only in NorCal.

The inspiration for the flavor was the traditional milk tea Chef King grew up drinking every morning, mixed with cookies (for some texture, but also, tea and cookies is just far more fun than tea alone!).  It is made with local Numi black tea (Breakfast Blend) and condensed milk as the base, with the aforementioned cookies (almond cookies, made in house at Humphry Slocombe) mixed in.

Hong Kong Milk Tea.

Well, yup, it tastes like milk tea.  The black tea flavor was obvious, although not quite as intense as drinking a real strong milk tea.  It was sweet and creamy, just like, well, milk tea.

The almond cookie surprised me.  I knew it was in there, but I expected either chunks of cookie (a la classic cookies and cream) or swirls of cookie (like the cookie swirls Ben & Jerry's incorporates), rather than just integrated cookie crumble.  There were certainly no chunks, and nothing you could pick out as "oh, that was a cookie", but rather, it just added a texture and slight crispiness to most bites.  Really fascinating, actually.

Overall, I enjoyed it.  Good flavor, nice balance of sweetness, a bit of texture.  I tend to go for more texture and creamier ice cream, but, this was good.

Oh, and, uh, it was caffeinated, which I expected given the black tea base, but was far more caffeinated than I was anticipating.  Or maybe I just had way more than I realized (this was my first scoop, above)?  I was buzzing off the walls soon after, and the zing lasted with me for a few hours.  Uh, oops?

Update 2014

Over the past few years, I've tried out a number of flavors of ice cream from Humphry Slocombe, both at their first ice cream shop in the Mission, and more recently, at their new location in the Ferry Building.

As you can see below, I wasn't impressed with Humphry Slocombe in the past.  I'm not sure if their ice cream has changed, or if I have, but I have now found some flavors that I really do like, thus, an update is in order.  I'm glad I gave them another try!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Single Scoop, $4.

This is the first flavor that I have really, really liked.  The ice cream was creamy and melted perfectly.  The base flavor was peanut buttery, strong enough to taste, but not overwhelming.  The chocolate was tiny flecks rather than chips, plentifully distributed throughout.  It tasted like a peanut butter cup, just as ice cream, and so much better.  When I was younger, I used to always get Flurries or whatever they were called at my ice cream shop of choice, and always went for vanilla mixed with peanut butter cups.  It reminded me of those, except, soooo much better.  I'd definitely get this again.

Update: I got a pint of this.  The texture never seemed quite right.  It was too hard at first, and even as it melted, it never got very creamy.  It seemed to just go from hard to soft, with no nice phase in-between.  The peanut butter flavor wasn't strong enough.  Meh.

Secret Breakfast, Single Scoop, $4.

It had been a few years since I tried Hupmhry Slocombe's signature flavor: Secret Breakfast, aka, bourbon with cornflakes.

The flavor of the base ice cream was good, boozy, but sweet.  But the texture of the ice cream was grainy, starting right when I got it.  Even as it melted, it just never got creamy.  I almost think something had gone wrong with this batch, or perhaps it had gotten heat exposed accidentally?  The cornflakes, while cute, were soggy.

Overall, there are things to like about this, but the bad texture of the ice cream and the soggy cornflakes put it into gimmick territory for me.

Update: I also got a pint of this.  I knew I hadn't really liked it before, but I also knew it is their signature flavor, so I had to give it another try.  The base was again very boozy.  There is no doubt in your mind that this contains alcohol.  But, the cornflakes were again soggy and just kinda nasty to me.  The only thing I liked about this flavor is how soft it was, and how nicely it melted.  I think the high alcohol content helps make it meltier.

Harvey Milk & Honey Graham, Single. $4.

This flavor was originally made in honor of Harvey Milk day, but it turned into such a hit, that they added it to the regular line up.

The base is "milk" flavored ice cream, aka, plain, not "vanilla".  It has homemade graham crackers throughout, and is infused with blackberry honey.

The base was creamy, it melted really nicely.  It further convinced me that something just went strange with the batch of Secret Breakfast I had a few days prior.  This was the consistency of high quality ice cream.  I love mix-ins, so appreciated that the graham crackers added a ton of crunch, and I was fond of how many there were, and the size of the bits.  But this ice cream was all about the honey.  In a serious way.  The honey was too strong for me.  So sweet.  The graham cracker helped balance it out a bit, but it wasn't nearly sufficient.  I wouldn't get this flavor again.

Update: And I got a pint of this.  Wow, so sweet.  So very, very sweet.  Just completely in your face with the honey, which is a nicer sweetness than generic sweet, but wow, just too much.  I did however love the graham crackers in it.  There were tons of chunks, they were all varied sizes, some just little bits, others huge ones worth digging for.  I polished off this point in record time, even though I was dying from sweet overload, just because I was having too much fun going for the chunks.  If the sweetness was just toned down a little bit, this has potential.

[ No Photos ]

• Bananas for Beach Blanket Babylon: This is a limited edition flavor to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Beach Blanket Babylon.  I'm not familiar with Beach Blanket Babylon, but of course I wanted to try something special.  I was told it was a roasted banana and apple ice cream with frosted peanuts, a bit of a strange combination, but apparently this is directly tied to Beach Blanket Babylon characters.  Anyway, the banana flavor was very strong in this, too strong for my taste, so I'm glad I just asked for a sample before committing to a scoop.  I didn't want more of it, but the frosted peanuts sounded really good.
• Cinnamon Brittle: The cinnamon flavor was strong, but the dominant flavor was ... cayenne!  It had some serious heat to it.  I liked the crunchy brittle, but it was a bit too spicy for me, or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it.
• Jam + Toast: now this was strange.  Like Secret Breakfast, another "breakfast" themed flavor, aka, one you can feel totally eat guilt free for breakfast.  Or at least that is how I prefer to think of it.  The jam I think was blueberry.  And, there were indeed tiny bits of … well, bread inside, for the "toast" component.  I almost liked this, but, the resulting texture was just a bit too weird.   It was like breadcrumbs in my ice cream, so no longer smooth and creamy.  But flavorwise, very interesting.
• Oolong + Fortune Cookie: this had a lovely oolong flavor, very subtle and delicate.  But the fortune cookies were in huge chunks and soggy.  Interesting concept, but the mix-ins ruined this one.

Prior Review, Published 4/19/12

I know people love this place.  I know they use Straus Organic Dairy for their ice cream base, source organic, local ingredients whenever they can, etc, etc.  They also make crazy flavors (ZOMG!  Bourbon and corn flakes!)  But honestly, there ice cream has never really impressed me.  The flavors just aren't that great, and the consistency is just that of generic, grocery store, standard ice cream.  Throw in the price tag associated with artisanal ice cream and ... I just don't get it.

These are my tasting notes compiled from the past year or so.  Multiple tastings are denoted inside brackets.

• Bittersweet Chocolate: Same as salted chocolate but without salt, not as interesting, but nice and creamy.
• Black Sesame: Good sesame flavor, enjoyable.
• Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee: Nice coffee flavor.  [ Decent coffee flavor] [ Really strong bitter coffee flavor, not sweet, I like it ]
• Brown Butter:  Just sorta sweet, not very distinguishable flavor. [ Pretty flavorless, but nice and creamy. ]
• Candied Ginger: Had nice big chunks of candied ginger in it. Very refreshing. [ Nice ginger, refreshing ]
• Chocolate Peanut Butter: Nicely loaded up with peanut butter, not bad.
• Cinnamon Brittle: Sweet cinnamon ice cream with big chunks brittle, very pronounced cinnamon flavor. [ Not all that much cinnamon flavor, not creamy ] [Nice cinnamon flavor in ice cream, enjoy the crunch from the brittle. ]
• Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip: Not any cream cheese flavor at all. Very disappointing.
• Crème fraîche: Definitely tasted like crème fraîche, would pair well with certain desserts.
• Dulce de Leche; Sweet and creamy.  My favorite of any I've tasted.
• Elvis (the Fat Years): Banana ice cream with bacon peanut brittle.  Ice cream base didn't have much banana flavor at all.  The bacon peanut brittle was salty and nice, gave a great crunch, and was intense bacon flavor.
• Harvey Milk and Honey: Has little chunks of honey graham crackers in it.  Not very creamy, chunks not very significant, kinda just sweet ice cream.
• Honey Thyme: I didn’t taste the thyme at all. Sorta sweet from honey. Not very creamy.
• Malted Milk Chocolate: Just chocolate, don’t get malt flavor at all.
• Malted Dulche De Leche: Sweet, didn’t really get the malted part, nice and creamy, didn’t really like.
• McEvoy Olive Oil:  No real olive oil flavor at all.
• Mexican Chocolate: Sorty spicy but not much spice detected, not very interesting.
• Peanut Butter Curry: Peanut buttery curry ice cream with peanut butter curry cookie pieces.  These flavors didn’t work for me, this was super strange!
• Rum Raisin: Very boozy, do not like [ nice and boozy, plump raisins, good consistency. ]
• Salted Chocolate: Nice chocolate ice cream but overrated [ really excellent salty flavor ] [ insanely salty, too much ]
• Secret Breakfast: Bouron flavor nice [ nice boozy flavor ] [ meh, just boozy ] [ boozy, decent ] [ no flavor, no booze, nothing ] [ Boozy, creamy, not bad ] [ Not very boozy, but nicely creamy ]

Non-Ice Cream

• Peanut Bacon Brittle: Ok, decent amount of peanuts, but not much bacon detected. [ not very good ]

Dinner in the Lounge @ Boulevard

Ah, Boulevard.   I've been to Boulevard a handful of times over the years, such as my full dinner in the main dining room, a full dinner at the Chef's Counter, and just appetizers and desserts.  I've also hosted a lovely large group private dinner there.

Boulevard is a bit of a classic.  Always great sounding menus, always fairly reliable, good, solid execution, satisfying ... but doesn't blow me away.  After several pandemic years, I finally returned to Boulevard on a random Friday night with one other.  We had no reservation, but arrived right after opening at 5pm, and were able to have our choice of seating in the lounge area.  The restaurant quickly filled up though, and by midway through our meal the entire place was filled.  Coming early certainly was the right move for not having a reservation.

A la Carte Menu.

Since we dined in the lounge area, the menu was a la carte, rather than the 3 course tasting menu served in the main dining room.  I preferred this, as it allowed us to order just starters and mains (yes, I know, I skipped dessert, but Boulevard desserts rarely impress).

Our service was good, even though it got quite busy, and although it lacked the touches like an amuse bouche, I was pleased with the more casual vibe of the lounge area.  Everything was well paced, we never felt rushed, and overall just a nice experience.

French Manhattan. $20.

"Cognac, Dolin Sweet Vermouth, Grand Marnier, Orange Bitters."

I started the meal with a cocktail, a slightly interesting spin on it, the French Manhattan.

It was an elegant cocktail, presented in an appropriate glass.  It was boozy, cognac forward, and quite enjoyable, citrus accents and all.  I let my cherry soak up all the alcoholic goodness, and quite enjoyed it as a very sweet, very boozy final bite.

A strong, yet well balanced cocktail, and a nice start to the meal.

***+.

We moved on to a lovely bottle of red, that I failed to get the details on, but was light yet complex, with an aromatic floral bouquet on the nose, which makes me feel ridiculous saying, but, well, was true.

Starter: Zuckerman's Colossal Aparagus. $20.

"Olive oil hollandaise & summer truffles."

I was really, really happy to see asparagus on the menu.  And of course, sourced from local darling Zuckerman's.  Perfectly in season, and I've been kinda adoring it lately.  The menu had changed slightly since I saw it posted online, no more brillat-savarin fondue (!!) but olive oil hollandaise instead.

The asparagus, colossal as advertised, was well prepared, although I do prefer a bit more al dente.  It was juicy and fresh though, although I've had more flavorful recently.  It was warm, but not all that hot.  The summer truffles were novel but didn't deliver much flavor nor earthiness either. The hollanaise was nice  to dredge the asparagus in.

I found some bites to be massively under-seasoned, even commenting to my dining companion that it needed a touch of salt, but some bites did have that necessary pop.  I think it was just unevenly seasoned.

So, overall, the dish was fine, but, I've had more flavorful, more properly seasoned asparagus other places, even my office cafes.  I wouldn't get it again, but wasn't unhappy to eat it.

***.

Main: Sea Scallops. $48.

"Roasted morel mushrooms, crispy cauliflower panise, fresh carrot with brown butter & carrot jus viniagrette."

This was a lovely, lovely, lovely dish.

The scallops, three large sea scallops, had a great sear on them, nice caramelization.  Pretty textbook execution, no complaints , and really, they were shockingly large, even for sea scallops.  Well cleaned, no grit.  

And then the "crispy cauliflower panise", another 3 items, this time, cubes of mashed cauliflower (I guess?), with a crisp exterior and yet creamy interior.  I originally thought they were potato but the taste didn't quite match, and now I see why.  I liked the creamy component they added to the dish, and the symmetry between the three scallops and three panise.

But the dish had much, much more.  The carrots I could kinda do without, again, in a trio, mid-size carrots, decently cooked, not too soft, but, eh, carrots.  Cooked carrots aren't quite my thing.  Fine but throwaway.  The morels though ... swoon.

Luckily there were more than three of these, and they were expertly prepared.  The morels delivered all the flavor and earthy tones that the truffles on the starter did not, and wow, they soaked up the sauce beautifully.  They were rich without feeling too heavy or weighed down, and just a true joy to eat.

Everything was rounded out by a pretty orange carrot viniagrette.  While I'm "eh" on cooked carrots, the sauce worked really well, and I enjoyed running everything through it, soaking up every last bit.  And floral garnishes may have been a bit showy, but, they worked too.

Overall, just a really well conceived, flawlessly executed, interesting spin on seared scallops, and although the $48 price may be a bit high for 3 scallops, I really can't fault the dish in any way.

****.