Passion, with sprinkles
This merits promotion to the "big leagues".
Jo Ann in a comment to "Shermainia Sherbert?":
Okay, Alex...
Them's fightin' words, too! I challenge you with a fist full of whipped cream and maraschino cherries!
What do you mean "California lacks truly great ice-cream"? Do you even know any ice cream brands from the state of California?! Well, allow me, a California native, to enlighten you...
First of all, don't go countin' Ben & Jerry's when you're mentioning California ice cream, as you know--that's Vermont's ice cream!
And "Cold Stone Ice Cream"? Another company to invade us... they're from Arizona! Don't go crediting them to California!
Ya wanna know California ice cream companies? For starters, how about Baskin-Robbins! Yes, that little ol' company is from California! And how about Dreyer's ice cream from right here in good ol' Northern California.
Maybe those examples will be a little too big and corporate for ya. Then how about...
...San Francisco's own multi-award winning Double Rainbow! (The smoothest ice cream ever, ever, ever.) And what about San Francisco's own Mitchell's ice cream? Excellent! (No connection to San Francisco's Mitchell Brothers though.)
Want really authentic, house-made mom & pop style ice cream? There's Polly Ann's in the Sunset District--from San Francisco. Gotta be one of the first little ice cream factories to make totally wacky flavored ice cream (you name it, they've done it... exotic fruits, vegetables, whatever!); they've been doing it right there since the '50s. (I've been going there since the early 80's.) It's a wacky place, too!
Want a taste of really old-fashioned and totally neighborhood-style, house-made ice cream? Try Joe's Ice Cream in the Richmond District. Excellent and the parlor is really authentically old and charming and the ice cream is... made right here in San Francisco. And then there's Bud's Ice Cream from San Francisco--very yummy. And good ol' Berkeley Farms Ice Cream... "Farms in Berkeley? Mooooo". Oh, and don't forget about San Francisco's original "It's-It" ice cream sandwiches!
And being that you're in the Bay Area, I'm not even getting into Southern California ice cream (or other parts of the state), even though you did rip on the entire state by saying that "California lacks truly great ice cream." Oh, Alex! You hi-tech mastermind, cool-car driver... puu-lease! :-)
Boston may have us beat on baked beans, the best old ballpark (but we've got the best new ones!), roundabouts, marathons, water bubblers for drinking fountains, duck sauce, Ally McBeal, tea parties, Fluffer Nutter, lots of U.S. history and famous dead guys buried there, Ben and Matt, bars where everybody knows your name and the Kennedy clan.
But California... well, okay, that would be unfair to compare, since Boston's a city and California's a state. Oh yeah, that was the comparison!
So like in California... we have lots of sunshine, Lake Tahoe (okay, half of it), the best beaches, film industry and the beautiful and crazy folk to go with it, hi-tech industry and the geeky folk to go with it, the best plastic surgeons, Disneyland (the original), home-grown produce, Mt. Whitney, real and bleached blonds, hippies, silicone, Yosemite, silicon, Hollywood, surfers, the wine country, Missions and lots of Spanish history, the best Baja California Mexican food in this country--but that's specific to San Diego (The Bay Area thinks it does Mexican food well, but it doesn't compare to SD), La Brea Tar Pits, Cable Cars, Self-Realization Fellowship, Ghirardelli Chocolate (and ice cream!), The Golden Gate Bridge, everyone from every other state who moved to California (!), and... spectacular sunsets.
Now don't get me wrong! I love, love, love, Boston! But this California girl has to defend her native turf! And I'll totally do it, dude! "Don't mess with California." :-)
Posted by jackhodgson at May 23, 2004 10:49 AM