Courtesy of Sweet Science
Sweet Science pints
While I'm impatiently waiting for ice cream season to kick in to gear, one question keeps bothering me: What will Sweet Science's new scoop shop at the coming Keg and Case market really be like? Keg and Case, of course, is the forthcoming mega-huge-uber conversion of the old historic Schmidt Brewery in St. Paul into a whole bunch of new restaurants and food destinations. Including cult fried chicken spot Revival's new sit-down, open hearth, fire-cooking restaurant, In Bloom.
The reason I haven't been able to get my head around this is because Sweet Science, for me, has always been about those perfectly composed little cups. A scoop of ice cream pressed in, perhaps a drilled core in the middle for a sauce, and a coating of crumble or something good along the top of the cup, making the whole thing like a little self-contained sundae. What would a stand-alone Sweet Science shop be—just freezer cases with a zillion cups stacked to the rafters?
No! It will be a traditional scoop case set-up, Ashlee Olds told me, with no little cups but the standard five-gallon buckets, and room for 20 flavors. They'll have prep space to make all those signature sauces though, like the legendary fresh blueberrry, and a bunch of new collaborations with local shrub king Calvit's—yes, there will be shrub sauces! This makes me happy because why should New York have all the artisanal scoop madness? Are we not out of the box thinkers too?
We are! Because Ashlee assured me that the new scoop shop will bring new flavors, like fresh basil and strawberry mascarpone. The basil will be bright green, and if you want you can get it in a gluten-free waffle cone or as a sundae.
Basil sundaes, folks! Are you ready?
Now, the sad news: That big fun line that forms outside their production facility when they do their once-a-month wholesale sales? Those will be over, once the scoop shop launches. "My favorite part of the tastings—the reason I started an ice cream company—is because I love ice cream, of course, but also because when people come to the tastings they're always happy. There’s a joyous atmosphere; Oh it’s ice cream! We're getting ice cream! I'd say what I’m looking forward to most at our first stand-alone place is sort of bottling that joy and love and good vibes on a permanent basis," Olds tells me. Good vibes and basil sundaes, that's your summer 2018.
Can't wait! Olds is guessing a realistic open date for Keg and Case is probably June or July.
Look for me there, I'll be the one who brought a pocket full of cherry tomatoes for a DIY Caprese salad sundae. Bring some pine nuts and you can have a pesto sundae!
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