Quick Bite: Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream
Photo: SF Weekly
The name’s a composite of character names in the 1970s Brit TV comedy Are You Being Served?, the lovably swishy Mr. Humphries and the imperiously blue-haired Mrs. Slocombe. But the ice creams at this spare Mission District shop have pristine ingredients, fine textures, and meticulously balanced flavors. Still, owner Jake Godby—a pastry chef who’s toiled in some of the finest restaurant kitchens in town—has a wicked sense of humor to go along with his mad skills. Secret Breakfast combines a heady slug of bourbon with clusters of corn flakes. Even flavors without overtly jokey names taste as if they were conceived by an ice cream maker with an arch palate, like the tart-sweet subversiveness that suffuses Balsamic Caramel, or the more or less fruity mindfuck that is Olive Oil. If ice creams had catchphrases, the stuff here would probably proclaim—like Mr. Humphries in the old sitcom—“I’m free!” —John Birdsall
Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream. 2790A Harrison St., San Francisco. 415 550 6971;
http://www.humphryslocombe.com/ Tue-Sun, noon-8:00pm
on March 23, 2009 on 2:28 pm
I love this place. It has become a weekly treat for the boys. I would say that Secret Breakfast is not my favorite. Right now I am enjoying Balsamic Caramel and Chocolate Passionfruit. The Olive Oil one is good too – but you’re right, it is a mind fuck.