ice-cream on a cold summer evening in San Francisco: Bi-Rite Creamery

malted vanilla ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery San Francisco

I just checked the weather on my Yahoo! homepage and learned that we may hit record low temperatures this evening, July 1st.

Here’s the report:

“Tonight: Partly cloudy skies. Gusty winds during the evening. Near record low temperatures. Low 51F. W winds at 25 to 35 mph, diminishing to 10 to 15 mph.”

Just another summer evening in San Francisco!

As I rode home from work and the gym on my scooter, shivering and watching the fog blow in, I had an odd and intense craving. . . Ice-cream. It defies explanation and yet, in that moment, nothing else would do.

So L. and I put on our jackets and walked down the hill to a really great ice-cream place that’s fortunately a few blocks from home, Bi-Rite Creamery. And the line was around the block. It always is, even on a cold night like this. Like it is on rainy nights, and on winter ones. The secret is out; Bi-Rite has even been covered in national media like the Food Network and The New York Times, which reports that Bi-Rite has served up to 1,500 scoops in a day.

Salted Caramel is a perennial favorite flavor and has put them on the map. The other flavors are inventive too, like the delicious Brown Sugar with Ginger Caramel Swirl, or Ricanelas-a cinnamon base with snickerdoodle pieces. (It bears mentioning that they use fresh, local and organic ingredients, responsibly sourced, for their products but then, who on this foodie block doesn’t???)

While their hard dipped ice-creams are what makes them famous they only started serving soft serve a few months ago, so we went for that. (The fact that the soft-serve line was only half the length certainly was a bonus on a cold July night!) I ordered a malted vanilla and it was fabulous, silky in texture and deeply perfumed with my favorite flavor.

chocolate cookie at Bi-Rite Creamery

Cleverly, right  there in the window where you place your order, they prominently display piles of house-made cookies, cupcakes and pie. Damn them. In my bag went a gorgeous dark chocolate cookie dusted in sugar (I’m a sucker for anything dusted in sugar, really) and a vanilla cupcake with salted caramel creme filling  and a buttercream frosting, lightly dusted with sea salt.

My corruption is complete!

Tip: be sure to get the punch card when you pay, buy ten cones and you get the eleventh for free;-)

vanilla cupcake with salted caramel filling, Bi-Rite Creamery, SF

vanilla cupcake with salted caramel filling, Bi-Rite Creamery, SF

About these ads