L.A. has Scoops, so exotic flavor combinations are hardly foreign in SoCal, but it was still interesting to see what Jake Godby has been up to in the Mission. Last December, Godby opened his adventurous ice cream shop – Humphry Slocombe – naming it for two characters from the British series “Are You Being Served?” He uses premium Straus Family Creamery milk and has a serious pedigree; he was opening pastry chef at Daniel Patterson’s Coi. Hell, he’s so passionate about ice cream that he has miniature ice cream cones tattooed on his left forearm. That all bode well, and the payoff was just as sweet as we’d imagined.

Godby clearly has a twisted of humor, as evidenced by the names of his flavors and the art on his walls. He paid homage to Andy Warhol with his Campbell’s soup cans. He’s already introduced Salt & Pepper, Secret Breakfast and Hibiscus Beet. Hopefully he doesn’t follow through on the fourth flavor: “Fetal Kitten.” There isn’t much that can faze me in a bowl, but “Fetal Kitten” ice cream would do the trick.

During our visit, I sampled Rosemary’s Baby (toasted pine nuts + rosemary) and Salt-N-Peppa (Push It Real Good) and liked them both, but opted to fill my single cup ($3.25) with scoops of two different flavors. The Humphry Slocombe ice cream with the most acclaim is Secret Breakfast (bourbon and cornflakes) and it deserves the hype, with bits of corn flakes and a deep flavor with a distinct Bourbon finish. I also tried Thai Chile Lime sorbet. It’s probably not worth ordering sorbet at Humphry Slocombe since it doesn’t use rich Straus milk, but this scoop brought enough heat to leave an impression.

Allison got scoops made with luxurious McEvoy Ranch olive oil and Blue Bottle Vietnamese iced coffee. I’ll begrudgingly admit to enjoying my taste of Vietnamese iced coffee, which is hard to do after Blue Bottle wrecked me in 2008.

Humphry Slocombe is clearly producing some of the best ice cream in San Francisco, vying for supremacy with nearby Bi-Rite Creamery.

Related Posts

1. Bi-Rite Creamery – San Francisco, CA – July 4, 2009
2. Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous – San Francisco, CA – November 5, 2010
3. Bi-Rite Creamery (Soft Serve) – San Francisco, CA – July 3, 2011
4. Bar Crudo – San Francisco, CA – August 6, 2009
5. Dynamo Donuts – San Francisco, CA – August 8, 2009

1. Pingback: Twitted by foodgps on August 23, 2009

1 Comment

1. mattatouille, August 23, 2009:

   it’s interesting to see all the name-dropping at Humphrey Slocombe. Tai at Scoops is sure never to quote the source of his ingredients since he thinks it detracts from the actual flavor. Either way, H.S. is some great ice cream.

This entry is filed under California, Ice Cream/Gelato Parlor, Northern California, San Francisco.