On the Chowhound boards a few years ago, I remember someone asking for tips on where to find green tea ice cream. We pointed him to the frozen dessert section of 99 Ranch or Mitsuwa.
This weekend, I found it green tea ice cream at Vons. Let me repeat: AT VONS!!!
What's even more amazing was that it wasn't Magnolia, Mashti Malone, or even Fubuki (which is the only brand that I knew of that made green tea ice cream) — this was Safeway Select, the store brand!
Surely there's no better indicator that American palates are becoming more open than this — when it's found in the ice cream aisle.
A few frozen shelves down from it, I noticed another sign — a sign that perhaps someone at the Breyer's Ice Cream Company deserves a raise.
There before me was Breyer's Fried Ice Cream.
My mind went in circles. First, I thought, “What could possibly constitute a “Fried Ice Cream” flavor? Fried batter? Is Fryolator grease a good thing to pair with vanilla?
Then I read the description: Cinnamon Caramel Flavored Light Ice Cream with a Honey Caramel Swirl N Cinnamon Sugar Tostada Pieces.
Though it sounded tasty, I was feelin' like good old strawberry that night. Plus it was on sale for almost half the price of the “Fried Ice Cream”.
But I already can predict what's next: Tempura Fried Green Tea Ice Cream.
Mark my words, dear readers, mark my words.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.