By: Stu Helm, a professional food writer in Asheville + guide with Asheville Food Tours.
This is a contributor-submitted Voices piece. Want to join the conversation? We invite you to write for us. Learn how to share your voice here.
There are two things that are guaranteed to happen every summer in Asheville: It’s gonna be really hot, and I’m gonna complain about it. Yeah, man. Spare me this intense heat! I hates it!
Well, Stu, maybe if you didn’t dress in black from head to toe, and wore a pair of short pants every once in a while. Never! Well, maybe. But in the meantime: Ice cream!!
Yes, for sure, I eat ice cream in the middle of the Winter, but like most humans, I especially enjoy it in the hot weather, when I eat a copious amount of it, seeking it out, here there and everywhere.
I am well-known for always eating an ice cream cone after judging food competitions, and have repeatedly written about The Hop and Ultimate Ice Cream, my two ever-equal favorites, and the 800 pound gorillas of the local ice cream scene.
I mentioned them on AVLToday not too long ago. So, am I an ice cream expert? Sure. Why not. I’m good at finding it anyways!
From the ultimate ice cream sandwich and classic soft serve to favorite grocery store finds and everything in between – Here’s how to taste your way through Asheville.
1. Who loves the sun?
Well, certainly not me, but Sunshine Sammies does, that’s for sure! Did you know that the name of this AMAZING ice cream sandwich shop, located on S. Lexington Ave, is a reference to the fact that when they first started out they had nothing but two push carts, which were solar powered!
I love the idea of the scorching hot rays of the sun keeping the ice cream sandwiches frozen! (hint: it usually doesn’t work that way). Chef Susie Pearson is the master behind the sandwiches, which are giant-sized. You might need a buddy.
Imagine two super-yummy house made cookies, each about the circumference of a CD, with a large portion of delicious house-made ice cream in between them. Chef Susie uses nothing but the best, locally-sourced ingredients. The menu changes seasonally, so I’ll just recommend that you GO and try anything she’s got.
2. Go (not always) local.
Kilwin’s is a franchise, Marble Slab is a chain. They are two of the only food-related businesses of that nature in the entire downtown Asheville area, and it’s kind of remarkable that they are still around in a city that eschews anything and everything that isn’t hyper-local.
So, why are they still around? They have ice cream, and it frickin’ rules, that’s why. I am a fan of both venues.
I know I know! I’m “Mister Buy Local,” but I’m not austere for cripes’ sake, and when there’s ice cream involved, all bets are off. Besides, some of the staff at both places have been there a long time, and they are always nice, and friendly and, well, did I mention that they have ice cream and it rules?
At Kilwin’s I always go for the salted caramel, although the superman is always tempting. #neveroncetempted At Marble Slab I lerv that they have sweet cream ice cream! It’s a flavor that has no flavor. It’s just the base. In your face.
3. The food of the Gods
One of my favorite sources of ice cream downtown is The French Broad Chocolate Lounge, which has lots of great flavors, including excellent Vegan options. I bring my food tours in there two or three times a week, and we always get a scoop of their house-made ice cream with a dark chocolate liquid truffle poured over it. I die now.
P.S. Chocolate is classified in taxonomy as “theobroma cacao,” or the “food of the gods,” and while I am not a scientist nor a religious person, I don’t disagree with that assessment one bit.
4. Speaking of French Broad Chocolates…
It has been confirmed to me by the highest sources that when the big, new French Broad Chocolates factory on Riverside Dr. is up and running and in full production, the little factory located on the South Slope will be converted into a cafe, with ice cream!
It will even have soft serve ice cream! Swoon. I love soft serve.
5. Speaking of soft serve...
Sometimes, my GF Dawn is all, like, “I want soft serve,” so hell yes, we pile into her car and drive allllll the way out to the hinterlands of West Asheville for Frostbite. When I was a kid we would ride our bikes to the soft serve ice cream shop nearly every single day all summer long and feast.
Sometimes when my allowance allowed for it, I would spend a few extra cents for the the hard dip shell. Gah! The best. I love Frostbite. They hit every single nail on the head with me. Creamy, rich, sweet, soft serve, house made with fresh, quality ingredients, and even offering dips and swirls! My favorite of course is the chocolate vanilla swirl. If I’m getting a hard dip, it’s gonna be cherry. And by “cherry” I mean both in flavor and awesomeness levels.
6. You’re gonna hate me for this one.
Wholefoods is like the Death Star of the food scene in Asheville. It looms large and ominous over us all, a corporate Empire, so to speak, that dominates, and thrives among us, reviled by some, yet frequently patronized by many. I admit that I myself am often pulled to the Dark Side, shopping at Whole Foods with quasi-regularity.
For the purposes of this list, it would be dishonest not to mention that I really, really, really, like their frozen mochi ice cream ball thingies. I mean, they seem kinda trashy, but I don’t care, they’re really tasty and I crave them. I especially like the strawberry ones, which might be the trashiest of them all.
Look for the stand-alone freezer case full of them, and get anywhere from one to 1,000 of them at a time!
7. Speaking of Mochi
One of my all-time favorite things in this world is going to Yolo frozen yogurt shop on Merrimon Ave. and filling my bowl with four or five different flavors from the magical froyo spigots, and then adding a buncha mochi pieces on top! Yom!
I’m not a sophisticated person. I had heard of mochi, but didn’t know what mochi was until I saw and tried it at Yolo one day, and then I was all, like “Ohhhhh, thaaat’s what mochi is.”
But yeah, no, I still didn’t know what the heck it really was, because it’s pretty weird stuff! So I looked it up online and mochi is made of “mochigome.” Of course! Good ol’ mochigome! Got it. Nope. Still no clue. I just know that it’s from Japan, it’s sweet, tasty, has a consistency like a really soft eraser, and I love it.
8. Getting fancy
Just about every restaurant in town that’s worth a dang makes its own ice cream, in house, and they usually offer all kindsa crazy flavors made from locally sourced fruits, honey, syrups, herbs, and even vegetables.
Look for them on menus at Table, The Admiral, Jargon, and just about everywhere! Some are better than others, but I’ll tell you what, I had one at Blackbird Cafe that I’ll never forget: It was fried green tomato flavored, and it was awesome. It was not savory, it was sweet, but had the bright, punchy flavor of fresh green tomatoes. It was thick, rich, cold and creamy, and had been rolled in sweet breadcrumbs, then deep-fried, and topped with fried basil and a balsamic reduction. I loved it and so did the 16 other people I shared it with. I was on a tour.
9. Variations on a theme
There several variations on ice cream, from shurbet to sorbet, but my two favorites are custard and gelato, and in some ways I like them even better than reg’lar ol’ ice cream.
They both have more fat for one thing, which makes them more creamy, noticeably richer, and even more decadent. Hey, leave me alone! I’m ectomorphic. I need fat and decadence or I’ll turn into skin and bones and die unhappy.
When I want custard I go to Whit’s, of course, which is another franchise run by nice people. They have great flavors and toppings.
For gelato, I highly recommend Asheville Chocolates on Broadway downtown. Their house made toasted almond gelato is one of my all-time favorite sweet treats in the whole city!
10. No bunny likes corn syrup
This is another non-local recommendation, sorry, but it’s a dang public service if you ask me! Blue Bunny brand vanilla bean ice cream has no corn syrup in it. Yep. Amazing but true.
Any commercial brand of ice cream that’s free of the hated yet ubiquitous high fructose byproduct is practically unheard of. I know that because one time, Dawn and I were looking for a large, relatively cheap, tub of vanilla ice cream at Ingles to bring to a party, and maaaaan, every single one of them contained corn syrup, along with a litany of other BS ingredients. Then we looked at the back of the tub of Blue Bunny vanilla bean (not regular vanilla or ”homemade” vanilla), and lo! “Milk, Skim Milk, Cream, Sugar, Egg Yolks, Vanilla Extract, Vanilla Bean Specks, Carob Bean Gum.” And nuthin’ else.
So there’s your last mainstream grocery store tip from me for this year. Enjoy!
Aaand there’s my top ten ice cream tips for AVLToday!
I know it was a little different than my usual super-local-only lists, because of the mainstream and corporate ice cream recommendations, but I gotta be me, and I gotta tell ya what I like, and what I’m actually eating and enjoying, even if it is from the Dark Side.
Anyhoo, stay cool, BFF’s, I’ll be back with another top ten in September, when hopefully the temperatures will drop to somewhere below 1,000 degrees.
