By Joshua Lurie
For dineLA.com
LA Keeps It Cool for SummerWith all the forced greenery, it can be easy to forget that LA is technically a desert. Over the summer, as the Santa Ana winds kick into high gear and temperatures rise, that fact becomes increasingly clear. Thankfully, plenty of restaurateurs and chefs have found resourceful, flavorful ways to keep customers cool.
Chef Roy “Papi Chulo” Choi partnered with restaurateur David Reiss on this communal dining establishment, with many dishes designed to be eaten with your hands, including “thick ass” ice cream sandwiches for dessert. A Szechuan black peppercorn ice cream sandwich with salted chocolate cookies is a standby, but we opted for a version with cinnamon ice cream and oatmeal cookies studded with dried cherries. The cookies are chewy and so thin that the ice cream seeps through flavorful fissures.
- 12565 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 310.398.7700,
www.aframela.com
Craig Min and wife Jean instilled an elevated culinary focus into their Silver Lake coffee boutique, which features table service and refined presentation. Their signature coffee creations include Blanco y Negro. A rocks glass arrives on a slate tile and on a square black tray, deftly showcasing coffee granita and a quenelle of Madagascar vanilla bean ice cream. The coffee is Black Velvet, the house blend, which changes every month, and during our visit, combined Costa Rican, Salvadoran and Panamanian beans. As the caffeinated dessert warms, the creamy ice cream and icy granita meld seamlessly.
- 1636 Silver Lake Blvd., Silver Lake, CA, 323.663.4441,
www.lamillcoffee.com
Chef Brandon Boudet, a New Orleans native, draws on NOLA traditions in producing summertime sno balls, with fresh-shaved ice treated to an array of house-made fruit syrups, including blueberry and raspberry. They’ve also syrup-ified espresso and chocolate and make complementary cream from almonds and coconuts. Add on fresh whipped creme fraiche, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and/or gelato to maximize the indulgence.
- 2128 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz, CA, 323.661.0055,
www.littledoms.com
A rather unremarkable Mid City strip mall is home to a dazzling array of paletas (Mexican-style popsicles) thanks to proprietor Priciliano Mateo, who also sells his more than 40 varieties of fruit cream (milk-based) and real fruit (ice-based) fruity bars in West LA and Pico-Union. The glass-fronted freezer hosts colorful stacks of paletas, including creamy leche quemada, smoked milk; pitaya, sweet red cactus fruit with a cluster of crunchy black seeds; and sweet and spicy mango, with serious heat from flame-red chile powder. Depending on the season, you may also find arrayan, an ice pop that captures big chunks tart green guava-like fruit.
- 4222 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 323.931.5500
Bret Thompson's corner bakery and cafe piles on the frozen treats, including ice cream and sorbet in flavors like blueberry crumble pie and blood orange. More unique are the ice cream sandwiches made with oversized macarons. They’ve got coffee toffee and Thai tea, but we prefer the version with watermelon sorbet and chocolate chips subbing for “seeds.” Thompson produces ice cream bars, with coconut ice cream dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in coconut shavings, and banana ice cream dipped in butterscotch, forming a frozen shell that’s studded with almond shavings.
- 7290 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 323.939.6455,
www.themilkshop.com
Kris Yenbamroong did the unthinkable by bringing the flavors of Bangkok’s night markets to the oh-so-glitzy Sunset Strip. The back room of his family’s Talesai restaurant now resembles a modern art gallery and the ice cream sandwich, at least according to the menu, is “enjoyed in ghettos throughout Bangkok.” A sweet grilled roll hosts warm, sweet sticky rice, a scoop of coconut ice cream, condensed and evaporated milk and a sprinkling of toasted mung beans for texture.
- 9043 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA, 310.275.9724,
www.nightmarketla.com
Mozza pastry chef Dahlia Narvaez is best known for her butterscotch budino, but her repertoire runs deeper. For example, the caramel copetta involves an anise-tinged waffle cookie base, scoops of caramel ice cream, cascading marshmallow sauce and a blizzard of salty Spanish peanuts, which more than holds its own.
- 641 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 323.297.0101,
www.pizzeriamozza.com
Last fall, Trish McVearry and husband Jason brought a taste of Hawaii to Venice’s Muscle Beach. Raw tuna stars at their beachfront window, but don’t sleep on their Acai Bowl, which works as breakfast or dessert. The plastic pint container features frozen purple acai berry paste that resembles tangy, gritty sorbet. The antioxidant-rich base supports organic hemp granola, coconut shavings, sliced bananas and a drizzle of honey for light sweetness.
- 1827 Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA, 424.228.5132,
www.poke-poke.com
Fujian native Henry Zhao and wife Linda Cheng, who hails from Taiwan, have owned this café in an Arcadia strip mall for over eight years. They named their establishment for a historic Taiwanese dice game where the prize is sausage. They have encased meat in many iterations, and their sweet contribution is shaved ice. Choose five condiments from a pool of 16, including sweetened condensed milk, green bean, red bean, peanut and glutinous taro balls. No matter what you order, the mountain of ice features cascading brown sugar syrup.
- 651 W. Duarte Rd., Arcadia, CA, 626.446.0886
This small-batch ice cream shop with an inviting patio at Brentwood Country Mart is the latest market-driven venture from Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan. Pastry chef Shiho Yoshikawa changes blackboard menus daily to reflect the seasons. Ice creams may feature lemon chamomile, Verve coffee or Old Rasputin stout, all available with toppings like pecan brittle, cocoa nibs and sugar-based rainbow sprinkles flavored and colored with tea. They’ve also got an assortment of sandwiches, sundaes, floats, bonbons and shakes. One of the best bets is the milkshake, which blends three scoops of ice cream with premium Clover milk. We enjoyed herb-flecked basil. They’ve also got fresh fruit pops, made with just sugar, water and farm-fresh fruit, during our visit, peaches and plump blueberries.
- 225 26th St., Santa Monica, CA, 310.260.2663,
www.sweetrosecreamery.com
This airy Brentwood restaurant from chef Suzanne Goin and front of house business partner Caroline Styne features a warm setting and desserts from pastry chef Breanne Varela. Her most refreshing summertime dessert is a market-driven coupe that appears in a pint glass. A recent Strawberry Lemonade Coupe layered creamy strawberry ice cream, vibrant Camarosa strawberries, citrus-flecked lemon granita, crunchy sheets of pie dough and strips of basil, with flavors that coalesce as melting ensues. Varela has also been known to make a version with chocolate ice cream, coconut sherbet and Graham crackers.
- 11648 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, CA, 310.806.6464,
www.tavernla.com
