Tastefully Overcaramelized

Ann says

A little while age Abe spotted a new frozen custard place setting up shop near my apartment on Capitol Hill.  Then, a couple weeks later, we saw that above the words “Frozen Custard” were the words “Old School” and we were struck with fear.  Old School?  Really?  pffft.

THEN today my roommate, Mara, and her boyfriend, Ricardo, informed us of Molly Moon’s, an ice cream shop also brand new on the Hill (they opened yesterday afternoon).  They got Salted Caramel (I will never tire of that flavor) and tasted a few others, like Birthday Cake and Salted Licorice.  We had no plans to have ice cream, but rather had plans to make and eat some delicious guacamole, but then Abe realized he forgot some necessary items at his place on the other end of the Hill, so we walked off to get them this evening.  I though, oh, why don’t we walk past the new ice cream place?  So we did.  You could smell the fresh-made waffle cones a block away.  It was all over.  One look inside and at the line pouring outside and I knew I’d have to have SOME ice cream. Abe and I still had some leftover ice cream from our veggie feast, and so I thought about grabbing that.  But up at Abe’s I was feeling angsty.  We made the decision to bear the wait in line on the way back.

It was worth it.  Surrounded in the evening sun by people with dogs and babies, I couldn’t have had a happier wait for a scoop of ice cream.  I pondered over honey lavender, salted caramel, mint, and plain old vanilla.  Mint won out in the end, in a waffle cone of course.  Abe almost got the salted licorice, but it was so salty, so he got strawberry with swirls of balsamic vinegar.  The best part of the waffle cones, aside from the fact that they are being made as ice cream is being scooped, is that the bottoms are folded up so that ice cream doesn’t drip out the bottom.  Good design.

The strawberry flavor was full and the vinegar was great with it, and my mint was mild and had bits of chocolate mint cookie (it was actually called “Scout” Mint).  I can already imagine the length of the lines on hot days this coming summer.  I’m sure we’ll be in them at least a few times.

Abe says

Coincidentally it was only yesterday I’d heard about Molly Moon’s, in Wallingford, with no mention of a new location on the hill. The frozen custard place… when I saw it I had hopes of Rita’s — basically a franchise chain in parts east which specializes in layering frozen custard with Italian ice — but the name, and the fact that Molly Moon just opened, might leave little hope for them.

Molly Moon’s Capitol Hill location is, I am pretty sure, destined for success. The ice cream is super smooth, relatively light tasting for what it is, and superbly flavored. The salted varieties, caramel and licorice, are very good but personally I’d prefer salt of that strength in crystal form. The flavors we ended up with were awesome though. The cones are probably also genius. Leaky cones are why I get the stuff in cups.

Filed under: Restaurants by Ann on April 26, 2009. Tagged with: capitol hill, ice cream, molly moon, old school frozen custard.