Ici - Berkeley/Oakland - 4.5 stars

Visited on: Sep. 10, 2006

Cuisine type: Handmade ice cream

Comment: Highly recommended

Ordered items:
Plum and raspberry sorbet
Ginger and caramel
Black mission fig
Honey lavender

General description:
Pastry chef from Chez Panisse proves his mettle here. Really nice ice cream with special flavors not often seen anywhere else. One small gives you two scoops, fairly good. Ice cream is very finely textured, not a lot of air in there, I believe that's due to careful churning. Ginger is very strong of ginger, honey lavender lets honey take the stage with lavender as a fragrant backdrop, excellent balance. Mission fig tastes very creamy, and plum/raspberry sorbet is definitely on the tart side, and I love its tartness. You can taste the plum too, and the sorbet texture is also very fine, without the tiny icicles one sometimes find in sorbet. No seating area, the line moves fairly fast.

Basic information:
2948 College Ave (@ Ashby)Berkeley CA 94705510-665-6054Hrs: 11-9 Tues Sunkid's $2.50small $3.50Large $4.50Pint $7.75Quart $14.75Bombessmall (serves 2-4) $16.50Medium (serves 6-8) $28.50large (serves 10-12) $38.50