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Ice-cream lovers will get to Thai one on on Newbury Street
By adamg on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 1:42pm
The Board of Appeal yesterday approved a Thai ice-cream place proposed for 217 Newbury St., between Exeter and Fairfield.
The franchise I-CE-NY outlet would be the first for the chain, which started in Southeast Asia in 2011 and now has an outlet in New York. Its attorney, James Heffernan, told the board that Thai ice cream is "smashed and rolled" - with plenty of room for mix-ins. "It provides a different experience for ice-cream lovers," he said.
Heffernan did not provide an opening date for I-CE-NY, which still requires a food-serving license from the Boston Licensing Board.
The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay voted to not oppose the proposal - the group never actually endorses anything - as long as the zoning board banned cooking in the outlet. Ice-cream places don't normally cook food; the association wants to ensure it stays that way and doesn't turn into an actual restaurant because it's on the side of Newbury that backs up on residences and cooking tends to introduce odor and other issues, the association says.
The mayor's office supported the proposal.
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Comments
Ever heard of Steve's Ice Cream?
Nothing new here.
STEVE'S!! The employees used
STEVE'S!! The employees used grab two huge cleavers and start smashing the hell out of your order with your choice of mix-ins on top of a cutting board. I worked at 60 State Street back in the 80s and was a regular visitor . What a great Boston institution.
I remember Steve's Ice Cream, too!
That was a cool place, with the smashing the hell out of one's order and choice of mix-ins on a cutting board. I used to go to the Steve's in Harvard Square on occasion. Good ice cream--and hot fudge sundaes! Mmmmmm!
I don't think they meant it as anything new
I mean, Cold Stone Creamery does mix-ins too, and they're a massive chain. Steve's does seem to have been a pioneer and they were local so hey cool good for them but at this point isn't that mix-ins are some exotic novelty, but just showing what differentiates them from say, Ben and Jerry's or whatever. (The thai part sounds interesting too though. Apparently you can get it thai iced tea flavored which sounds cool.)
Cold Stone Creamery is/was also excellent.
They are, however, awfully expensive.
No it isn't. Their ice cream
No it isn't. Their ice cream is very bland without any mixins (which are, as you point out, expensive).
Yeah, that's what I thought as I watched the hearing
The one difference, I guess, is that in this place,the smushing will be on a metal plate chilled to like -15 F and then the smushed-up stuff will be scraped off into rolls, instead of just scooped into a cup or a cone.
Video of this process.
https://youtu.be/Ybb57frsdKk?t=56
Oh it's more like Coldstone
With Steve's they took hard ice cream and softened it up by mashing it around and adding mix-ins. Coldstone has basically the reverse of that; start with soupy ice cream and put it on a very cold "stone" with the mix-ins and it gets firmer while they smoosh it. This sounds like that, only they end up scraping the ice cream off the cold metal plate into little curlicues.
http://icenyicecream.com/
The other big difference
Is that Steve's ice cream actually had flavor.
True!
Making a journey down to Steve's was a real event, back in the day.
Rolled ice cream is not like mix-ins
As much as I love Herrell's (not Steve's) mix-ins, Thai rolled ice cream is something completely different.
Immediate disqualification
Immediate disqualification for not calling the store Thai Scream.
The Neighborhood Association
Ah, the sweet taste of some good old fashioned NIMBYism.
There was an ice cream chain
There was an ice cream chain that was often paired with D'Angelo's sub shops that did this as well... and that was back in the '80's. I guess it's different for NY'ers, but not New Englanders.
Thai street ice cream
My understanding is this started as a street food in Thailand. It consists of all your raw ingredients: mix-ins and liquid ice cream base. Then you put them all onto an oversized anti-griddle and constantly mix in the freezing bottom layer and the liquid top layer until you reach a thick consistency and then spread that freezing mix into a rectangle and allow it to harden a bit. Then you use the scraper to peel the frozen mix off the anti-griddle at an angle that has it roll back over itself. You then use tongs to stack the rolls longwise in a cup. You can add toppings to the rolls.
It's a nifty and quick way to go from a very basic base and any set of ingredients you want in the ice cream to a single serving of ice cream in minutes and comes with a bit of a show which made it popular on the streets.
There's already a few places in Chinatown and Allston where you can buy this.
Here's a video example:
Ah, it's that stuff
I was at the San Gennaro feast in NY last weekend and there were a couple of vendors selling this. Pretty good.
Best part
Because you're basically making a single serving of ice cream from mostly scratch, you can give everyone a custom serving without needing tons of different ice creams already made. Cold Stone and others all just smash your toppings into the ice cream like getting a pint of Ben and Jerry's. This is more towards making your ice cream to the flavor you want.
It does end up being a denser ice cream since there's no air being mixed into it really, but it's definitely never over-churned.
More choices for ice cream lover
I heard about this store before. They have a good reputation in NY, I am excited about this. More ice cream choices on Newbury!