serving the twin cities 150+ flavors and continuing to grow the menu since opening in 2000 it was late saturday evening that a stop was made at izzy’s ice cream in saint paul, a queue of fifteen patrons already present even as outside temperatures hovered around 45ᵒf which, at least by minnesota standards, seems like as good a time as any to enjoy a creamy cone or cup.
owned by lara hammel and jeff sommers with a second storefront in minneapolis, their signature “izzy scoop” of a second ping pong portion served atop the primary flavor seemingly predicting an era where everyone snaps a picture of their food, guests entering izzy’s marshall avenue location will immediately note walls lined with photographs flanking a small seating area, some of the store itself and others of guests named izzy or isabelle whose parents’ decision earns them a free scoop.
as focused on the community as each small-batch flavor, initiatives for solar power and sustainability discussed in izzy’s literature, it was after perhaps ten minutes wait that first tastes were taken, a young woman stepping up to do the job of a male colleague too busy flirting with girls offering small spoons including pumpkin, chocolate brownie and more that did not make decisions any easier as all were quite good.
eventually unable to narrow choices down to just two flavors, but not quite crazy enough to opt for a $120 “hot dish” offering all 32 in a custom box to keep, it was with $8.30 exchanged that five izzy scoops were presented in a freshly made waffle cone, the purity of roasted peanuts and local honey both remarkable while salted caramel unfortunately fell short of jeni’s and others in terms of mouthfeel, though the more heterogeneous butter queen coffee and carmelia cookie crunch were both rich but not overly sweet and less susceptible to being judged based solely on texture.