New Ice Creamery - Elmwood (Berkeley)

[misternoodle]

A pastry chef tipped me off to an "amazing" new ice creamery in the Elmwood section of Berkeley but I can't recall the name (and therefore can't find it on a map). I found mention on this board of a place called "Ici" but that doesn't ring a bell. What I do remember is that the owner is a former Chez Panisse chef and that it is newly opened. Can anyone can help me out with the name?

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Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709

Elmwood Cafe
2900 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

[indigirl]

Was gonna point out Ici is not "new", but I, too, sometimes persist in calling something "new" until several years after most people have forgotten what was there before... ;)

Anyway, it has to be Ici because Elmwood retail is only 2 blocks. Tara's is not really Elmwood proper nor CP-related.

[wolfe]

Here's a SFChron article to shows Tara's not new but close enough to Elmwood for them.
The Inside Scoop
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Berkeley's Elmwood area will have a new place to curb their ice cream cravings come mid-July, when the first Bay Area location of Tara's Organic Ice Cream opens a few blocks down (3173 College Ave.).

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Tara's Organic Ice Cream
3173 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

Elmwood Cafe
2900 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

[indigirl]

Yeah, I grant Tara's is technically Elmwood, but it is neither "amazing" nor CP pedigree.

[abstractpoet]

But Tara's IS much, much better than Ici, so there's that.

[Robert Lauriston]

I think Tara's and Ici are both excellent, though their styles are different. Anyone who's seriously into ice cream should try both.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/337388
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/607890

[indigirl]

I think you're just trying to provoke me ;)

The Ici controversy on this board reminds me of discussions of the water temperature at the pool where I swim. There is no objective "perfect" temperature there, any more than there is an objective truth about whether Ici is good, great, better or worse than any other ice cream place.

[abstractpoet]

Yeah, there will be no way to reach agreement on this front. =) My point is just that while I wouldn't describe Tara's ice cream as "amazing" either, I'd be far less inclined to use that word to describe Ici.

The OP didn't ask for our opinion per se and might as well check both places out to make up his own mind, but I would just caution anyone going to Ici to not go with super-high expectations, despite the long lines and the hype (folks describing it as "amazing", etc.). If you like bold flavors and/or a creamy texture -- which, clearly, not everyone does -- then it will probably be a disappointment.

[Robert Lauriston]

Must be Ici, Mary Canales was a pastry chef at Chez Panisse. It's just not new.

Elmwood Cafe's not making ice cream or any soda fountain stuff.

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Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709

Elmwood Cafe
2900 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

[wolfe]

You see Robert I was proposing that the confusion for misternoodle may have arisen from the newly opened place in Elmwood and the sign still showing Ozzie's Soda Fountain and the Cafe Fanny/Chez Panisse connection since he already rejected Ici.
"And in keeping with Berkeley's famous food movement, his team includes manager Kara Hammond, who spent eight years at Alice Waters' Café Fanny."
I know it is circuitous but that's how my little grey cells work.

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Elmwood Cafe
2900 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

[Robert Lauriston]

Seems entirely plausible that somebody short-circuited the two, but if misternoodle's heading to the Elmwood looking for ice cream made by a former Chez Panisse pastry chef, Ici is the destination.

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Ici Ice Cream
2948 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

Elmwood Cafe
2900 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

[indigirl]

Ici is definitely of Chez Panisse pedigree. Can't think what else your pal would be referring to.

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Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709

[Ruth Lafler]

Sounds like Ici, except that Ici has been open for two or three years now. Hard to imagine there's another CP alum ice cream place in a tiny neighborhood like Elmwood.

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Elmwood Cafe
2900 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

[wolfe]

Maybe it's confusion with the newly opened Elmwood Cafe in Ozzie's Soda Fountain's location.
http://www.elmwoodcafe.com/

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Elmwood Cafe
2900 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705