Good Dipped Soft Serve in LA?

[Mattapoisett in LA]

So Dommy and i had lunch today at Ekkamai in Culver City which is right across from Fosters Freeze and after seeing the Best Thing I Ever Ate which featured NYC's Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and their Salty Pimp Cone, we had a hankering for a dipped cone. But for the itch which needed to be scratched, Foster's Freeze didn't do it. The chocolate was waxy the ice cream was artificial and so we are on the hunt for better rendition of the Dipped cone.

Any Suggestions?

Take care

- P.

[meg3325]

Try Dairy Queen @ the Culver City mall aka Fox Hills Mall. We don't have too many DQ's in Los Angeles which is really too bad because they do the best soft serve chocolate dip. Much better than Foster's Freeze. FF ice cream melts way too quickly. Note: they share the mall space with Orange Julius.

[wienermobile]

I agree. Dairy Queen is also in The South Bay Galleria.

[Mr Taster]

Have either of you tasted Dairy Queen side by side with Carvel?

Mr Taster

[wienermobile]

I really do like Carvel but they don't exist in my area at all.

[meg3325]

No because there are no Carvel stores around here. They sell Carvel ice cream cakes at the local Von's, but that's about it.

[Dommy]

I'm not sure where "around here' is... but there is are three Carvels on the Westside, two of them in Beverly Hills!

--Dommy!

[meg3325]

I used to live on the Westside, can't recall seeing one........good to know they exist!

[Mr Taster]

You "used to live on the Westside", meaning you moved 11 days before posting this:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/791588#6796480

I guess technically that qualifies.... :)

I'd be curious for a native Angeleno to try a Carvel Fudgie the Whale™ cake and see whether or not it has the same appeal to you as it does to someone like me who grew up in the Tri-State area, and is influenced by the nostalgia of it all. Could Cookie Puss™ really be that great an ice cream cake, or is it simply the east coast version of a Tito's taco or an Apple Pan burger?

Consider this a challenge to all ice cream loving Angelenos. I'd love to hear what you think after trying a Cookie Puss (or a Hug Me The Bear™) cake. These cakes are made with Carvel's soft serve and crumbled cookie bits (there is no actual cake). The stale, freezer burned ones at Ralph's don't qualify-- they need to be made fresh to order, as they were for the many dozens of kid's birthday parties back home. The Carvel cake was a staple.

Please post your thoughts here!

Ah, what memories....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS6ki8D7zQA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcVno8saeZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzPiON...

Mr Taster

[js76wisco]

I haven't had either Cookiepuss or Fudgy the Whale since school birthdays way back in the day but used to love those commercials. I think you're probably right that these cakes are more nostalgic than good.

I went to Carvel the other day and had a soft serve with the cookie crumble. It was a nice soft serve in the same neighborhood as a McDonald's soft serve. They both serve a purpose but not something you'd necessarily go out of the way for unless your pregnant wife tells you to.

[meg3325]

Dear Mr. Taster - you are really unbelievable...........

[lad1818]

King Kone is perfect. The chocolate dip tastes like a Dove bar.

I grew up on Carvel and Mister Softee and love (and in the case of Mister Softee, miss) them both. And I'm even fond of DQ, though that chocolate coating is more wax than chocolate.

[Mr Taster]

Carvel. Soft serve is what they do. (According to legend, Tom Carvel invented soft serve.)
http://www.carvel.com/about_us/history.htm

It's got a rich vanilla flavor-- not at all like the bland stuff at Foster's Freeze.

You can get your cone dipped in chocolate (butterscotch too, I think), or rolled in nuts or sprinkles (rainbow or chocolate!)

Oh, and don't forget about Cookie Puss for your next birthday!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcVno8...

Those commercials always tug at nostalgic strings from my winsome days as a New Jersey yout.

Please avoid the soft serve place at the 3rd/Fairfax Farmers Market. You'll pay $5-$6 for a dipped cone about the size of a child's frown.

Mr Taster

[ipsedixit]

King Kone? http://www.kingkonela.com/

And, not soft-serve, but Costco hand-dipped ice cream bar is very good.

[wutzizname]

What's the deal with King Kone? I started following them a couple weeks ago because of this thread...but it seems like the truck only makes a public appearance once every few weeks? How are they staying in business? Are they booked for private catering jobs the rest of the time, or what? I'd love to give them a try, but seems like they're almost never out and about.

[JAB]

If only for the Mr. Softee of our youth.

[wutzizname]

Funny, I'd been Jonesing for some good soft-serve for a while and then I saw that salty dulce de leche injected dipped cone on "Best Thing" and it pushed me over the top. I don't expect we'll find anything close to that here anytime too soon, but I'm with you, I'd settle for a decent basic version.

Look forward to others suggestions.

[nosh]

The relatively new Malibu Ice Cream and Yogurt in Westwood Village sort of specializes in dipped cones. Better? Probably. Good? Not at all sure.

Located on Le Conte just west of Westwood, across from the Med Center complex.

(I was referring to the dipping hardening chocolate. They have a wide variety of flavors of soft serve, and I've enjoyed the chocolate malt soft serve.)

[Arthur]

Funny you mentioned this store because I just happened to stumble upon it while walking around Westwood tonight. The chocolate-dipped soft serve cones currently are only 99 cents as part of their grand opening special. I went with the standard vanilla, which was OK, no better, but well worth the price.

[nosh]

Good to know they are still doing their "grand opening" special. If you want another flavor dipped ice cream, they'll do it for an extra quarter to fifty cents, depending on the server. The 99-cent dipped cone special is for the baby size, but is plenty.

[Arthur]

I may have assumed it was a grand opening special because I had never noticed the store before and figured it was brand new. If I was mistaken, so much the better!

You're right about it not being a baby size. If anything, it was overflowing from its standard cone capacity.

[Arthur]

Walked by Malibu Ice Cream and Yogurt again the other night. The sign for the 99-cent chocolate-dipped cone is still up, and it does say that it's a grand opening special.