Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Cream Cycle

This post has been a while in the making. I tried Cream Cycle's  mexican jalapeño chocolate ice cream sandwich about a month back when I discovered the DC Meet Market in the Logan Circle neighborhood (it's on again this weekend, Saturday June 1st!), and I have not been able to forget about it since. 

The serious problem I am facing here is that their ice cream sandwiches are "hard to get", in the truest sense of the expression, as this small business is just starting and they randomly pop up at events around DC. The only place where you can find their products for sure any day of the week is Smucker Farms, located in proximity to the U street corridor on 14th. 


The creative mind behind Cream Cycle is Carlos Delgado, a young Peruvian Executive Chef currently overseeing two restaurants at the Westin in Foggy Bottom. He adopted the concept of selling ice cream on bicycles from the streets of Lima, giving it his very own signature twist. 

Delogado's ice cream sandwiches are not only delivered in style by a fleet of baby-blue, vintage custom designed tricycles (it's clever, really, since these are a lot cuter and cheaper to operate than food trucks), but they also come in a wide range of exciting flavors. Only two kinds were sold at the market, but when I had a look at their website later that day I almost drooled all over my keyboard:  Cereal milk. Salted lime. Nutella white chocolate. Banana java habanero. And, now brace yourselves, Bacon and Olive. 


Luckily, my relatively new Twitter account keeps me updated about Cream Cycle appearances around town. They are irregular though, and I hope they will either open their own store-front at some point or start weekly schedules just like the average food truck. 

I am not just saying that. I really really can't wait to try their other flavors. The mexican jalapeño chocolate left me in awe. It had an interesting consistency. - Even though it was a hot afternoon, the ice cream at no point threatened to melt and drip all over my fingers. The fact that it wasn't really creamy but rather sorbet-like helped maintain its round shape. The cookies were thin and neither to crispy nor too soft, just perfect to hold a big ice cream portion and complement its taste. 


About the taste: I was a bit worried that it was going to be too spicy, since I am a weakling when it comes to hot Indian or Mexican dishes. Then again, you might think "Seriously, how can ice cream be spicy? It's cold after all!" And that's exactly what makes this sandwich so intriguing. It's refreshing and hot at the same time. Your throat burns but the ice cream cools it down. It is the strangest of sensations.

I must have looked weird, standing in a small corner next to one of the tents, taking bite after bite and lovingly staring at my ice cream sandwich. Some of the other vendors actually asked me about it because they had noticed a number of people walking past with similar sandwiches in their hands. Maybe it blew their minds just like it blew mine.

Further information on Cream Cycle (and much better pictures) can be found right here.

Brownie Points: 3 out of 3

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