Smitten - A Science Experiment You Eat

My foodie cousin Aenoch is moving back to California after some years in North Carolina. We welcomed him back with a meal at Toast. During the meal, the conversation did, of course, drift to dessert, and Aenoch mentioned that he had gotten a machine and had been making his own ice cream. So we decided to head down the street to Smitten and give their ice cream a try.

The place is setup like a big science experiment - you are greeted by a large super-shiny tank of nitrogen. Next to that is the ordering stations and the menu board above. From the tank you notice a series of thick pipes covered in beautiful braided cable casings which feed down from some kind of pump or secondary tank above a distribution tray.

The nitrogen is sent down to a series of small mixer-like appliances where the ice cream "brrristas" mix your treat to order. Part food-processor and part Halloween atmospheric, these mixers (called Brrrs) quickly churn the ice cream base within a cloud of cold, one for each flavor being offered (they cannot mix flavors in a cone, as that would require making two batches).

The ice cream itself is served a bit on the soft side, but extra creamy, and full of flavor - reading some of the negative reviews on Yelp seem to confirm that if you don't like strong, clean ice cream flavors, you're not going to like Smitten's ice cream. I love it.

I've had the mint chip and the Tcho chocolate. The mint chip is like bruising a mint leaf under your nose and eating that smell cold; it's strong and sweet. It is not like the mint chip you get at the store; even a premium mint chip doesn't have this strong, clean flavor. The Tcho chocolate is based on a 60.5% cacao dark Tcho product, and they add some salt to bring it out.

There are lots of comparisons to Ici in the Yelp reviews, which is fair given the cost and wait time. The time at Smitten is spent waiting for your treat to actually be churned, and at Ici for the server to dig out the scoops from the tubs of rock-hard ice cream. I do love Ici, but they take the old fashioned "shoppe" and execute that at a really high level. Smitten is Bay Area high-tech, maker-culture meets slow food culture, and just plain nerdy.

I recommend the small cone, no toppings; it seems to offer the best bang for your buck. The cones are home-made, thick, wide, waffle-style - a bit soft and crumbly, so watch the last few bites, cause the stuff will spill out. The cookie-like taste and texture are great for the softer ice cream.

Admittedly, the cones at Ici are better - tall, narrow, crunchier, and with a plug of chocolate at the bottom to catch the drips (brilliant).