Jake Godby, the deadpan owner of Humphry Slocombe ice cream in San Francisco's Mission District, says he doesn't try to be "weird for weird's sake." Nonetheless, he's taking risks with ice cream flavors. Not always with totally positive results. You never know if you're going to get the best ice cream you ever ate (like the Magnolia Thunderpussy beer flavor he did during San Francisco Beer Week), or something too edgy to be truly palatable (like the aggressively spiced pineapple sorbet I ate when we dropped by this time). But the raw, totally experimental feel of the business makes it that much more endearing.

Jesus Juice, an homage to Michael Jackson's alleged cocktail of choice, is a permanent fixture on the menu: It's a reddish sorbet flavored with Coke and red wine. So is Secret Breakfast, featuring bourbon and corn flakes. On this visit, there's also olive oil ice cream, malted dulce de leche, and cinnamon brittle. In the past, Godby has served pancetta-flavored scoops and different mushroom varieties. (Candy cap was a winner; porcini was deemed "too earthy" by Godby.)

@humphryslocombe has become a Twitter phenomenon, with nearly 300,000 followers. And there's even somebody doing a parody Twitter feed—@JasperSlobrushe (440 followers)—who pranks the ice cream maker's extreme flavor announcements with even more disgusting flavor announcements. Godby, a former pastry chef who worked at top SF restaurants Coi and Boulevard, is vague about how they got so many followers. "Some food bloggers wrote about us," he says. Indeed!

Posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 by Lessley Anderson in CHOW Tour: Innovation No Comments