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Customers mourning the closure of Berkeley ice cream darling Ici can eat their sorrows in the form of more ice cream. A location of San Francisco’s Humphry Slocombe, known for its strange and surprising flavors, opens today at 2948 College Avenue.
The 1,150-square-foot shop in the space vacated by Ici in November features a full kitchen from which ice cream chef Jake Godby and partner Sean Vahey will concoct more treats like secret breakfast (their popular mix of bourbon ice cream with house-made cornflake cookies).
“All the buzzwords people throw around like ‘organic,’ ‘sustainable,’ ‘locally sourced’ and more started here and it’s legit,” Godby said according to a press release. New Berkeley specific Humpnhry Slocombe flavors include a vegan cashew-based “Berkeley Bar,” peanut butter curry, apricot crisp, and a sour cherry blood orange yogurt.
The location of Humphry Slocombe is the brand’s fifth, a complement to their widely distributed pints. The first shop was in the Mission, and others are in the Ferry Building, Oakland, and Venice Beach. What’s in the name? You’re forgiven if you didn’t catch that Humphry Slocombe is an allusion to a cheeky British sitcom from the 1970s, Are You Being Served?
Godby and Vahey will keep their Berkeley flavors rotating seasonally, folding in ingredients from local Berkeley food vendors: Think Eclipse Food Co., a vegan dairy alternative brand, La Tourangelle, which makes pistachio and truffle oils, celebrated chocolate maker TCHO, and the Rare Barrel, a West Berkeley brewery whose barrel-aged beers will be the base of boozy ice cream offerings to come.
Ici Ice Cream’s abrupt closure left two holes in the Berkeley sweets scene: Another location shuttered downtown. But a second newcomer from across the bay — San Francisco’s Milkbomb Ice cream, known for its donut ice cream sandwiches — is on the way to help at 2079 University Avenue.
Starting today. Humphry Slocombe’s Berkeley hours are Monday through Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
