Persimmons on a footed platter in the Ici kitchen
For Ici Ice Cream co-owner, Mattea Soreng, the rainy weather and cool temperature is no deterring factor when it comes to selling cold stuff. Rain or shine, the lines at Soreng’s little parlor, which Soreng and Mary Canales opened three years ago on College and Ashby Avenues, never stops. “Yesterday we sold 325 cones, and that doesn’t include people who got cups, or people who bought bombes or bites,” Soreng said. That’s 34 cones an hour. A “bombe” in Ici lingo is two layers of ice cream atop a layer of classic cake, and “bites” are miniature versions of that.
Handmade cones for Ici customers
With fall in full swing, Ici’s menu reflects just about every fall flavor you’d find on the Thanksgiving table, save the turkey and mashed potatoes. They’re making different flavors all the time and when a batch runs out, usually within a day, they often come up with an entirely new flavor to replace it. Flavors can be unpredictable but they update their answering machine with the selection so costumers have some sense of what they’re coming in for. Some of the ingredients in the kitchen today included: pumpkin, butternut squash, spiced cinnamon, cranberries, pecans, persimmons and dried cherries. Most of Soreng’s ingredients come from the North Berkeley farmer’s market on Tuesday’s and Frog Hallow
Farms in San Francisco. Using in-season, local, and organic ingredients are a “driving force” for Ici, Soreng said.
The favorite flavor at the moment for the 28-year-old East Coaster? Bartlett pear with lime sorbet.
Tomorrow they’ll start selling their pumpkin ice cream sandwich with ginger snaps and if a costumer is seriously opposed to eating ice cream when the temperatures drops below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, Soreng has something for them too: hot chocolate with homemade peppermint marshmallows.