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The scoop on a Foie Gras faux pas and broken promises
15May 24th, 2009LA restaurants, scoopsRecently, I was fortunate to be invited to a special vegan dinner with a select group of friends to celebrate both Memorial Day, and (more importantly) that revered global festival, otherwise known as Morrissey’s Birthday. Immediately upon receiving the invite, I offered to bring a dessert for the gang to eat. It being a birthday celebration and all, I decided to get a vegan ice cream birthday cake with “Happy Birthday Moz” written upon it.
I immediately thought of Scoops, a local favorite of vegans, as they offer not only a reasonable vegan ice cream selection, but also have a made-to-order vegan ice cream cake offering for only $25. Unfortunately, there’s a rather confusing set of steps to go through in order to place an order. First, you call the store, where they give you another number to call. You call that number, and are told to leave a message, with a promise of a call-back by the end of the next business day. Well, I called three times over as many days, and nobody bothered to call me back, leaving me somewhat caught short the day before the dinner, as none of the other restaurants in town would make me a vegan cake without 48 hours notice. Finally, I copped out and went to Wholefoods, to buy a lame combination of Soy Dream cookie dough ice cream and a fucking vegan brownie. How embarrassing!
Before we get to the dinner, though, Scoops has fallen foul of LA vegans (and even meat eaters, too) for serving Foie Gras ice cream. Not that I give a shit either way (I’d eat at XIV again in a force-fed fat-heartbeat), but (under pressure) they have assured people that they would not stock it any more, only to say – a few days later – that they have it “sometimes”.
It might be time for a foie gras / customer service demonstration outside Scoops. Serving foie gras is one thing, but lying about it isn’t acceptable, any more than not calling back paying customers who leave multiple messages requesting products! On top of that, some of the staff have a really shitty “no eye contact” attitude (especially the old Asian gentleman who works in there) when asked basic questions about their menu and offerings.
You’ll be pleased to know, though, that dinner was a success. Traditional American food including home-made vegan sloppy joes, home-made baked beans (yeah, not the kind from out of a can!) and all the trimmings made this Memorial Day/Moz Birthday an outstanding success. So much so, that thankfully the guests too full for desert, so were never exposed to the lameness of it.
hummus, cucumber, and dill pitas
vegan sloppy joe and homemade baked beans
We wrapped up the evening going to see the outstanding Sweet and Tender Hooligans at the House of Blues. If you’re a Smiths or Morrissey fan I could not recommend them more highly. The lead singer, Jose Maldonado does an incredible job of respectfully imitating Moz (right down to the gyrating moves!) without pretending to be him, and his backing band were incredible – even including a string quartet!
sweet and tender hooligans are awesome!
So all in all, it was an excellent night, despite getting the shaft from Scoops. Sorry Morrissey, we will try to get you a vegan cake next year.
Tags: baked beans, birthday, gelato, ice cream, morrissey, sloppy joes
12 responses to “The scoop on a Foie Gras faux pas and broken promises” 
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I’ve only been to Scoops once, and I thoroughly enjoyed their salted chocolate ice cream, but I would be hesitant to go back because of the smug customer service. Mr. porn ‘stache and daisy dukes was apparently too cool to make eye contact with me either, after I tried to make polite conversation.
This whole foie gras thing just cements my desire not to want to visit there ever again! I’ll stick with Gelato Bar. Their chocolate sorbetto is far superior to Scoops’ salted chocolate and the staff is much more professional and friendly.
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Greetings http://quarrygirl.com,
This is JennShaggy’s Computer speaking. She intended to comment here herself, but short-circuited her keyboard shortly after reading about Foie Gras Ice Cream and heaving.
Thank you and have a lovely holiday.
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luscious might be able to hook you up on short notice…i’m just saying 🙂
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Pissed May 26th, 2009 at 16:01
Stupid yuppy not everyone cares about making eye contact with pretentious bloggers. Not making eye contact in many cultures is a sign of respect. I dont know how you even have any room for food let alone ice cream when your so full of yourself. Fuck white privilege.
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meayuppy May 26th, 2009 at 16:53
Pissed: what an asshole you are! You have such a huge chip on your shoulder I’m surprised you can stand up straight.
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at risk of being unpopular June 4th, 2009 at 12:51
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABeWlY0KFv8
Surprisingly enough, people who want to make fine animal products are quite gentle with their animals, as you don’t want them to stress out. You see this with Cheese producers, organic farmers, and yes, foie gras producers. Yes, many animal factories are inhumane abominations, but high quality animal products don’t come from the same place a fast food burger comes from.
Also, don’t judge someone because they are timid. Maybe the lack of eye contact is because they are timid, not because they choose to be rude. The basic philosophy behind veganism is to treat things fairly, if not equally (which is VERY much worthy of respect), this should extend to not passing judgment on others.
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Dear Mr. Popularity,
Save the “it’s not as inhumane as fast food” propaganda for the gullible morons who’ll actually believe it. Anyone who tortures & kills innocent defenseless creatures in the name of producing “fine food” for the rich soulless fucks who want to feast on it deserves to have judgment passed on them and to be treated like the despicable criminal they really are.
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vegannnnz July 3rd, 2009 at 09:02
You guys must be total assholes, because every single time I go into scoops I’m greeted by not only the staff, but also Tai the owner.
They’re all super nice, really accommodating, and if you have a complaint about their service I suggest you LOOK WITHIN.
It’s a small store without a real phone number. How about, when they didn’t answer the phone next time you try fucking entering the goddamn store you moron.
It’s people like you who give awesome, accommodating places in LA a bad name for no reason whatsoever.
And by the way, I recently got the best vegan ice cream cake I’ve ever had from there. They hooked me up with multiple flavors I got to invent, all these different toppings, he even put a cherry on the top – I guess it was because I was nice to the staff and I also went in the store and ordered it instead being a lazy asshole who expects McDonalds type service from a tiny specialty ice cream joint in the middle of east hollywood.
Sorry if I had to be blunt, but this must be said.
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pissed off cook October 20th, 2009 at 14:57
i am blown away that after choosing a vegan lifestyle that you could expect the world to accomidate you. that kills me! first off, the majority of los angeles (surprise, surprise) is not vegan. so why dont you stick the specialty shops and whole foods. and next time someone doesnt have a vegan option, shut the hell up!
thank you,
Ryan
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I went to Scoops once and was disappointed. Half the flavors were liquor based. I really wasn’t expecting that. But hey, it’s their place, I just wasn’t well-informed.
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Gauri Radha February 17th, 2010 at 16:32
I was in Scoops this morning and I asked about the custom-order vegan ice-cream cakes. I think you have to go inside and order them in person (not on the phone) and the order must be placed 24 hours in advance.
The owner told me the ice-cream cake is just made of toppings and ice-cream, there isn’t vegan bread-cake available at this time.
I’m turning 36 in June, and I think I’m going to order a vegan ice-cream cake from Scoops if they still have them then. And then I’ll also order a traditional vanilla vegan birthday cake [the bread-cake sort I mean] from somewhere else. So I’ll have two cakes, which will be great 🙂
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