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February 13th, 2010LA restaurants, scoops
as you probably know, scoops is a small gelato shop in los angeles that always has 3 vegan offerings on deck. they are notorious for their wacky flavor combos like banana avocado, basil, and brown bread. but the thing is, you never know which flavors are going to be available. i have been hearing good things about their “salty chocolate” for ages, and never had a chance to try it until today. i can safely say the odd-sounding combo did not disappoint…it was the perfect amount of sweetness followed up with a nice salty finish. my only complaint is that it made me very thirsty.
have you been to scoops? what is your favorite flavor? i wish they would join twitter and keep us updated with the gelato of the day….
scoops
Tags: gelato, ice cream, scoops
712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 906-2649 -
May 24th, 2009LA restaurants, scoops
Recently, 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.
Tags: baked beans, birthday, gelato, ice cream, morrissey, sloppy joes -
October 11th, 2008LA restaurants, scoops
i know, i know, i know. i go to pure luck like every freakin’ day, and it’s taken me this long to finally walk across the street and try scoops…a legendary ice cream and gelato shop known for its rotating vegan selection and strange array of flavors. when i visited, the vegan flavors weren’t that weird at all, so i settled on a whopping scoop consisting of half mint-oreo and half chocolate-peanut butter. oh man oh man oh man. this ice cream lived up to the hype. i’m kinda bummed i tried it, because now i know i won’t be able to resist it ever again, even after downing a whole plate of potato pals from pure luck.
how they make this so creamy and so vegan, i have no idea. all i know is that this the best ice cream i’ve ever had. and i am someone who loves vegan ice cream. i’ve been known to go to london and stand outside of harrods in the blowing wind and pouring rain eating a frozen bowl of whatever vegan ice cream they have on deck, because i wouldn’t want to leave for home without trying it. luckily for me, though, harrods is 5,000 miles away. scoops is only like 4. that’s why i have been resisting it. ’cause i’m afraid now that i’m hooked. i mean, just look at this stuff. my sweet tooth doesn’t stand a chance.
the staff at scoops are super friendly, and will let you sample anything you want. for us vegans, that means we can try out 4 different flavors before deciding on which one to have. oh, and it’s CASH ONLY. so make sure you have enough. you can get more ice cream than you could ever eat for five bucks.
oh and while you are hanging out around hel-mel, don’t forget to stop by pure luck and get some food and beer. with scoops right across the street, i don’t think i will visit one without hitting up the other ever again.
so definitely get over to scoops as soon as you can. the portions are huge, the prices are low and the ice cream is delicious. mind you, i only got ONE scoop and what they gave me was huge and contained two flavors. we need more places like scoops, for sure.
Tags: chocolate, gelato, ice cream, oreo, peanut butter, veganmofo -