Isee Icy

[laniloa]

This past weekend I stopped in to Isee Icy, a new ice cream shop on Wisconsin Ave next to Red Ginger. Not the greatest location for an ice cream shop as Thomas Sweet and Max's are both very close. Also, you'd think it is too far north for much foot traffic and there isn't convenient parking. But, it is worth it to stop by. They told me this was Argentinian style ice cream and it reminded me of gelato -- very creamy. I had chocolate hazelnut that had a nice rich chocolate flavor. Too often, I find the chocolate too thin to carry the ice cream. My friend had a mixed berry flavor that was fabulous. The sweet-tart flavor wasn't lost in the creaminess -- almost more like the crisp fruitiness you'd expect from sorbet.

[eunny jang]

Sounds delicious - I am going to stop by before summer's gone.

Now I want to open an ice cream shop/internet cafe, and call it, "iCome, iCy, iConquer."

[Nadya]

My friend and I checked it out a few weeks ago. I agree that the location is a bit odd, with Thomas Sweet being two blocks down the street and all. I had a scoop of chocolate hazelnut and a scoop of tiramisu. Both were delicious. My friend had some kind of cheesecake flavor. The place has a charming mom-and-pop feel to it - the second floor, for instance, has a distinct daycare vibe. Also, nice windowsill cushions one can park at to survey Wisconsin Ave. while eating.

[JennyUptown]

I haven't been in yet, but the location looks super-cool. Very different than most of the stuff in that antique-y stretch.

[laniloa]

I went back this weekend and tried the dulce de leche with chocolate. The owner said it was his favorite and it was definitely delicious. It is a creamy caramel ice cream and instead of chunks of chocolate like you usually get in a chocolate chip ice cream, it has the most delicate flakes of chocolate throughout.

I had a nice chat with the owner. He said he had grown tired of weak American style gelato and imported the equipment, ingredients, and brought someone in to train the staff. He claims that American style gelato uses far less cream then what you find in Italy and reproduces the sense of denseness by the way (or amount) of air whipped into the product. His product is the full-cream version and he went with the Argentinian style gelato because of the typical flavors.

Basically the whole front of the store opens up and the place seems more like an ice cream stand. Dishes of water were set out for dogs and a few wandered through with their humans.

[JennyUptown]

This is a cute place, but I wasn't at all impressed with the ice cream. And I tasted quite a few because my friend and I were the only customers on an overcast Sunday afternoon -- two very friendly employees would offer "do you want to try that?" about any flavors our eyes seemed to contemplate.

Of the three samples I tasted, two were way too sweet: peanut butter (which was a vanilla base with chunks of peanut butter throughout) and banana split (banana ice cream with chocolate and dulce de leche - I found that addition odd). Cinnamon was undistinguised, but at least not too sweet.

When it comes to ice cream, I usually go for either really tart sorbets - lemon and raspberry being the favorites - or a quality vanilla bean topped with hot fudge. Today I was in the mood for the latter, but...Isee Icy doesn't offer hot fudge. Huh? After learning that, I was too stunned to order anything.

My friend ordered what she thought was plain chocolate (it was marked as such), but it ended up being chocolate hazelnut. Again, we thought it was awfully sweet, although nicely creamy.

It was just one visit, but we saw no reason to give up Max's for Isee Icy at this point.