Washington State Adventures

The next stop on my Pacific Northwest tour was Seattle, Washington. I spent quite a bit of time in Pike Place Market, which was a foodie's dream come true. I could have lived there, and based on the number of homeless people around, I think some people do.

But after a long day of eating, I had to top it of

with some local ice cream. Molly Moon's seemed to be the local favorite and there are two locations. I visited the one in the cute family-centric neighborhood of Wallingford.

I arrived late, around 4:00, and was amazed at how long

the line was. The interior was bare bones in a very hip, industrial style. Molly's focuses on local ingredients and interesting ice cream flavors. Walking in and smelling the waffle cones, got me very excited. This is definitely my type of ice cream shop.

I did my usual taste test first and asked for both strawberry balsamic and mojito sorbet. I like how they gave you the two tastes on opposite sides of a popsicle stick. An ingenious idea. It's a cool way of trying lots of ice cream and it's much better for the environment. I have focused on making alcohol inspired sorbets in the past and I know how tricky it is. The mojito didn't work for me and really just tasted like a lime sorbet. It needed mint and rum in there! And I think the taste of the strawberry balsamic was maybe too small to get the full effect because I didn't get much balsamic.

I had to get one of those waffle cones because they smelled too good. I'm a sucker for homemade waffle cones. I settled on one scoop of salted caramel and one scoop of honey lavender. The ice cream was soft and very creamy and the flavors were definitely there, but they actually may have been a bit too strong.

I had an amazing salted caramel ice cream from Jeni's in Columbus, Ohio and I don't think any

can compare to that. This salted caramel was way too salty. It lost almost all of the sweet flavor of the caramel and it was dominated by the salt. In fact, I had a hard time finishing it. The honey lavender on the other hand was much more balanced. I really loved the big lavender pieces throughout and the honey was just sweet enough.

The waffle cones were inconsistent because mine was way too soft and slightly stale. My friend's however was perfectly crisp and warm and delicious. I think I may have gotten an old batch.

I wanted to love Molly Moon's. All the components were there, but there were a few missteps and inconsistencies. Maybe we came on an off-day, I don't know, but I had the strange sensation of being both elated and disappointed with the experience.

Mallard on the other hand was close to perfection. It was the best of the three ice cream shops I visited on my trip. It's in the surprisingly hip but quaint town of Bellingham, which is just under 90 miles north of Seattle.

It's located on one of the main drags downtown and is opened later than I would have guessed. We arrived at about 10:30 and it wasn't too crowded, but a few groups of college kids lingered on the couches. I was amazed at how big the shop was. It definitely seemed like a local institution.

I was overwhelmed and excited by the board listing all the flavors. There was a great variety of unique wacky flavors and the old standards. I could tell that the young employees enjoyed working there and I felt this is exactly the kind of ice cream shop I would love to own one day. I was also impressed that the kid behind the counter didn't seem to mind when I asked for a taste of just about everything.

My first taste was their famous Vanilla Black Pepper and I was a bit underwhelmed. It didn't have much heat or surprise. But then I got into the good stuff. The coriander, on the other hand, had plenty of spice and flavor. The fresh plum was awesome with big pieces of sweet plums. Plum was my favorite fruit as a kid and I was never able to find pure plum flavor in any ice creams back then. Oh, if I only had Mallard!

The rose was also great with lots of sweet, floral flavors. I was convinced to taste the maple walnut (my Uncle's favorite), which was great and not too sweet. The lime ice cream was amazing - just the right amount of balance between sweet and tart. And the apricot black tea ice! I asked if the ice was like a sorbet and the answer was not quite. It was much more icy and less smooth than a sorbet. Very similar to the sorbets I make - I'm betting they don't use any corn syrup or egg whites to thicken it.

I had no idea what my next move should be. They were all so good. I finally decided on a cone of espresso coriander and fresh plum. They were both great. The ice cream was perfectly flavored and had a nice mouthfeel.

I was so impressed with Mallard. From the quality of the ice cream to the comfortable decor to the fun-spirited youthful employees, I felt very much at home here. I've had thoughts since I've returned of dropping everything in New York and going to get a job as a scooper at Mallard. I'd probably be their oldest employee!