Amy's: Sushi ice cream ! !

By Jordan Davis     10/9/08 7:00pm

When all that is good and holy in this world comes to a tragic end, the thought that Amy's Ice Cream is still delicious is comforting. This, however, is no longer the case. The once reputable ice cream joint, located at 3816 Farnham St., does not live up to its historic hype anymore.Ask any student who knows anything about ice cream. It's always Amy's this and Amy's that, except when Ben and Jerry's has Free Scoop Day. Sadly, in their recent years of being considered the number one ice cream joint in the Rice community, their fame has gone to their head. Serving mediocre ice cream, offering disappointing flavors and creating flavor combinations that taste of sushi and soy sauce cannot possibly be good for business. Here are some selections to stay away from: Belgian Chocolate, Atomic Blaster and Coffee White Chocolate.

Belgian Chocolate is very bold with sufficient chocolatey flavor, but with an aftertaste that burns the tongue, rendering it useless to taste other flavors.

Atomic Blaster has no flavor whatsoever. Even trying to pick out the flavor from the added chocolate sprinkles is a real challenge. Much deliberation led to the decision that there is nothing atomic about it, and the blast is a real letdown. Expecting some kind of redeeming quality from this ice cream selection is just asking for too much.

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The final flavor to avoid is Coffee White Chocolate. Maybe it was the planets' alignment or Houston caught in the retrograde of Mercury's energies, but the combination of two equally good flavors mixed into one ice cream did not taste like either one, but instead like sushi with soy sauce. The "Iron Chef" judges had it right when they failed any aspiring chef who passed them fish-flavored ice cream. Sushi and soy sauce definitely receives a failing grade.

Amy's does have some redeeming flavor combinations, such as White Chocolate and Espresso Bean, Bourbon Whiskey and Walnut and Brown Sugar and Pecan. The whole espresso beans in the rich White Chocolate and Espresso Bean make it a crunchy, delightful flavor, certainly a pick-me-up from sushi-flavored ice cream and powerful enough to add a caffeine boost to worn out students and staff alike.

Instead of ordering Bourbon Whiskey and Walnut in a cup or cone, customers may feel tempted to bring a shot glass. This flavor is truly all-encompassing. Taking real Jack Daniel's bourbon whiskey, with its smooth flavor and spicy aftertaste, and adding it to a similarly spiced ice cream is a stroke of pure genius. With the addition of walnuts, the cream becomes a knock-out punch that pulls a one-two on taste buds. This should be a standing flavor instead of a rotating seasonal one, because such good, alcoholic ice cream combinations are hard to find.

The final flavor to note is Brown Sugar and Pecan. While adding more sugar to ice cream is somewhat like bringing sand to the beach, in this case it was not just allowed, but encouraged. By adding brown sugar and pecans to their Sweet Cream flavor, Amy's created a superb self-standing ice cream that doesn't need to take advantage of any free crush'n or syrup. The ice cream scientists who created this flavor clearly knew that simplicity was the key.

Hopefully the rest of the flavors can hold their own. Perhaps being a little harsh will warn Amy's not to take their history with the Rice community for granted. Offering a wide variety of flavors with premium ingredients is a claim they have made on their Web site, www.amysicecreams.com. Here's hoping they adhere to that code more often.

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