Like A Kid In A Candy Shop (Cold Stone Creamery (USA))

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Cold Stone Creamery (USA)
Date:	24/03/09 (254 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You get complete creative control

Disadvantages: Opening times, and a little pricy

I have, at a conservative estimate, eaten more than 50 ice creams so far this year, and lost 10 lb in the process, thanks to undertaking a self-designed, ingenious (if I do say so myself) ice cream diet. It goes like this: I can never have more ice creams in a day than hours I've worked out. So if I want a single cone, I have to do 2 hours in the gym, and for a double we're pretty much looking at two gym trips in the same day. You may think this is extreme: I think it's testament to how much I love ice cream.

Forget those silly competitions to invent fancy or unusual, new Walkers crisp flavours. For me, bespoke ice-cream making is where it's at, and Cold Stone Creamery, an American company with international franchises, is the place to be.


** The Concept **

Cold Stone Creamery branches offer you the chance to be an ice cream designer. In their stores you choose everything from your base flavour to the mix-ins, and they blend it all for you right in front of your eyes. This is not the same as getting an ice cream sundae where they drizzle sauce on top, maybe add a squirt of cream, and finish it off with a cherry: at Cold Stone they make your mix-ins part of your flavour, like if you buy a Ben and Jerry's and see the cookie dough or caramel pieces or adorable chocolate dinosaurs are part and parcel of the ice cream itself, not an after-thought plopped on the top. Maybe you've always wanted to try one of the pre-mixed flavours, but a single ingredient was putting you off. With Cold Stone you can miss out the coconut or fudge or fruit or whatever you don't fancy, to get the perfect flavour every time.


** The Concoctions **

Cold Stone cafes are sort of like a mini conveyor belt. First you have to choose your ice cream flavour(s), but the unusual thing here is they are all smooth, pure flavours with nothing already included. So you can get mint, for example, but it's just straight up mint with no chocolate chips. You can get vanilla or cream ice creams, without the cookie dough or raisins. You might think that would leave a limited selection of flavours, like vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, but they have some ingenious concoctions you may never have come across before. Think Cake Batter flavour, or my personal favourite, Vanilla Cheesecake (minus any crust or toppings, but it still tastes very different from their simple Vanilla). Think coffee, pumpkin, mango, cotton candy, white chocolate, or perhaps something lighter like a lemon, watermelon or raspberry sorbet. Think the unthinkable: green apple gummy bear, French toast, or bubblegum flavours.

The next step is to choose from the mix-ins on offer, and here there are no limits beyond your imagination, though personal experience tells me that more than 3 mix-ins in any single ice cream can be a bit hard for them to blend, and you might end up with what tastes more like a brownie with a bit of ice cream than an ice cream with brownie pieces stirred in. The mix-ins come in several categories. There are actual chocolate bars, like Mars or Twix, which they chop up into small pieces so they can blend in. There are fruits like bananas, blueberries and pineapple, though some are only available seasonally. You can add nuts such as pecans or almonds, and sprinkles, be they chocolate or rainbow, unless you'd prefer white or milk chocolate chips. Perhaps you would like to add Oreo cookies, or brownies, or cookie dough or waffle pieces (from a crushed basket or cone). You can finish off with a sauce (such as caramel or chocolate fudge), add a dollop of peanut butter, or go for the simplicity of whipped cream. If your mouth is drooling just reading this, and your brain is already running through some fabulous combinations, take a second to imagine just how difficult it is when you're there in the shop and literally cannot make up your mind.

Once you have decided, they take all your ingredients and start the mixing. They spread out the ice cream onto their signature cold stone counters (hence the name), add the ingredients, and mix over and over until these are infused into the ice cream. Then they dollop it into a cup or waffle basket, and you're done.

If you're really struggling with the decision, you can instead look at the Signature Concoctions they offer, where they have already selected ingredients and a flavour, and given them a fancy name. Often these are obvious, but delicious combinations, and they certainly take the guess-work out of choosing. I have tried their Birthday Cake Remix (which is cake batter ice cream, brownies, chocolate fudge and rainbow sprinkles) and Oreo Overload (which is sweet cream ice cream, with Oreo pieces, chocolate fudge and chocolate chips). Again, these are mixed fresh for you, the only difference being you order by name, and not by listing the ingredients you want.

The shops also sell smoothies, ice cream cakes and cupcakes (though these haven't made it to Mexico yet), but by far their biggest trade is in the ice cream.


** The Taste **

As I think is clear, I eat A LOT of ice cream, and am not loyal to any one brand here. I don't need to be, as with an ice cream place on literally every block, I can pop into whichever is nearest when the mood strikes. There are two things to consider with Cold Stone, the quality of the flavours themselves, and how well the mix-in idea works. On the first point I would say the ice cream here is simply delicious. I have tried many of the flavours (since they'll happily give you a taste of any before you order) and have yet to find one I dislike. The flavours always taste fresh and never chemical. On the ice cream scale, it's much more Haagen Dazs than Tesco Value. The ice cream reminds me of the gelato I used to scoff in Italy - rich and creamy, and thick and fluffy. So, no complaints there.

The mix-in idea is interesting, but it does work. When you buy a pre-mixed pot from the supermarket, those ingredients have been sitting in the ice cream for quite some time. Here, they are freshly mixed, by hand, as you wait. The ingredients are fresh, not frozen, so for example the Mars bars are still soft and chewy, and won't break your teeth the way a frozen one might. My favourite ice cream flavour in Mexico in general is Oreo, and the Cold Stone version is very different - because they use chunks of the cookies, not crumbs - but it's still delicious. That being said, these are definitely ice creams you need to chew, rather than just slurp down.


** The Shops **

In general, Cold Stone shops are not very big, since most people buy to take away. My local one has a few tables inside, and a few more outside, but on the whole it's walk-in, walk-out trade. It can take a while to get served because for each person in front of you, you have to wait while their design is chosen, mixed, and served, but this gives you the gift of thinking time, which I never object to. My one key complaint about my local shop is that the boards on the wall only show the Signature Concoctions, they don't list all the mix-ins available, so sometimes you have to ask what they have. This can be a pain if you're already in the queue as you sometimes feel rushed to make up your mind. However, one thing you don't feel rushed by is the staff: they take the time to make the ice creams properly, with all the style and grace of a pizza chef throwing his dough in the air, in a leisurely manner. They don't throw the ice cream, but they do fold, and kneed, and generally sculpt a work of art for you in a thorough manner, no matter how many people there are waiting for their own masterpieces to be created.

I also dislike their opening times: I had been trying to get here for ages when I finally succeeded, because although I walked past it every week, it was never open. I finally discovered they open at 1pm each day, which, like someone quickly on their way to developing a drinking problem, did nothing to stop me feeling abnormal for having thought I could indulge before noon. During the week my shop is quiet, but as is the case with IHOP, at weekends it is rammed with all the ex-pats and more wealthy locals treating their children.


** The Price **

Cold Stone ice cream in Mexico is laughably expensive, because I think they use the US prices, which you just can't do with the weak peso. So, while a single scoop in La Michocana (a local place) might cost me 10 or 12 pesos (about 50p), here in Cold Stone a plain flavour will cost you 40 pesos (£2). You get a bigger portion, since the smallest serving size in Cold Stone is still quite large, but it's still a lot more to pay. You also pay extra for every single mix-in you want, and the costs soon rack up. The Signature Creations (those they've already designed) work out quite a bit cheaper, since you'll pay only a few pesos more, and get maybe 2 or 3 extra mix-ins for that price. I'm not sure why they do this, apart from possibly to encourage people to go for a Signature Creation, spend less time thinking, and subsequently get out of the way quicker. Still, you are paying for a bespoke product, and as even my lower intermediate Business English class could tell you, bespoke tends to cost more, but people will pay it because they think it's worth it.


** Thoughts **

Cold Stone is fast becoming not only the reason I go to the gym, but also the reason I take on private students for extra cash. It simply is THAT good. There are a couple of downsides though. One is that their mix-in list, while good, is not overly extensive. Where is the Nutella? The cookie dough? (which though they have on the list, they NEVER have in stock) The Cookies and Cream bars? Cold Stone actually have considerably less choice, if you can believe it, than a similar set-up called Cold Rock, which I frequented with some regularity while living in Australia.

Additionally, although it's nice to be able to have exactly what you want in your ice cream, it's easy to go wrong. The ice cream flavours are not marked with recommendations of what would go well with them, so it's truly up to you as the purchaser what you decide to go for, and the staff will mix anything in with anything else, even if it sounds gross. This has its downside however as you're then stuck with an ice cream that isn't wonderful - for example if you put in mix ins that just don't complement each other. Some mix ins, such as cookie dough, go with most things, while others, such as Mars bars, really need a blander or simpler flavour so they don't taste sickly. It's a process of trial and error, but every error made by me and my friends here has still been edible, and I can think of worse mistakes to make in life.

Your first trip is a truly magical experience, and I felt like a kid in a candy shop (which I guess I was), amazed by all the options and choices. I spent ages deciding on what to have and changing my mind dozens of times. I felt like that old Fisherprice advert was speaking directly to me - "Oh The Possibilities..."


Feeling inspired? Leave me a comment with what your personal concoction would be, and I might try it next time I'm there. You can see the full list of ice creams and mix-ins here:

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/icecream/custom_ creations.html



Feeling like you Just Have To Have It yourself? Check out the website for their store locations:

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/google/stores/st ore_locator.aspx

Summary: Oh, the possibilities....