Watch out for flying spoons, at Humphry Slocombe

When I was younger, I didn't like cake. Yeah: a kid that didn't like cake! Whaa?

Even at my elementary school birthday parties -- wow: I can still remember the feel, the snap, of the cheap stretchy string that held cone birthday hats on our heads, the same cheap stretchy string that could also be used to launch various projectiles at a younger brother or sister -- yeah, my mom would get me an ice cream cake from the local Carvel, black cookie crumbs sometimes pressed into the sides. The spread also included sickly-sweet sherbert from Pathmark, served directly out of their clear plastic containers.

No cake.

While I've grown, over the years, to like a selected variety of cakey things -- give me ginger or carrot or lemon anything -- I've never lost that love affair with ice cream. In high school, I used to eat it by the half-gallon (rocky road, natch). Whew! But cut to 2009; and while I'm still into the stuff, I indulge in MUCH smaller quantities, refined quantities.

I got my latest fix just last week at Humphry Slocombe, a new, innovative ice cream shop in the Mission. Folks on yelp, on chowhound, on dailycandy -- not to mention in the local print -- are writing up a storm about it. Have you been? Have you been? Have you been?

Humphry Slocombe is the buzz of the town, it seems.

And, I think, with good reason.

First, you gotta check out the list of flavors that they have made or will make. At any given time, they will be selling maybe 12 or so of them (which seems to be the limit of the freezer in the front), with some favorites always on-the-ready and a rotating cast of, um, creamy-dreaminess(-and-sometimes-whimsiness).

I'm looking at you, foie gras, and, you, Andante chevre + strawberry jam.

On my particular visit, I got to sample quite a few of the offerings (the scooper seems to be patient enough to allow you to sample pretty much as many as you want -- on a quiet night, anyway): the Guiness gingerbread, the Valrhona fudgesicle, the Blue Bottle Vietnamese coffee, the balsamic caramel, the olive oil, and the Secret Breakfast.

Without getting into individual reviews, my lasting impression is that the ice cream of Jake Godby -- owner/chef of Humphry Slocombe -- really embodied the ingredients. And given their high quality, this makes for a wonderful experience for the palate. Tummy too.

Now, I'm not saying that you'll like all the flavors -- for example, the balsamic caramel wasn't for me (I'm not a fan of vinegar tang in general) -- but you're going to really like something. Even for the ones that aren't totally up your alley, you're going to appreciate the flavors on an academic level (well, maybe if you're like me and occasionally dabble in foodie-dom); you'll say, "I've never had this flavor of icecream before"; or, "this flavor has never been captured in icecream so well". Word.

Well, like I said, I ain't the first one to say it, but here goes: check this place out! Humphry Slocombe, on the west side of Harrison St., a tad north of 24th Street (map).

You'll see a few tables outside.

You might even see me there, Secret Breakfast in hand.. er, dish. One warning though: if I'm wearing a cone birthday hat with one of those elastic string things, watch out for flying spoons. Whap!