We All Scream: More Ice Cream in Portland!

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Note: Both of these businesses have now closed.

I recently commented, at length, about the absence of homemade ice cream in Portland. Apparently, somebody was paying attention. Some bodies, to be precise. Open just over 2 weeks, Little Red Bike Café is not only a super-duper cute and much-needed addition to N. Lombard Street. They also make great-looking (I haven’t tasted them) breakfast and lunch sandwiches, serve pastries from Fleur de Lis Bakery, and coffee and espresso drinks made from (very small-scale and local) Courier Coffee.

And then…when the shop closes at 3pm, owners Ali and Evan (who, themselves, are as super-duper cute as their café) open up the bike-through window and serve FRESHLY-MADE ICE CREAM. And it is GOOD. Note: the ice cream is available ONLY from 3-5pm, at least at this time. During regular hours, you can order “old fashioned buttermilk milkshakes” and root beer floats served in mason jars, as well as hot fudge sundaes. These are made with Alden Farms organic ice cream, as opposed to the fresh homemade stuff.

My “double shot” of malted milk ice cream served in an espresso cup (pictured here) was perfect. There is a Whopper candy on top – and there were several more crushed-up within the scoop. I was also given a generous sample of “sweet corn”, which was… sweet and corny. I liked it a lot.

Recent (daily rotating) flavors have included Courier Coffee, lemon verbena with Oregon blackberry swirl, peanut butter chocolate with chocolate chips, strawberry sour cream, and mango coconut.

Full-size scoops are $2.50, $4.50 double. The double shot mini-scoop is 95¢

Little Red Bike Café

4823 Lombard St. Portland, OR 97203

503.289.0120

You can see more pics and details on their blog.

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Here’s another guy who was listening to my plea:

Junior Ambassadors.

This is a bright orange “Mostlandian”* food cart on N. Albina Avenue, just south of Alberta, kitty corner (ish) from the Albina Press Coffee House.

Rudy is the proprietor of the cart, and very enthusiastically dishes up about 4-5 flavors of FRESHLY MADE ice cream, including at least one vegan offering made from coconut or almond milk. On my first visit, I tried the chocolate coconut, sprinkled with toasted coconut, and my friend B went with vanilla topped with fresh peaches and brown sugar. Both were great.

Flavors change (almost) daily. Like Little Red Bike, he also made a corn ice cream this week – “Corn on the Cob” – which worked really well. Blueberry lemongrass, available in vegan (coconut milk based and agave-sweetened) and non-vegan versions, was also featured.

Additionally, Junior Ambassadors serves “Panwiches.” According to Rudy’s recent email bulletin:

“Panwiches have bread made from cornmeal and whole wheat flour and

griddled like pancakes and then made into these sort of sandwiches…

GRILLED CHEESE…with up to 4 cheeses.

BLT…with pepper bacon or tempeh bacon.

TUNA MELT…white albacore tuna, tomatoes and cheese

HOT DOG…meat or non-meat with baked beans or sauerkraut.

All these Panwiches come with SESAME GINGER SLAW, or CHIPS, or CHEEZ-ITS.”

Prices range from $4 – $6.

Visit the (very charming and friendly) guy in person at his cart, and he’ll happily tell you all about it.

Junior Ambassadors:

4734 N. Albina Avenue

HOURS: (as of now, could change in Fall/Winter) WED, THURS, FRI : 4-8 pm (Fri. Panwich hours: 12-2 pm), SAT: 12-6 pm (Panwiches all day)

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