What to Eat in Birmingham

As we have said before, this town needs more non-chain, brick-and-mortar ice cream shops that sell homemade ice cream. As you know, in the pop-up/truck category, we love Bendy’s, Pixie, and Big Spoon. But as far as brick-and-mortar goes, so far, the only place we know of in this category is Lichita’s. (Think about it.) We love Lichita’s, and it will be opening a second location in the Pizitz in December, but there is plenty of pent up ice cream demand for a second homemade ice cream shop.

And for goodness sakes, this town needs gelato. How is it that in a town of a million in the metro area, the only place you can go to get a casual afternoon scoop of gelato is Whole Foods??

A few weeks ago, friend and blog fan Stefan told us about a new ice cream shop called Scoops opening in Homewood. We were about to leave for our trip to Japan, and put this place on the top of our must-eat list upon return.
So the very night of our return, we made the short drive from Southside to Homewood’s main drag. A few doors down from Johnny’s, and across the street from Salem Diner, we saw this:

Inside:

(Photo credit: @leightse)

Upon entering we were greeted by two very upbeat and enthusiastic employees. They explained the offerings, all homemade in the back: ice cream, four flavors of sorbet, and …. wait for it ….. Gelato!!!!!

They showed us an entire case of delicious-looking gelato.

Not to mention a case of ice cream and sorbet:

Why so excited about gelato? As this NPR article explains, it’s definitely different from ice cream: lower butterfat content, at times with more powerful flavor profiles and a creamier, softer texture.

And also, we are pretty emotionally tied to gelato after our years in Philly eating the artisanal variety at the revered Capigiro, where they are famous for letting you try an infinite number of flavors and for their inventive offerings.

So of course, we stood around and taste-tested for awhile. We were smitten. We decided to order three scoops each. The staff assured us we could box up the extra to take home-little did they know we would eat it all.
We have been to Scoops four times in the past week, no kidding. All in all, here’s a sampling of what we’ve tried:

Yep, that’s maple bacon. Very bacon-y, very hearty. Almost like a meal.

Fantastic mint chocolate chip gelato. The flavor was incredibly bold.

Chocolate peanut butter-rich, creamy, and decadent.

The best rocky road I’ve ever had atop a delicious take on pistachio ice cream-a combination with biscotti.

Chocolate orange gelato. Chunks of candied orange mixed in a rich, creamy chocolate.

Super sweet and refreshing mango sorbet.

Berry sorbet atop, what else, rocky road.

Lemonade-iced tea sorbet-syrupy sweet and sticky-atop banana pudding, which tasted like the best banana pudding you’ve ever had, frozen.

And finally, chocolate chip cookie dough with huge, chewy chunks of cookie dough throughout, atop the mint chocolate chip.

So, you might ask, does their gelato taste that different from their ice cream? To be honest, I don’t know that we have that sophisticated of a frozen dessert palate. It’s all fantastic, and that’s all we care about.