Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream

2012 James Beard Awardwinning Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

Gooey Buttercake, Goat Cheese & Figs
Riesling Poached Pears

I’m sometimes prone to exaggeration, but I’m willing to put it in writing, the 2012 James Beard award winner for baking and dessert JENI BRITTON BAUER is not a flash in the pan. Jeni’s is the Best Ice Cream in America hands down.

While not an obvious choice for alunchboxblog.com this review of Jeni’s transcendent flavors at reasonable prices feels like a total natural for those who are sitting at their desks looking for a good reason to leave their desks and get something to distract them from the work that needs to get done.

Owned by Jeni Britton-Bauer and Charly Bauer, these smart entrepreneurs have a way with milk and cream. Their video sort of says it all:  JENI AND CHARLY AND THEIR SPLENDID ICE CREAMS

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

900 Mohawk Street

Columbus, Ohio 43206

(614) 445-6513

Jeni's in the North Market

I think the job description for prospective employees on their site says a ton about the experience you get when a Jeni’s Ice Cream Ambassador “serves” you:

“Ice Cream Ambassadors (also known as, scoop shop employees) will be familiar with what distinguishes Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams from other ice creams; available to work weekends, late nights (past 11 p.m.), and at on-site events; able to provide consistent, world-class service to every single customer; exhibit passion for the community, an eye for detail, a willingness to clean (a lot), stamina (to serve people in long lines), and the ability to work in an exciting, fast-paced environment.”

These working men and women go beyond the extra mile, at the two locations I’ve been to in the Short North and in German Village. I cannot recall a time when a fast-serve product company expected and so enthusiastically received such incredible effort from their what I assume is low-paid employees. This place has an esprit-de-corps that the marines would envy.And like I mentioned, the flavors are out of this world. Before settling on my gooey buttercake, pear riesling sorbet, and my cognac’ed figs in goat cheese, 

Jeni's Flavors

I had the opportunity to taste a host of other incredible concoctions:

• Magnolia Mochi—a strongly floral ice cream with essential oils in a mocha base ice cream
• Icelandic Happy Marriage Cake—with a rhubarb compote in sugar syrup and crushed oatcakes
• Lavender Ice Cream—which the dad of the 3 year old who was licking her cone to death said tasted exactly like Fruity Pebbles with all the candy coating his daughter demanded.
• Hummingbird Cake—spongecake laced with pineapple in a banana, cinnamon and toasted pecan ice cream base

The list actually goes on and on, but I only remembered to write down these flavors and their profiles. By the time I started digging into my bowl, I began to get lost in the oral experience. The pears poached in Riesling made a sorbet with a granular texture that precisely replicated the experience of eating a ripe, soft Bartlett.

The gooey buttercake was a ST. LOUIS-STYLE gooey buttercake in a cake batter flavored ice cream, and then the pièce de résistance was the Goat Cheese and Cognac’ed figs. Come late spring, they switch out the figs for ripe cherries. Ooooooosh! It’s a glorious explosion of ice cream badness and flavor goodness that makes for an exceptional, one-of-a-kind experience only to be had in Columbus, Ohio.

Yeah, that’s right, Columbus.  Who woulda thunk it?

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