My friend Julie Holden makes some damned good ice cream, tell you what. Regular flavors, the woman’s a wizard. Slightly unusual, she handles it like a boss. Beyond that, she even accepted my challenge to make wasabi ice cream and Sriracha ice cream – and rendered nothing less than creamy, delicious perfection.
But, nota bene, Julie’s not an ice cream professional. Professionally, well, she used to be a Realtor. Hell, she used to be my Realtor. She’s written for the Chronicle, too – this article about Gary Numan, for instance.
So, my point is, Julie is real good at making ice cream, yes – but she’s no Anthony Sobotik.
What, you don’t know that name? Anthony Sobotik?
He’s only one of the founders of Austin’s Lick Honest Ice Creams, that’s all.
Yeah: Those guys. That ice cream. The kind of locally sourced and scrupulously produced confection you might French kiss a cactus for, because just the taste of your reward would more than compensate for the lacerations.
But let’s not be stupid: No need to swap spit with a saguaro for a taste of Lick. Just go to any of the Austin locations and plunk down sufficient ducats and enjoy, right? Even the Mueller development – which seems to have almost everything else that’s worth having in Austin, besides – which is pretty fucking annoying to those of us who must live in other, less favored neighborhoods – even that rare example of urban-planning success has a Lick.
Better yet, though? Take a make-your-own-ice-cream class at Central Market Cooking School with Anthony Sobotik. Because that’s some next-level gustatory and educational pleasure right there, citizen.
(Yes, Central Market Cooking School. Yes, we’ve written about it before. We’ve even done a long interview with the venue’s knife expert, that Cindy Haenel. And I’m here to let you know that of course it’s still a thing, that cooking school: It’s been around for more than two decades; it’s not going anywhere soon; and there are, as ever, an abundance of different classes every single week of the year.)
Or, because the Lick team tends to do a Central Market class just once a year (last night’s iteration, led by the farm-raised Texas native Sobotik and his ex-Pennsylvanian partner Chad Palmatier, featured Cilantro/Lime and Sweet Corn ice creams, with a strawberry cobbler bonus), maybe catch them at a teaching gig in some other venue throughout the year. Hook up with one of their social media accounts for announcements – and don’t forget to stop by the nearest Lick outlet for a pint of, say, that excellent Caramel Salt Lick of theirs.
This article appears in July 20 • 2018.