It was slightly disorienting to be driving toward the foothills of Altadena for dessert and not be heading to Bulgarini. Instead, my friend Laurie and I were destined for Carmela Ice Cream, a farmers market favorite that recently opened a proper brick and mortar. The shop is named after founder Jessica Mortarotti’s grandmother, who inspired her in the kitchen at a young age.
The store was bathed in an abundance of sunshine when we walked in on a weekend afternoon. There were a few customers ahead of Laurie and me in line, which gave us a few free moments to contemplate the small but adequate flavor selection—five ice creams and three sorbets. In addition to ice cream and sorbet, the shop also sells sweets made by Valerie Confections, Sugarbird Sweets, and Blue Cupcake.
After selecting and purchasing our goods, we headed outside to enjoy them since there sadly weren’t any tables or seating areas reserved for customers inside the shop. It’s a good thing it was warm and sunny out.
All of Carmela’s ice creams are made with Clover Organic Dairy and are inspired by herbs, spices, flowers, and seasonal fruit. Laurie was a little bummed that the lemon verbena vanilla bean was no longer available, and she ended up choosing a scoop each of salted caramel and brown sugar vanilla bean ($4.50).
Laurie was smiley and smitten with the salted caramel flavor. She excitedly proclaimed more than once how much she loved its distinctly salty notes. Her reaction to the brown sugar vanilla bean was positive as well, but compared to the salted caramel, the flavor paled in comparison. Don’t tell the neighbors, but Laurie discarded her scoop of vanilla in a bush because it “wasn’t worth the calories.”
I chose a scoop of mint cacao nib ice cream ($3.50) served on a store-made waffle cone ($1), and was very happy with both. I appreciated that the mint flavor was derived from fresh herbs rather than a mint extract like most mint chip ice creams. The resulting flavor was clean and genuinely minty, just the way I like it. The crisp, buttery, and sturdy waffle cone was superb as well.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Carmela.
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Carmela Ice Cream
2495 East Washington Boulevard
Pasadena, CA 91104
Phone: 626-797-1405
Congrats to Carmela’s to provide a fresh Organic ice cream experience. The mint chocolate chip ice cream looks delicious.
I really need to try their salted caramel. I hear it is the best thing eva!
I’ve heard good things about this place. I need to go and try it. Loves me some good organic ice cream! Thanks for the heads up, Cathy.
can’t wait to try it! i love carmela salted caramel and in the summers they have a mojito flavor that is yummy!
We visited their new brick & mortar place recently. This impressed us more than Bulgarini! We tried 6 flavors – all very good – but the chocolate, while good, ended up in last place.
Luckily there are farmers mkts otherwise people will have to drive long distances for this type of ice cream.
The flavors sound great! I’ll have to remember this place for my upcoming visit to Los Angeles.
I’ve been reading your blog for some time and really love it. We get around to a lot of the same spots and I really enjoy reading your food reviews.
I think you might enjoy my blog as well as I write about food occasionally. I also hit up Carmela recently, you can see my post here: http://fashionintel.com/2011/01/28/carmela-ice-cream/
I don’t usually leave my link behind on blogs, but I thought since we had mutual interests, you’d enjoy it. Best wishes!
hey, at least i ate a good bit of the vanilla before throwing it in the bushes! it was good, but next time i’m getting two scoops of salted caramel instead…drool…
haha laurie is funny!
yummm….salted caramel. pasadena ain’t so far…hmmm…i can feel synapses firing off in my brain.
I want to try the salted caramel to see how it compares with Bi Rite!
I will never not crave a good cone of ice cream in the middle of winter.
Definitely on my list.
Hahahah, I’m cracking up at the image of Laurie chucking her ice cream into the bushes. Atta girl!
I’m surprised you didn’t get the salted caramel too! Didn’t know you were a mint girl!
Ive been meaning to check this out! Now that it’s warmer i think we might go tomorrow 🙂