Licking the competition

In anticipation of Bobtail’s annual Birth of a Flavor contest, we asked the crew at the Lakeview store to turn some of the kids’ dream flavors into real-life scoops. Then a panel of families and experts, including Bobtail owner Jeff Wilcoxon and production manager Shaun Paul, evaluated the final product.

Noah Guardado, 10
The flavor “Mosh-mallow Noah-nutter”: Peanut-butter ice cream with grape-jelly swirls and marshmallows
The scoop “It tasted exactly like peanut butter and jelly,” Noah said. TOCK editor Judy Sutton Taylor suggested adding bananas—“the classic kid sandwich combo!”—but overall this flavor had the most crossover appeal among parents and kids.

Elliot Robinson, 5
The flavor “Bumble Crumble”: honey ice cream with Nutter Butter cookie chunks
The scoop Wilcoxon pegged this his favorite: “I think this one could be sold in our store.” But the kids weren’t as crazy about it as the adults: Five-year-old Nick Sennett (son of TOC editor-in-chief Frank Sennett, who loved this flavor) described the flavor as “between good and bad,” and all ages suggested adding more Nutter Butters.

Samara and Gabriel Taylor, both 6
The flavor “Fourth of July Firecracker Surprise”: vanilla ice cream with cherries and blue Pop Rocks
The scoop Jay and Kendra Robinson (Elliot’s parents) felt this was “definitely a kid flavor,” and Paul felt there was room for improvement in the execution. Some of the Pop Rocks deactivated when mixed into the ice cream, so he suggested adding them as a topping next time instead. But the kids thought it rocked.

Stop by Bobtail’s Lakeview store (2951 N Broadway, 773-880-7372) between June 20 and July 4 for your chance to put your dream flavor on the ice-cream menu all summer long.