Apr 16, 2024
Part 2 is the story of how
open-mindedness met opportunity. It's also an explanation for how
an ice cream store opened by someone named Mitchell came to carry
several flavors familiar to both the Filipino- and the
Latin-American community.
Brian shares the story: The
Asian flavors started around 1965 when a customer and friend of
Larry Mitchell's introduced Larry to the Gina Corporation in
Philippines, who process and package the fruits Mitchell's uses to
this day in many of its ice cream flavors. They started with mango
puree, a fruit that his friend had to introduce Larry Mitchell to.
He liked it and was open to the idea of incorporating it.
After mango, it was ube (purple yam), macapuno (sweet coconut),
buko (young coconut), langko (jackfruit), avocado (which I tried
recently and is DELICIOUS), and mais y queso (a Filipino
flavor).
Many of these flavors were
familiar to Marlon, who'd emigrated from the Philippines shortly
before he began working at Mitchell's. He says that he was
surprised and delighted to see those flavors in his new
city.
I share my own story of finding
Mitchell's and we talk about those well-known, long-ass lines often
seen running down San Jose Avenue.
Marlon tells us that, in
addition to standard flavors and the Asian and North and South
American flavors, over the years, Brian has concocted some cool ice
cream combinations that remain on the menu to this
day.
In the mid-Seventies,
Mitchell's got its products into stores. And in the late-Seventies,
they got into some local restaurants. Then, in the 2000s, several
local Thai restaurants began using Mitchell's in desserts (fried
banana with their coconut ice cream, for example).
I ask the trio how they feel
about Ben and Jerry's and other competition. The fact that
Mitchell's is a family business and one that's been around so long
leaves customers passionate about their local ice cream parlor. On
that topic, it's worth mentioning that Marlon met his wife, Wanda,
at Mitchell's when she started working there shortly after he did.
They've been married 32 years and both continue working at
Mitchell's to this day.
We end the podcast going around
the room to hear what Linda, Marlon, and Brian think about our
theme this season: "We're all in it."
Photography by Jeff
Hunt
We recorded this podcast at
Mitchell's Ice Cream in February 2024.