Lobster Ice Cream: Cool or Crap?

In case you hadn’t heard, gourmet food trucks have taken over Los Angeles. It all started four or five years ago with the arrival of Kogi’s and has snowballed from there. Now we have a truck for nearly every cuisine and specialty, and so it was only inevitable that a lobster truck would pop up. I’m not complaining.

Enter Cousins Maine Lobster Food Truck, which specializes in — you guessed it — lobster. When I was invited to enjoy a media-comped lunch at the truck, I was only too happy to oblige. And then when I was told there’d be lobster ice cream involved, I was all the more intrigued. I knew it had to either be really good… or really bad.

After the jump, my impressions of Cousins’ lobster ice cream…

I encounter Cousins Lobster Truck behind Warner Bros. There are three or four other trucks present, but Cousins is the only one with a line.

The menu is kind of awesome. Tons of great stuff like a classic lobster roll, a Connecticut lobster roll (warm, buttered), and California lobster tacos (one person in line refrained from ordering the latter item because she didn’t want “California Lobster.” She wanted her lobster from Maine. Oy).

I went with the classic lobster roll.

Let’s cut to the chase: this lobstAH roll was amazing. Super delicious. And at around $12.50, it’s a great price. You spend double that at Hungry Cat for roughly the same thing.

Then it’s on to the big question mark: lobster ice cream. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine how this would taste, and I was very, very curious…

The verdict: ummmmmmmmmmm… the lobster roll was great!

Look, I am an adventurous eater. I am not opposed to mixing lobster and ice cream. However, this simply did not work for me. The vanilla ice cream totally overpowered the delicate sweetness of the lobster. In fact, the only flavor I did register from the lobster was an odd bitterness that went a long way to ruining an otherwise perfectly nice scoop of ice cream. Additionally, the frozen chunks of lobster proved to be stiff and chewy, which wasn’t the end of the world but was far from the most pleasant mix-in I’ve encountered. I’m sure there’s a way to successfully make lobster ice cream, but I don’t think merely mixing chunks of lobster with vanilla is it.

For those who are adventurous and seeking culinary bragging rights, Cousins’ lobster ice cream is worth a try. However, the best bet is to stick to the delicious lobster rolls, which will undoubtedly leave you more satisfied than any novelty dessert ever could.

On Twitter: @CMLobster