Cuckoo for Cocobella
If you have an eclectic palette, and are looking for some allergy friendly ice cream, your quest has been completed: Cocobella. The ice creams are not only gluten-free, but some ice creams are made with soy, and some, like the sunbutter ice cream, are made with a coconut base for those that have soy allergies. There are also no nuts in any of the ice creams. But, you may want to pass on getting a cone.
Once you’re ready to hop out of your car and embark on your vegan ice cream adventure at Cocobella, you’ll see the words “#TreatYoSelf” are plastered in pink, above a banner with LA buzzwords: allergen-friendly, handcrafted, vegan, small batch, gluten-free, all-natural, dairy-free, nut-free, and gluten-free.
If you’re not a vegan foodie like myself, and those words had no magical effect on you, non-vegans also find themselves drawn to Cocobella’s icy sweet treats. In fact, no one in the shop was vegan, besides myself and the woman working there.
I dragged my reluctant friend, Emmanuel Felix, who hates vegan food, as a control group for how the ice cream may be portrayed to non-vegans, who are predisposed to vegan substitutes, and who have no interest in feigning approval. He ordered the Kombucha float, which is the first time I had heard of that, with salted caramel and cookie monster ice cream.
To my surprise, Felix said he liked his ice cream because it’s smooth, cool, and refreshing.
“Yeah I didn’t think it was going to taste good, but it was better than good. The taste was delicious. I would give it an 8.5/10 ice creams” said Felix.
One of the workers in the store named Luna suggested that people try Cocobella more because not only does it taste good, but because it can be a replacement for people that love ice cream with dairy.
“We’re not supposed to be consuming animal products in general. Those are made for calves not humans and most adults are lactose. It’s better for the animals and environment and for us too,” said Luna.
The shop has 16 daily flavors of ice cream that I happily sampled. The ice creams are made from coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla. The flavors were diverse, and the combinations of flavors were often questionable, like “mango sticky rice.”
I would highly recommend getting the salted caramel, because it’s the perfect balance of sweet and salty. Ice creams always run the risk of being too sweet, but the sweetness and saltiness of the salted caramel function as a yin and yang.
Needless to say, I ended up getting the salted caramel, and chocolate fudge ice cream in a cone. The consistency of the ice cream is remarkably creamy, you could hardly tell it was vegan.The cone however, could definitely use some improvement. While the texture was decently crunchy, there was not enough sweetness, and a slightly bitter after-taste.
In case you’re trying to do a vegan marathon, you can also head to Doomie’s Home Kitchen next door, which serves exclusively vegetarian and vegan food.
