Ice Cream News

Dallas dish of the week: Cado avocado non-dairy ice cream

Cado ice cream is made with avocado.

Photo courtesy of Cado

Editor's note: Every week, we'll spotlight a culinary treat found around Dallas-Fort Worth — whether it's a new opening, a dish at a restaurant, or a grocery find.

Dish: Cado avocado ice cream
Location: Grocery stores

Dairy-free ice cream is a hugely growing category, with cool new innovations advancing the experience practically every day. This is good news not only for those who observe a vegan eating plan but also for the increasing number of people who eschew dairy.

Soy ice cream was the first, and for a long time the only nondairy ice cream (and for a long time, chalky and awful).

But in the past few years, companies have introduced all kinds of alternative ice cream options, each better than the last: from coconut milk whose creamy richness approximates Haagen Dazs-premium butterfat levels, to the amazing almond-milk line introduced by Ben & Jerry's in 2017.

Cado Avocado Ice Cream is next-level. It's an ice cream that uses pureed avocado as a base, but manages not to taste like avocado.

Cado's avocado base is made from pureed avocado; flavorings; and gums, which enhance the texture. It's currently available in three flavors: chocolate, mint chocolate chip, and lemon sorbet. Within the next few months, they'll be adding four more flavors: cherry amaretto, java chip, vanilla, and salted caramel.

Chefs have been using avocados as a base for vegan desserts such as puddings and brownies for years, so it's clever to take it to ice cream.

Founded in Iowa by Meghan Dowd, her brother Jack, and her mother Deb, Cado has been around since 2015. But in the past few months, the line has achieved wider distribution. In Texas, you can find it at Natural Grocers stores in DFW, Austin, and San Antonio, and at $6.09 a pint, it ain't cheap.

According to Dowd, the avocado-base:

offers more nutrition and a superior fat
doesn't compete with the flavor
has a really creamy quality, just like ice cream.

It really is all the things she says. The chocolate was profoundly chocolatey and buttery creamy. The lemon was creamy and refreshing, very lemon chiffon.

As a decadent dessert ice cream, it's amazingly "healthy," not that such a thing matters when you want ice cream.

The ingredients for the lemon flavor are as follows: avocado puree, avocado oil, cane sugar, tapioca starch, lemon juice concentrate, sea salt, guar gum, gum acacia, and lemon oil. Everything is organic.

A serving is 170 calories which is on the low side. It has 12 grams of fat.

shopping

Matcha News

Calif bakery-cafe with creative drinks and snacks makes Dallas debut

Smoking Tiger

Garlic cheese bread and matcha latte from Smoking Tiger

A buzzy coffee shop and cafe from Southern California has made its Texas debut: Called Smoking Tiger, it opened in June in Carrollton, at The Great Oasis plaza at 2225 Old Denton Rd. #100, where it's serving Korean pastries, breads, coffee, and beverages.

Adored by Korean-Americans and possibly everyone on Instagram, the cafe is part of a chain founded in 2020 in Buena Vista, California, that encompasses both coffee shops as well as bakeries. The Carrollton location — full name "The Smoking Tiger Bread Factory" — is one of their most expansive, offering coffee, pastries, breads, and sandwiches.

Carrollton will be the first in the DFW area, but a spokesperson says it won't be the only, although they do not have specifics on other locations or timetable for opening.

Drinks
Their beverage menu is notably rich and creative, leading with the Tiger Latte, their signature brown sugar latte with caramel and frothed oat milk. The Smokin Spaniard is a twist on latte combining espresso, condensed milk, hazelnut, and cinnamon.

Other options summon favorite Korean flavors such as

banana milk latte
honey bori latte with barley milk and salted honey cold foam
sweet corn latte, with sweet corn milk and corn cold foam
chai latte
misugaru — a roasted rice latte served slightly sweetened over choice of milk

… plus matcha lattes including strawberry matcha latte; jeju matcha latte sweetened with maple syrup; hojicha latte, featuring jeju green tea — a green tea grown in South Korea — sweetened with vanilla.

Latte prices average about $6.50.

Other irresistible-sounding drinks include the Pineapple Express, featuring jasmine tea and pineapple concentrate, shaken with ice for a smooth texture; and "YSL" — Yuzu Sparkling Lemonade, featuring yuzu syrup, sparkling water, and lemon.

Garlic cheese bread at Smoking TigerSmoking Tiger

Food
Food options are equally as creative, led by three signature goodies:

Cream Cheese Garlic Bread — a large round roll with a heavy dose of garlic and cream cheese baked inside
Original Salt Bread — sort of like a cross between a roll and an everything bagel
Kimchi Musubi Croissant, featuring a croissant filled with a slice of Spam and kim chi, with a sheet of seaweed baked onto the top of the croissant

Plus "sconkies" — a cross between a scone and a cookie — in flavors such as Oreo or lemon earl grey. For Texas only, they also introduced a special menu of breakfast sandwiches such as a slider with scrambled egg, cheese, and habanero aioli on grilled King's Hawaiian rolls.

According to marketing director Andy Lee, part of its appeal is the way it channels similar cafes in South Korea offering both bread and coffee.

"We wanted to essentially create a space where people could experience modern Korean culture in a very authentic and approachable way," Lee told The Dallas Morning News.

That extends to the decor: They've outfitted the Carrollton location with vertical mahogany wood panels, often seen in cafes in South Korea and traditional Korean houses called hanoks.

coffee openings