After 30 minutes of internet researching, here’s what I understand. Of course, I needed to learn as much as possible about this mysterious Akbar Mashti popsicle. The “chunks of cream” and pistachios made the texture really rich. Unbelievably fragrant, you could taste all of the aforementioned flavors. Foodie and Michelle in the parking lot:Īs unreal as the other two were, this one was the crowd favorite. I bought my last popsicle and ran back to Mr. why the saffron? She explained that the saffron pop is actually an Akbar Mashti popsicle containing “chunks of cream,” rosewater, saffron, and pistachios. Saffron! Just like I read in my original Yelp post! I had to understand…. I asked her if they always have kulfi, and she said yes, they almost always have either kulfi, or…. Great suggestion, and even better execution.
I had to understand: how did she decide to make a kulfi pop? She explained that she has a friend from India who suggested it, and her husband figured out how to make it. But I also used the opportunity to ask her more about the kulfi. so I made the rare decision to tell her that we would be writing about her, which is why I needed to take more pictures. I would have to go back inside to take it, and if I did that, Reba would probably think it was a little strange that we bought one popsicle, then another, asked a bunch of questions, and then took a menu shot…. They have a devoted following in the burbs and people who come all the way from Birmingham (it’s really not that far away) to eat their popsicles – no surprise there.Īs we walked out of the store murmuring to ourselves about how great the blog post was going to be, I realized that we didn’t have a picture of the menu. All the pops are homemade in the back of their storefront.
They decided they would try their hand at the popsicle business and opened up a year ago. She told us her daughter had traveled to a few big US cities and saw that popsicles were popular, even in the winter. The owner came over to check on us, and we struck up a conversation. Unlike anything I’ve ever had before, absolutely outstanding. Here it is in all its glory:ĭense with coconut and pistachio, still with that cardamom flavor. Foodie loves coconut, and the owner highly recommended it. I declared it the best popsicle I’ve ever had. Which makes sense, since mango lassis are often a mixture of yogurt, mango, and cardamom. Then you take a bite: it tastes exactly like the best frozen mango lassi you’ve ever had.
Wow, isn’t this a thing of beauty? You can see that this pop is chock full of pistachios and cardamom. Based on her recommendation, we opted for the mango. All of these also included my favorite nut, pistachios. She then gave me a choice of three kulfi sub-flavors: mango, coconut, and rosewater. She explained it as a food that is original to India, and that their kulfi uses cardamom. Here’s a Wikipedia article I’ve since found on the topic. We walked up to the counter to order, and were greeted by a very sweet woman who I later learned was one of the owners. Here’s the outside: very cheerful with a great logo. So back to that moment in the car – we re-routed ourselves to Urban Pops. I would certainly be willing to try a new popsicle place for any of the other more ordinary flavors, but saffron moved this place to the very top of our list. So I perused a menu someone had posted… chocolate, cookies and cream, saffron….
But Urban Pops? We immediately wondered how different it would be from the rest. We’ve written about Steel City Pops and Lichita’s before, which we love. And somehow, on one of my Yelp searches, Urban Pops came up. About a month ago, I became obsessed with looking for homemade ice cream, since we have so little of it in this town. We were just 3 minutes away from a place that has been on our must-try list for a month or so: Urban Pops.Īs y’all know, I’m always trolling Yelp for new places. It was still a lot of fun.Īs we were heading past the Galleria on the way home, Mr. we only blog positively so we just consider meals like that sunk costs. As often happens in this world of anonymous food blogging, the restaurant was just ok, in our opinions. Foodie and I were able convince our friend Michelle of Eugene’s Hot Chicken and Miss Dots post fame to come along (OK, it didn’t take much convincing). Yesterday, we got a hot tip about a restaurant waaaaaaaaaay out in the Burbs.