Thanks for checking out Good Taste, your weekly peek into Bay Area food fun! This week, we’ll help you get through the death of the Choco Taco with local ice cream tacos that ultimately embarrass the mass marketed product.
After 38 years on the market, Klondike has discontinued the Choco Taco, a frozen novelty consisting of a taco shell-shaped chocolate wafer-cone filled with vanilla fudge swirl and coated in chocolate and peanuts. According to a statement on the Klondike website, “Over the past 2 years, we have experienced an unprecedented spike in demand across our portfolio and have had to make very tough decisions to ensure availability of our full portfolio nationwide. A necessary but unfortunate part of this process is that we sometimes must discontinue products, even a beloved item like Choco Taco. We know this may be very disappointing.”
While the Bay Area has tended to favor the Burlingame-made It’s-Its ice cream sandwiches over the Choco Taco, it’s also true that people want what they think they can’t have. So there’s likely going to be some sad feelings this week as the last remaining Choco Taco specimens get snapped up from liquor store freezers. Don’t worry, though—we’re here to introduce you to some frankly better local alternatives.
CREAM, which has nine Bay Area locations (including two in San Francisco), offers the option to create a custom ice cream taco with three scoops of ice cream, toppings, and sauces. It’s been a while since I had one, but flavor combos that I think would be awesome are churro/mocha almond fudge/Cup of Joe and rocky road/very berry strawberry/salted caramel.
Rocko’s Ice Cream Tacos has a shop in Santa Clara and a truck that frequently appears at Off The Grid Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. After you pick your flavor(s), the ice cream tacos are dipped in milk, dark, or white chocolate or peanut butter and then flash frozen in liquid nitrogen. If you don’t want to create your own, there are pre-set combos such as Sugar Daddy (strawberry ice cream, dark chocolate dip, and coconut), Buttercup (pb caramel ice cream, milk chocolate, and pretzels), and Grimm Reaper (choco fudge chip ice cream, dark chocolate, and cacao nibs) to consider. Rocko’s will also be at Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park from Aug. 5-7.
Loard’s, a 72-year-old ice cream parlor in Oakland, also offers ice cream taco bowls. You can order two or three scoops of ice cream with the corresponding amount of toppings and sauce. The flavor menu includes classics such as burgundy cherry and butter brickle alongside newer options like ube and cinnamon toast cereal.
Keep an eye out for the possibility of more ice cream tacos around here coming soon. I know I’m looking forward to seeing what chefs in ice cream parlors, trucks, and restaurants come up with to satisfy the Choco Taco craving in the near future.
See more treats at Tamara’s site California Eating.
