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3. Delise Dessert Café: Dennis and Eloise Leung met when both were students at the California Culinary Academy. From the beginning they knew they wanted to run an ice cream shop.
"The economy was so bad," Eloise said. "We used to work at Bong Su together. We did the desserts there. After they closed, we decided to do this."
"This" is a highly sophisticated ice-cream shop in a poor location for it: walking distance from Fisherman's Wharf. The Leungs change their flavors every day. If Dennis could invent only flavors no one else has ever done, he would.
"We try to have at least one Asian flavor at a time," he says. "We also always try to have a coffee flavor, and a tea flavor. We do Earl Grey, Thai Iced Tea. We change it up."
He also does several vegan sorbets every day. We were wowed by his Cantaloupe vegan sorbet: so fresh, pure and accurate, as if the fruit itself were transmuted into sorbet. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we liked his intense Four Barrel White Mocha: we didn't taste the white chocolate, but we love that strong Four Barrel coffee.
Delise's single scoops are the cheapest on our list, at only $2.25, but they're also the smallest. The Leungs, who are quite thin for sweets purveyors, also make a variety of beautiful, tiny cupcakes and other treats.
"We'd rather do quality than quantity," Eloise said. "Some people walk out disappointed by the size, when they come from other parts of the country."
Note to tourists: This is San Francisco. We expect to have our Coconut Pandan vegan sorbet and stay in shape too.
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