Chef elevates ice cream and fries

Chef Jeremy Barlow's road to soft serve started more than a decade ago on a road trip with his daughters.

• During a pit stop at a burger joint, he and a buddy convinced the girls to dunk their fries into chocolate ice cream. Barlow thought that nostalgic combo was strong enough to support its own space.

Flash forward: During the pandemic, he put that theory to the test with Fryce Cream in 12 South. It went viral on TikTok and "blew up," Barlow tells Axios. "Now it's a full-time thing."

• "When you dip it in the ice cream, it just makes your palate happy," he says. "It's everything your palate wants. It's cold and hot, creamy and crunchy, salty and sweet."

The intrigue: If you grew up dipping fries in a Frosty, Fryce Cream has you covered with homemade chocolate soft serve and salty fries.

• But Barlow's experience as a fine dining chef (and "Chopped" champion) comes to bear on some of the more unexpected flavors.

Zoom in: The menu includes several ice cream toppings and options for fry seasoning, which Barlow calls “dust.” There is a hot chicken-inspired spice rub that pairs well with chocolate ice cream.

• This fall, you can even get pumpkin spice fries that he calls "otherworldly" when paired with vanilla soft serve topped with apple pie filling.

What he's saying: "We look at fries and soft serve like we're doing super fancy high-end dining. And we combine our stuff with that kind of mentality because that's my background," Barlow says.

• "You can get all the pleasures that you do when you spend 300 bucks on a 10-course tasting with a $10 fry and ice cream."

Be smart: Barlow encourages considering some surprising acidic seasoning options like malt vinegar because they cut through the sweetness of the ice cream and accentuate the deeper flavors.

State of play: Fryce Cream operates out of Barlow’s Insert Chef Here space — and you'll need to act fast if you want to try the combo this fall. He’ll temporarily close the soft serve shop around the holidays to host special events and dinners, but says Fryce Cream will reopen in 2023.

What's next: Barlow says he is quietly looking for a second location.

• "We have grand expansion plans," he says. "We're just head down, making awesome fries and ice cream and steadily working on that package."

💭 Adam's thought bubble: I'm so thankful to reader Ben C. for recommending this spot while Nate was on vacation.