Popular Lexington ice cream parlor is featured in The New York Times. Here’s why.
Lexington’s Crank & Boom ice cream is featured in a New York Times story about American ice cream shops with international flair.
“While the French and Italians refined ice cream as an art, Americans made it the dessert of the people, building labor-saving machines that drove prices down,” writes Ligaya Mishan. “Now ice cream belongs to everyone. And as its eaters and makers have multiplied, so have its flavors, to match the collage of cultures that define us as a nation.”
Crank & Boom was birthed from Thai Orchid Cafe, a restaurant Toa Green and her family ran in Lexington. As Green told The New York Times, her coconut ice cream, modeled after that sold by street vendors in Thailand, became so popular that people were coming in to order it by itself.
She and her husband, Mike, opened the Crank & Boom Ice Cream Lounge in the Distillery District in 2015. A location was added at The Summit at Fritz Farm in 2017.
While the Greens focus primarily on local ingredients ranging from bourbon to blackberries, Thai-inspired flavors sometimes make appearances on the menu.
The New York Times story features a dozen ice cream shops run by immigrants and their descendants -- from an Iranian family in Los Angeles to a Miami woman whose parents immigrated from Cuba.
Crank & Boom shared the news in a Facebook post with the hashtag #MommaWeMadeIt. The business has also been featured on the Cooking Channel and in People Magazine, Southern Living and more over the years, the post stated.
This story was originally published July 2, 2019 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Popular Lexington ice cream parlor is featured in The New York Times. Here’s why.."
