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Glacier de Crumble & Flake ready to fill Capitol Hill’s need for ‘ice cream every day’

There are silver linings to this COVID-19 cloud settled across the small business communities of Capitol Hill — buttery, silky smooth silver linings.

Tiny but hugely delicious E Olive Way pastry shop Crumble & Flake has added online ordering and is sticking to its summer plans despite the restrictions to add what is likely to be a popular new offering: Glacier de Crumble & Flake.

“We have it in the shop until we run out pretty much like everything else around here,” Crumble’s Toby Matasar tells CHS about her new small-batch operation to turn out “silky smooth” French ice cream and sorbets.

En quoi c’est français?

“They use butter instead of cream,” Matasar says of her education in Parisian ice cream. “That’s really all you need to say right there.”

The butter base gives the ice cream a smoother consistency and fuller flavors, she said. French atomized sugar also adds to the experience helping to create smoother sorbets with a finer consistency.

Her inaugural batch at Crumble & Flake was Lemon Curd. Passion Fruit Sorbet and Candied Ginger Chip Ice Cream represent more of the future flavor directions for the new project.

Matasar said adding ice cream to Crumble & Flake was already part of her plans for the summer. While she has watched COVID-19 knock many in the industry for a loop, Matasar said she feels lucky that Crumble & Flake’s business model based around a busy kitchen and walk-up counter and not much more didn’t have to go through radical transformation to stay in motion through the crisis. Still, her business has taken a hit and she’s been busy applying for loans and grants.

“I’ve applied for everything,” Matasar said. “We’re still open and the employees are still employed.” She says she still has hope of a forgivable federal loan coming through.

“You gotta. It’s the only way to get through this,” Matasar said.

With years of pastry experience in Seattle, Matasar took over Crumble & Flake in 2017 and kept the small shop on its mission to bake in “small batches with precision and love.”  We talked with Matasar last year as she closed her 12th Ave gluten free bakery Niche.

Looking to add more of her creative abilities to Crumble & Flake’s menu, French ice cream made a good fit — especially in the midst of the stress and anxiety of the COVID-19 era.

“I just need ice cream every day,” Matasar said. “I bet other people feel the same way.”

Now, Crumble & Flake’s pastries and its new 8 oz packs of Glacier offerings are part of the shop’s new online store where you can order for pick-up or Capitol Hill-area delivery. “No buying us out,” Matasar warns.

Crumble & Flake is located at 1500 E Olive Way. It is currently open Wednesdays through Sundays. You can learn more — and order — at crumbleandflake.com.

 

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sam
sam
3 years ago

Great to see how businesses are adapting. After I read this I headed straight to their website and ordered some treats for my weekend :)