Mashti Malone’s Ice Cream, Hollywood

Mashti Malone’s ice cream in Hollywood during a gourmet tour of Hollywood last September. I have to say we’ve found it hard to stay away ever since! The ice cream shop is run by two brothers from Iran and serves classic flavors as well as more unique ones like Rosewater Sorbet and Cucumber Ice cream that are a refreshing, less sweet contrast to some other commercial brand tastes like Ben&Jerry’s or Häagen-Dazs.

Who is Mashti Malone?

The rather small and plain shop tucked away in a nondescript mini-mall in Hollywood, Mashti Malone’s Ice Cream at 1525 North La Brea Avenue, owes its moniker to the fact that the owner Mashti, did not have enough money to remove the previous owner’s name Malone, and just added his own to the existing sign . The name adds to the novelty and the sparse 1960’s style décor doesn’t seem to deter clients who focus on the icy treats that are on offer.  

The venue

The day we last visited we lucked out and pretty much had the place to ourselves. We enjoyed the full attention of the friendly staff that let us sample multiple flavors before deciding on the one we wanted to buy. Since this place is popular with the locals during the late afternoons and evenings, visiting during the day is better especially for families with kids that don’t wish to wait long in line. I was told that Mashti’s tends to get busy in the evenings when people wander there from nearby Hollywood eateries to get dessert after dinner.

The Masti ice cream

Mashti’s offers an impressive assortment of ice creams and sorbets that according to their website contains no preservatives, eggs, refined sugar, corn syrup, trans fats or artificial colors or flavoring. Of course, for less gastronomically adventurous clients there are the usual chocolate, vanilla, and fruit sorbets to choose from, but Mashti’s forte is their Middle Eastern selection. They feature unique flavors like Saffron Rosewater, Ginger Rosewater, Orange Blossom, Lavender, Ice Tea and  Cucumber. There is Green Tea, Lavender, Turkish coffee and more. All the samples we tasted were creamy, not too icy and what was best is that they are not overly sweet but rich in texture, quite unlike American commercial brand ice creams. It is a cultural experience in Persian desserts. Our son, Jeff, enjoyed the Saffron Rosewater made with creamy distilled rose water blended with pistachios and herbal snow (Faloodeh). He had a blast customizing his ice cream with a generous portion of the lemon or raspberry/ pomegranate syrup they put out on the entrance table. I settled on a “Mashti” – a scoop of ice cream between two wafer discs. It was a very generous portion and relatively reasonably priced for such a delicious summer treat. Since last summer, we have meant to venture back into Hollywood for more, but the occasion has proved elusive. We were about to despair when we discovered that some selections of Mashti’s ice cream are now available in more than 200 restaurants and whole food stores in and around the LA area!! What a treat!

Autism travel tips

Avoid peak hours so your child can get multiple samples and have time to choose the tastes he/she likes most without pressure. [mappress mapid=”76″]]]>