The thing I love about colleges is that every college has its own legendary snackery/bakery/eatery – the place incoming freshmen look forward to visiting for the quintessential (fill in name of college) experience.  UCLA has Diddy Riese, USC students think they have Diddy Riese, Princeton has Small World Coffee, Harvard has the Cambridge Ice-Cream Triumverate, Loyola Marymount has LAX (the airport), and LACC has Scoops. 

Scoops is the ice-cream boutique located off busy Melrose, home to a tantalizing array of ice-creams, gelatos, dairy free ice-creams, and vegan ice-creams, in almost every combination you could want.  Scoops is small and inconspicuous, easily missed unless you know what you are looking for.  I’ve driven past it too many times to count before I realized it was even there!  And I’ve actually been there more times when it was closed than when it was actually open – they are not open late nights and only open for 4 hours on Sundays.

Scoops has a very wide and imaginative array of ice-cream flavors.  This is probably one of the very few places where you can find ice-cream flavors like Blueberry Apricot Brandt, Fois Gras and Sweet Cream, or Vegan Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar.  And they let you sample any and every flavor you want!  Not only do they have ice-creams, sorbets, and gelatos, they also have a nice selection of dairy-free ice-creams, and vegan ice-creams! Definitely the best selection and best vegan and soy ice-creams I have ever had (although my experience is limited to Trader Joe’s).

The interior of Scoops is small and sweet, with ‘Scoops’ spoons hanging from the ceiling and bright red tables and chairs.  There is also a comfy “Loner” corner with one lone sofa hidden by the window. 

And you definitely get your money’s worth at Scoops.  A single scoop at $2.75 is actually two full scoops of ice-cream – so make sure you get at least two different flavors to take advantage of all their unique flavors!  There is also a free toppings bar, with chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, and chopped nuts!

Flavors randomly change by the day and by the time.  Make sure to go early in the day for the best selection of flavors or call ahead to see what they have at the moment.  Once a flavor is gone, it is replaced by a different flavor.

They let me sample every flavor – there are 16 flavors at any given time!  I’m only mentioning the ones that stood out to me here:

Brown Bread: Scoops’ legendary and most popular flavor – I didn’t know what to expect, but I’d heard so many gushing raves about it I was expecting something crazy.  Its basically sweet cream/vanilla ice-cream with a brown and white sugar Grape Nuts mixture on top.  Great combination!  I can see why everyone loves this flavor – its very basic (compared to their other flavors) and sweetly satisfying.

Oreo Cheesecake (vegan option and non-vegan option): Chocolate cookies in cheesecake ice-cream!  I love their ‘Oreo’ cookies – super cakey, as if they used chocolate cake instead of chocolate wafer cookies (which maybe they did).

Pistachio: Yummy! Pistachio ice-cream is one of my all-time favorite sweets.  This one was great, but Rite Aid’s classic pistachio ice-cream is still my favorite!

Pistachio Honey: Sweeter version of the pistachio ice-cream – a lot less pistachio flavor.

Lavender Honey: Sweet honey ice-cream, yum!

Bailey’s Irish Cream: I love how the Bailey’s Irish Cream came across strong in this ice-cream.  Other Bailey’s Irish Cream ice-creams just tend to have a hint of Irish Cream.

Chocolate Guiness: strong, like the Bailey’s. Love it!

Earl Grey Tea: surprisingly sweet and bitter, like Earl Grey Tea

Salted White Chocolate: I thought this would be good, like Salted Caramel – not true.  Couldn’t finish my sample.  Not for the faint of heart.

Vegan Chocolate Coconut: Great chocolate taste, not so much coconut taste.

My friend and I ended up devouring a generous single scoop of Brown Bread and Oreo Cheesecake each… and wanted to go back for more. 

 Scoops

712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 906-2649