Just in time for the steamy days of summer, Valley Swirl, a chalav yisrael ice cream shop, has opened in Pico-Robertson. Located at Pico and Beverly Boulevards, this shop offers soft serve, scoops, milkshakes, boba, coffee and ice cream pies. Customers can get toppings like rainbow and chocolate sprinkles, Oreo and graham cracker crumble, peanut bits and whipped cream, and have their ice cream in a cup or a cinnamon dusted waffle cone.
Valley Swirl started out in at a kiosk inside the kosher supermarket Cambridge Farms in Valley Village. It then expanded to a location on La Brea Boulevard and the newest outpost on Pico, as well an ice cream truck that travels to Jewish communities in the L.A. basin and the Valley.
Owner Jacob Goldstein, who grew up in Pico, has always worked in food – his first job was at Jeff’s Gourmet Sausage Factory, located just minutes from the newest Valley Swirl. Along with owning the shop, he also runs Chillbachi, a kosher rolled ice cream catering company that operates in L.A., New York and Miami.
“I decided to work with ice cream because it was something I felt I could do without too many technical skills,” Goldstein said. “All you have to know is how to scoop ice cream.”
Ice cream shops usually have kosher op-tions, but few offer chalav yisrael, which is a stricter level of dairy kashrut.
Ice cream shops usually have kosher options, but few offer chalav yisrael, which is a stricter level of dairy kashrut.
“Valley Swirl really does open up options for people eating chalav yisrael,” said Goldstein. “They can enjoy the ice cream and treats in a more exciting way. Everyone can create their own flavors and have fun while they’re eating.”
Valley Swirl is also introducing customers who have always kept kosher to boba, a bubble tea with chewy tapioca pearls at the bottom. Like chalav yisrael ice cream, it’s hard to find boba in kosher establishments.
“The funniest conversation I have is when people ask what boba is,” Goldstein said. “I try to explain it, but it always sounds worse and worse. But then they love it.”
The Pico location, which is a large stand along with a seating area, has space for 30 people to sit outside and eat. It looks modern and features a trendy pink, blue and purple color scheme.
“We really wanted to have a cool environment where you can sit around and relax and have fun with your friends,” said Goldstein.
The shop is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays and weekdays – aside from Fridays, when it closes early for Shabbat – and then reopens after Shabbat ends, closing at 1 a.m. This was important to Goldstein, who would never have anything to do on a Saturday night when he was growing up.
“Saturday nights were always so boring,” he said. “It’s exciting that my little brother and sister and their friends in high school are coming and having a good time. That’s what was always missing in the hood.”
Soon, Goldstein plans to have a dedicated vegan soft serve machine so that people who want plant-based ice cream, or who want to come to Valley Swirl after eating meat, can enjoy it as well. Right now, all the equipment is dairy, not parve.
Though the Pico location just opened, Goldstein is already receiving positive feedback and feeling the love from the community.
“Business has been unbelievable,” he said. “The support has been great. People are coming back over and over again.”
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