Birmingham’s Big Spoon Creamery launches chef-inspired ice creams

Birmingham’s Big Spoon Creamery launches chef-inspired ice creams

Birmingham’s Big Spoon Creamery is teaming with some of the top chefs in the Magic City to create a new, chef-inspired ice cream flavor every month.

The “Local Chef Series” debuts with the November flavor-of-the-month, Neapolitan, from James Beard Award-winning chef Frank Stitt of Bottega, Chez Fonfon and Highlands Bar and Grill.

Ryan O’Hara, who co-owns Big Spoon Creamery with his wife, Geri-Martha O’Hara, tells AL.com that the chef-inspired flavors are something they’ve wanted to do for a while.

“We just think it’s a fun way and a creative way to embrace the community we have here,” O’Hara says. “We have such a good food scene here locally, so it’s a way to collaborate and get to have some fun with a lot of people we’re friends with and people whose work we really respect.”

Stitt’s Neapolitan creation will be available through the end of the month at the Avondale and Homewood locations of Big Spoon Creamery, as well as the newest shop in downtown Huntsville.

“Frank is sort of a classic guy, and for he and Pardis (Stitt), both of them, Neapolitan is their favorite (flavor),” O’Hara says. “So, he pitched the idea. We developed it and brought it to him for feedback and his stamp of approval.”

The Neapolitan flavor, which is available by the scoop or in a cone, features Valhrona chocolate, Madagascar vanilla bean and strawberry ice creams.

Here is the schedule for the upcoming months in the “Local Chef Series”:

December: Rob McDaniel, Helen.

January: Adam Evans, Automatic Seafood and Oysters.

February: John Rolen, Slim’s.

March: Brian Somershield, El Barrio.

The flavors for each of those months will be announced later on Big Spoon Creamery’s social media platforms.

The O’Haras, who met while working for Frank and Pardis Stitt at Bottega, launched their small-batch ice cream business at a pop-up event in the driveway of their house in Bluff Park in 2014.

They opened their first brick-and-mortar shop in Avondale in 2017 and a second one in Homewood two years later. They opened their Huntsville location this past June.

This summer, AL.com ranked Big Spoon Creamery No. 1 on its list of the Top 5 Birmingham ice cream shops and No. 2 on its list of the Top 10 Alabama ice cream shops.