:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71182678/38758E77_7301_4743_AA76_9AC1F9254F61.0.jpg)
It was the discontinuation heard around America. The Choco Taco is no more. Long live the Choco Taco. Thanks for the memories.
But a collaboration between Poco Loco Neighborhood Provisions chef and owner Nick Melvin and Butter and Cream ice cream shop is keeping Klondike’s most iconic novelty treat alive in Atlanta for a little while longer.
Melvin says he was as shocked as the rest of the country when the news broke Klondike planned to cease production on the Choco Taco. More so because he had been working for several weeks to produce a take on the waffle cone ice cream treat with local shop Butter and Cream. Earlier this summer, Melvin set up a meeting between Butter and Cream director of operations Henryk Kumar and pastry chef Kimberly Horgan to discuss his spin on the Choco Taco: the Loco Cocoa Taco or LCT.
“Butter and Cream is my favorite ice cream in the city and [Poco Loco] had collaborated with them before to create ice cream sandwiches,” Melvin says. “I wanted to do a spin on the Choco Taco to do something fun and make people happy. We did a tester a few weeks ago and [the LCT] came out a little bigger than we wanted, so they went back and just crushed it with this version.”
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23906379/98AFD6B9_E46E_4BC3_B20B_52031473A50C.jpg)
The LCT sandwiches vanilla and abuelita fudge ice cream into a handmade waffle cone shaped like a taco which is then topped with sesame and rice crunch rather than peanuts and double dipped in the same chocolate.
“We’ve always been a peanut-free kitchen. The Choco Taco is topped with peanuts, but instead, Kimberly made this amazing sesame rice crunch and that along with the subtle baking notes and spice of the Mexican chocolate really just make this.”
For now, the LCT is only available at Poco Loco (and for a limited time.) Melvin says they plan to sell 100 of the collaborative ice cream taco sandwiches at his Kirkwood shop, releasing just 30 of the “lil crunchy vessels” each day.
Thursday’s LCT stash sold out before 10 a.m. Folks still have two more chances to grab an LCT on Friday and Saturday. And while this may be a limited run for the LCT at Poco Loco, Butter and Cream will start carrying the ice cream taco sandwich at both its Old Fourth Ward and Decatur locations very soon.
Poco Loco Neighborhood Provisions, 2233 College Avenue, Atlanta. pocolocoatl.com. Open Thursday - Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Outdoor seating available. Loco Cocoa Taco sandwiches are $8.50 each.
