California chain Fosters Freeze, which has locations in Alameda and Berkeley, serves food, but it seems like an afterthought. Everyone knows that ice cream is what they do best--after all, their logo is a cheerful, anthropomorphized soft serve cone named Little Foster. Stalwartly refusing to serve anything local, organic or good for you, what Fosters Freeze does offer is giant portions, low prices, and for adults, a hearty serving of nostalgia (the chain has been around the 1940s). The soft serve is very different than newer, fancier options, with a thin texture and a noticeably large amount of sugar. There’s not a lot of difference in taste between the chocolate and vanilla in a swirl cone: if you shut your eyes you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, and they instead combine into a tooth-achingly sweet homogeneous chocolate vanilla combination.

But oh, then there’s the drip. For a mere 50 cents your cone is upended into a pot of chocolate, emerging with a thin delicate chocolate shell that produces a delightful, delicate crunch. It’s a marvel of engineering that always produces a picture perfect cone.

Yes, Fosters' decor is dated, full of orange plastic booths and yellow chandeliers, and their soft serve might be slightly bitter if you think about it too long. But does it matter? On a recent warm Sunday afternoon, Fosters Freeze is packed: with families arguing over who ate the Reese’s chunks out of a Blizzard, groups of adults discussing a friend’s new play, and tweens waiting outside with their beach cruisers, all happily eating towering cones of soft serve that’s cold, sweet and cheap. And really, on a hot summer day, what more do you need?

Fosters Freeze
630 Central Ave, Alameda [map]
Ph: (510) 521-1242
Hours: Mon-Sun 10:30am-8:30pm
Facebook: Fosters Freeze Alameda
Twitter: @FostersAlameda
Price Range: $ (entrees under $10)

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