Review: Penguin Brothers delivers surefire ice cream/cookie combos
A mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwich with double fudge cookies at Penguin Brothers in Provo.
Penguin Brothers started as a food truck, and recently opened a brick-and-mortar location in Provo.
Patrons at Penguin Brothers can mix and match different ice cream and cookie combinations or get suggestions from employees.
Some dining reviews require considerable finesse. Perhaps the food was high-concept, or maybe it wasn’t that good and you don’t want an angry restaurant owner visiting the newsroom (yes, that has happened). It’s important to tread carefully sometimes.
This isn’t one of those times.
The Herald recently covered the opening of Penguin Brothers, a Provo ice cream sandwich shop that used to be a food truck. I saw pictures of the sandwiches, with enticing ice cream nestled between two large cookies, and I thought, “Yes, I would like to eat that thing.” So here we are.
Ice cream sandwiches are hard to mess up. Ice cream: good. Cookies: good. Ice cream and cookies combined: yes, also good. This isn’t rocket science, people. Execution matters, but it’s nearly impossible to mess this one up entirely.
Penguin Brothers has five different cookie options and about 12 ice cream flavors. You can mix and match these any way you like. One lemon cookie, one double fudge cookie with birthday cake ice cream? I mean, I guess you could do that. I’m not a dictator. The employees are happy to offer their suggestions, though. And they’ve got good suggestions — at their recommendation we ordered a sandwich with lemon cookies and blueberry lemon thyme ice cream. The ice cream was to die for — 10/10, would eat again.
The shop gets its ice cream flavors from Rockwell Ice Cream Co. in downtown Provo. One of Penguin Brothers’ owners told me they approached Rockwell’s owner and he helped them design their own flavors. The cookies come from The Sweet Tooth Fairy’s Orem shop. Apparently they made their own cookies initially, but decided to leave that one to the experts.
We ordered a number of different combinations, with varying degrees of success. I got the dark chocolate with sea salt ice cream, sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies. This was a handful — the salt melts the ice cream remarkably fast, especially when the two cookies apply pressure. An employee quickly got me a cup, and I enjoyed the rest of it with a spoon. Other combos, such as the French toast ice cream with chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, maintained their shape much better. By the way, shout out to the peanut butter cookies and French toast ice cream. These were dynamite.
Tucked behind the dry cleaners just off Canyon Road and Bulldog, Penguin Brothers can be tricky to find if you’re not prepared. Luckily, the exterior is painted a vibrant pink, with a matching pink food truck parked near one entrance. This helps. The parking is limited, but don’t let your hunger get the best of you — just breathe, be courteous to other drivers and know you’ll get an ice cream sandwich in your mouth very, very soon.
PENGUIN BROTHERS
Where: 1273 N. Canyon Road, Provo (behind the dry cleaners)
Hours: 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday, noon to midnight Saturday, closed Sunday
Prices: $3-$4
Info: Facebook.com/thepenguinbrothers, (925) 858-5527