I spent two decades of my life living in the Bay Area. Some things about San Francisco have charm, like Emperor Norton, parking tickets, or their island prison, but the only thing I particularly miss is the ice cream sandwiches. The It's-It is genuinely magical. The chocolate is perfect. The cookies are even better than that, and regardless of which flavor of ice cream is your favorite (I love the coffee and the vanilla, but find the strawberry strange with the cookie), the combination is so delicious most people have a hard time eating just one.
"When somebody takes a bite of It's-It, and they've never had it, the first words you hear are, 'Oh, I love it! I love the taste.' So there's nothing to improve on it," Shamieh said. "We make our own cookies, we process our own ice cream and we have the chocolate formulated from our own recipe — it's a winning combination. If there is no need for improvement, why would you want to do it?"
As for the reason why the It's-It tastes so fresh, Shamieh told SFGATE that the foundation of this classic frozen treat is baked daily by the thousands from the Family Cookie Company in Suisun. It's a company owned by the Shamieh family — and it's been that way since 1977."By the time they make the cookies, they're shipping it to us within a week, and within two to three days, it becomes an ice cream sandwich and it's frozen," Shamieh said.
As a result, the handheld desserts need no preservatives.
"The quality, the natural product is the secret to It's-It," he added.
I have a hatred of supermarkets. I find them soulless, fluorescent-lit pits of hell, wherein some cardboard cut out of a Nascar driver is smiling about pre-packaged donuts, and no one ever has precisely what you are looking for. Minor regional differences and repackaged brands, ala Hellman's and Best Foods, exist to mindfuck me into a deep depression. It's-Its, however, are It's-Its and were available in my Bay area market in 3-4 flavors. Many times I would enter the market looking for one thing and leave with a 3 or 12-pack of It's-It instead. You can just eat two or more It's-It for any meal or several meals in a row, no one will stop you.
Anyways, the ice cream sandwiches are really good.
