Skip to content
2K Shares

Paris is known for its classical ice cream shops, as well as a few Italian-style gelaterias, but until a few years ago, there weren’t any young people forging out on their own, churning up more contemporary flavors of ice cream and sorbet for modern palates. Don’t get me wrong, I love glace au chocolat and glace au caramel beurre salé, but I’m no fuddy-duddy, and happy lap up what the next generation of glaciers are doing in Paris, such as Henri Guittet at Glaces Glazed.

Henri started off as a delivery-only service for his ice creams, which were available by subscription, then expanded to a camion when les food trucks started rolling around the city. (He has a vintage HY Citroën truck that I keep thinking would be fun to ride around with him in, scooping ice cream across Paris together.) But now he has a full-fledged shop on the lively rue de Martyrs, a street that’s become a destination for food-lovers, with pastry shops, waffle makers, and chocolatiers lining both sides of this historic street, that lead up to Montmartre.

Henri is a rock and roller, in addition to being a frozen dessert rock star, and he brings that esprit to his ice cream flavors, which aren’t only creative, but outstanding and brilliantly combined.

We met via e-mail and I’m not sure how. But perhaps I sent him a fan letter? However it happened, we continued to correspond infrequently over the years. I’d always wanted to visit his ice cream lab, but he was working pretty hard to get the business going, and we never seemed to connect. It was when I had a book event in Paris that he provided ice cream when we finally met, and I got a taste of his ice cream. And I loved what he was scooping!

One problem with “unusual flavored” or offbeat ice creams is that I don’t necessarily want a cone of cranberry-clam chip ice cream, or tire-smoked peanut butter with lemon-tuna swirl. I want something that tastes good, and I want to be able to eat a whole cone or bowl of it.

Like Ice & Vice in New York, at Glaces Glazed, every flavor works, which is no small feat. The wasabi and fresh ginger partner perfectly with dark chocolate in Black Sugar Sex Magic, sumac and lime add another dimension of tanginess to the raspberries in Dirty Berry. And Basque piment d’Espelette (dried red chili powder) adds French fire to silky mangoes in Pump Up the Volume.

Henri brings the French sensibility for not overdoing it to his frozen flavors, and his scoops hit the balance just right. The spices are present, but don’t knock you over. The fruit and berry flavors are right on the mark. Basil is used judiciously with lemon and vodka, and a touch of rose perfumes his grapefruit sorbet, to counter the tartness.

Henri also started doing Vacherins Parisiens, jars packed with layers of ice cream and sorbet with crunchy French meringues sandwiched between them. These updates on a classic French dessert are inspired by the twenty arrondissements of Paris, including Cococaine, with coconut and pomelo (not sure which neighborhood that one’s from), Dirty Berry (which may be inspired by the racy neighborhood of Pigalle that’s nearby?), a combo of berries, lime, and sumac, and Voodoo Chile, a banana and curry blend, an homage to the multiculturalism of Paris.

Skimos are short for les esquimaux, the Eskimo pie-style ice cream pops that are dipped in chocolate, which hardens to a crackly coating. Of course, these come in a variety of flavors that include mango-shiso and absinthe-apple.

I was glad to finally meet Henri face-en-face, and we went outside his shop to eat our cones to enjoy the nice weather. In between talking, he took licks of his cone while I polished off mine. As he neared the middle of his cornet, he stopped, looked at it, then at me, and said, “Hey…this is good!” And I’d had to agree.

Glaces Glazed
54, rue de Martyrs (9th)
Tél: 09 81 62 47 06
Métro: Pigalle, Anvers or Saint-George

[Open Tuesday through Friday, 1:30pm to 8:30pm, Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 8:30pm.]

2K Shares

28 comments

    • Taste of France

    I love the names.
    And you’re right–it might be fun to taste something weird, but you don’t want more than a taste. His flavors sound like interesting twists, not outright weird.
    I’m always torn between wanting more of your recipes and reflections on cooking vs. wanting more of your introductions to innovative chefs. A scoop of each?

    • Susan Walter

    Any idea how he’s dealing with the new restrictions on old cars in Paris if he’s still using his HY van? We’ve noticed a number of restaurants and grocery deliveries used old cars and wondered how they were getting on. Everyone expected classic cars to be excluded from the rules, but they weren’t. I know the 2CV tour guys have been converting to electric, but don’t know about others. Since our business uses classic cars, but in the Loire Valley, not Paris, I’m interested. I’ve no doubt the city of Tours will eventually follow Paris in banning old cars.

    • Oonagh

    And he’s hot!

    • Jennifer

    Love some of the flavor combinations he’s come up with. I will definitely cross town to try that Orange Méchanique!

    • Dale

    and he’s gorgeous!

    • june2

    A HOT. ICE CREAM. POET – with flavor genius. wow. Is he married?

    • june2

    Also, love the glaze on those skimo bars, gorgeous!

    • Gayle

    I found myself on the r. des Martyrs last week, and stopped in for a post-lunch glacé. Weather was sunny and 65…perfect for ice cream.

    He deserves all the accolades. It was terrific! And he IS hot…lol.

    • Lindsey

    Awesome feature, D! Love their ice creams (vivement le beau temps!!)

    • Adele

    You’re killin’ me here….Ice Cream is my favorite food group, and Henri’s glaces look and sound fabulous. Must start researching flights to Paris.

    • Kay

    Those kooky flavors you mention in the beginning sound like they’re on the same level as the Tuna Surprise casserole of my youth.

    • Victor @ IFOODBLOGGER.COM

    How he can work there and stay so fit? ;-)

    tire-smoked peanut butter with lemon-tuna swirl – LOL

    I found the article very inspiring. I’ve made a lot of ice-cream at home but never anything our of ordinary. Will definitely try something like that this spring-summer.

    Thanks for the cool post.

    • Freda Cameron

    I’ll be there again in June. Since this is near my neighborhood, I’ll check it out. Thanks!

    • Parisbreakfast

    Love the names too! I had weird at Le Chateaubriand last nite and I’m never doing that again. Too much thinking.

    • Kathleen Mann

    Oh my. Oh my. I will find my way there as soon as I can.

    • Gisella

    Those flavors look very interesting. Every city should have an ice cream shop like this!

    • Penny

    Dear David:

    Very attached to your column and your cookbooks.

    The following words no longer exist;
    “les esquimaux, the Eskimo pie-style”. The Inuit people of Canada and the United States no longer refer to themselves this way and probably never did.

    Thanks.

      • Tom

      Nevertheless, Penny, a chocolate-covered ice-cream bar with the trademarked name “Eskimo Pie” has been for sale in a number of countries for coming up a hundred years. Many of Henri’s customers would be familiar with them, and would appreciate his spin on the name.

      • Albert Premier

      The Inuit People of Canada & the former USSR never referred to themselves as Eskimo’s. According to the latest scientific insights the word comes from one of the Native American languages. Wich one is currently under debate.

    • kelleyn rothaermel

    I would buy his ice cream just so I could take a peak at him every day! He is yummy! On a more serious note though his ice cream looks fantastic and I like unusual flavors though a harder sell on my children, so his ice cream may be for a grownups night out.

      • Jill

      Kelleyn, I was thinking the same way! Sounds like a sexy way to end an adult evening – Henri’s delicate frozen treats. Oh my.

    • sundevilpeg

    The names are hilarious – not unlike the kooky names that OPI uses for its nail polishes. There could be crossover – “Be There in a Prosecco,” “Amore at the Grand Canal,” and “Aphrodite’s Pink Nightie” would all work nicely as sorbets or glaces!

    • portia

    I went last night. The ice cream is delicious. The server said that because of this article the store was crowded with Americans all day.

    • Beth

    David – thanks for this post and the introduction to what appears to be a worthwhile destination for leas glaces.

    For what it’s worth, we all swoon over your photo too :)

    • tim

    Ok is it only me, why are all the cool names in english? Shouldn’t it be in french?

    • Yael

    Sure, that fellow is hot and who doesn’t want ice cream with sumac? but I just bought your book, The Perfect Scoop, and made the toasted coconut ice cream. It was possibly the best thing I have ever eaten and do not plan to leave my house until I’ve tried all of your flavors. :-)

    • dom

    Too bad the cookbook isn’t in English as well…

A

Get David's newsletter sent right to your Inbox!

15987

Sign up for my newsletter and get my FREE guidebook to the best bakeries and pastry shops in Paris...