Bloody Mary Ice Cream Waffle Sandwich: Miss Shirley’s masterful July dessert [classic article]

For the next few months, Miss Shirley’s — whose flagship location is in Baltimore — is doing some savory, crazy conceptual ice cream sandwiches. It’s totally cool! They put the fun back into going out for dessert. I was glad to be hosted to experience it.

This month is a dessert inspired by their super-famous Signature Bloody Mary. The Charmery, nearby Hampden’s localvore ice cream shop, combined Miss Shirley’s Longbranch Bloody Mary Zinger with Pure Vanilla ice cream. The Charmery’s ice cream is very rich. The ice cream is sandwiched between Old Bay mini waffles, with crispy jalapeno smoked bacon, garnished with pickled okra, peppadew, stuffed green olive and celery stalk.

So, what’s it like? It’s sweet and savory at the same time. The ice cream part isn’t spicy, but has a kick of salt. The bacon’s spicy, though! Old Bay dusting the plate and in the waffles is light enough not to take over the dish. The okra works, really! You know how okra is mild, but has that . . . texture? Well, ice cream cuts through that and the mutual rich qualities enhance each other. The peppadew works with the flavors, amplifying the sweet heat a register. Stuffed green olive adds a little counterpoint of acid, but the pimento part works like the peppadew. I wasn’t sold on how the celery flavor fit in, but it sure looked cute as hell.