Ice Cream Sandwiches ISO Judges

Thank you for your patience. The Ice Cream Sandwich Throwdown between Albany and Saratoga is ready to go.

The Saratoga Idiots challenged regional restaurants. A few brave chefs picked up the gauntlet. Readers of IBI and the FLB have narrowed down the field to two contenders in Albany and two in Saratoga. A route has been selected. Timing has been locked down. Scoresheets have been printed.*

All that’s left is to assemble a panel of passionate food lovers who are ready to sample four of the most promising ice cream sandwiches the region has to offer. Today, I’m recruiting for Team Albany. If you feel like you are a better fit for Team Saratoga, you need to get over to IBI pronto.

Because today we are finally releasing the very limited number of tickets to Saturday’s big dance.

First, let’s go through the event one last time. After all, this isn’t just about fun and games. We are looking to determine which city was able to answer The Idiot’s call and come up with a kick-ass, interesting, and inexpensive ice cream sandwich.

At 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 25 we will begin the day at Comfort Kitchen. Be advised, this is Travers Day, and Saratoga is expected to be packed. Plan for traffic. Plan to come early. Because you don’t want to be late. We’ve got a lot of eating to do, and we will be starting on time.

Thankfully, we will be able to walk to Wheatfields to try their ice cream sandwich, and hopefully that little bit of exercise will be good for the digestion.

With any luck we’ll pull out of town around noon so we can make the drive down the Northway to Creo, which is conveniently waiting at the road’s end. Just like in prior tours, everyone is responsible for their own transportation. The goal is Creo by 1p.m. After the drive, you should be hungry to eat again.

Then it’s off in the cars again to head across town to The City Beer Hall. What’s nice about The City Beer Hall is that the ice cream sandwich is on their regular menu, and it’s a really casual place. For those who are unable to snag a ticket, joining up with the judges at the end of the tour and enjoying an ice cream sandwiches as we tally up the scores might not be a bad consolation prize.

Hollie has even been so kind as to suggest a beer pairing.

So getting a ticket may not be that easy. The participating restaurants said they could accommodate serving 24 ice cream sandwiches to our roving mob of judges. That’s only 12 tickets per team, and the Idiots along with myself will need to draw from that pool of tickets as well.

The upside?

Each ticket holder can bring one guest to help them devour the sandwiches. We don’t want anyone getting sick. But in tight quarters where seating may be limited, guests may be asked to stand behind the judges. We will make every effort to treat guests well. We will even distribute provisional ballots to them which may end up making it into the final count.

This event, by the way, is not for profit. The ticket price reflects solely the price of the ice cream sandwiches, tax, gratuity and a processing fee from Brown Paper Tickets.

Well, I guess the restaurants will profit from the event. BPT will make a few bucks off all of us too. But let me tell you, their service is outstanding. For a couple dollars per ticket, it allows us to take credit cards, not have to deal with cash, not have to deal with making change, not have to deal with keeping track of who paid, and provides the restaurants with an accurate count of how much food to prepare without leaving me on the hook financially should someone fail to show up.

That last part implies that there are no refunds. Please, please, please make sure you can come if you buy a ticket. Even if you don’t personally care about the financial loss of walking away from the purchase price of the ticket, by not showing up you are preventing someone else who wants to come from attending.

Given the limited supply, nobody can purchase more than two tickets to the throwdown.

I really do wish everyone who wanted to could come along on this thing. But as I mentioned recently, the Third Annual Tour de Cider Donut will be upon us soon enough. And that can be just as big as all get out.

I think that’s everything except for the link to buy your tickets.
Here it is.

Again, those looking to join Team Saratoga should look for your ticket info here.

* Well, not quite, but we know what they are going to say.