The Thousands

Late last year our friends from Pat and Stick, invited us to tour their ice-cream sandwich making facility in Tempe. Ice-cream sammiches! Of course we gathered a crack team for the excursion, then made Willy Wonka-references, mooting who would display Veruca Salt tendencies, and who would be Mike Teavee. Turns out we were all Augustus Gloop.

OK, so we thought we were getting the royal treatment, but the little factory is actually open to the public. Plus, everything is available for wholesale purchase with no minimum order, which is even better once you realise that Pat and Stick share the space with Pepe Saya who make cultured butter and homemade desserts.

Well, we did get the royal treatment. We got to taste EVERYTHING. Highlights included the espresso lace ice-cream sandwich (which we saw being handmade), eating wedges of the butter on bread like it was cheese, and taste-testing a new product – a raspberry panna cotta. They asked for our feedback, then nodded and wrote our answers down. We all found that it’s important when doing this kind of product testing, that every time you are asked a question, to take another spoonful, just to be sure.

We all got a stick of Pepe Saya’s butter to take home and tried to out-do each other with what we cooked with it. Alex won. He cooked BACON IN THE BUTTER.

Next time you make the Ikea pilgrimage, a block away, load up on iced confections too. Official hours are 9 to 5, but if they’re there and producing, then they’re happy for you to see, try and buy. And we encourage you to TRY IT ALL. They know the way to our wallets is through our stomachs.