Exclusive $23 pints from Henry’s Secret Ice Cream…
This ice cream often sells out in minutes, in restricted drops every week — just just like the exclusive streetwear merchandise at Supreme.
I visited Henry’s Secret Ice Cream in West Hollywood on drop day: Wednesday at 12 p.m. About 1,000 pints of Chef Brad’s mint chip and mocha almond ripple had been bought for $21–22 each, within 5 minutes.
Bradley Ray scoops mocha almond ripple ice cream at Henry’s Secret Ice Cream on Aug. 26. William Liang for CA Post
Mocha almond ripple is one of Henry’s latest ice lotions. William Liang for CA Post
Each week, Henry’s sells around 2,000 pints of ice cream, priced between $18–23.
And while it’s costly for ice cream, it’s low-cost in contrast to the everyday product coveted by hypebeasts.
In Los Angeles, a market saturated with impartial artisanal frozen dessert manufacturers, Henry’s Secret Ice Cream has managed to cut through the noise with its premium contemporary ingredients, Chef Bradley Ray’s fantastic eating culinary background and its rollout strategy impressed by hypebeast tradition.
Customers decide up at Henry’s Secret Ice Cream. Henry’s Secret Ice Cream
Finished pints at Henry’s Secret Ice Cream promote out in minutes. William Liang for CA Post
“When I wrote Brad the strategy for the business, it was like, ‘We should be the Supreme of ice cream, right?’” Henry’s Secret Ice Cream Co-Owner Lawrence Longo said. “So with a brand-new brand, you want to build the audience first, and then you can open up a store when you have the demand, and we didn’t think it was going to happen this fast at this rate.”
The objective is to open brick-and-mortar shops where anybody can get ice cream whenever they need.
Ray was once the pastry sous chef at New York’s Eleven Madison Park, which has three Michelin stars. William Liang for CA Post
But, for now, the staff is small, every part is completed by hand and Instagram feedback are crammed with people lamenting they weren’t ready to nab a pint in time.
With all the hype and the steep price, expectations are working high when it comes to high quality.
And Henry’s Secret Ice Cream delivers.
I attempted seven different flavors, and while I personally wouldn’t pay about $20 for every single one of them, a few actually blew me away. After all, everybody’s palate is different.
California Post reporter Helen Zhao tries a number of flavors. William Liang for CA Post
I ate half a pint of the orange vanilla fro-yo with summer time berries in one sitting; it’s tart and creamy with bursts of tangy taste from the orange zest and berry swirl. (Chef Brad, if you’re studying this, please deliver it back!)
The earl gray with plum and lychee is refined and complicated, with floral and fruity taste notes.
And finally, the espresso with cinnamon and cacao nibs is earthy, wealthy and infused with the refined spice of cinnamon.
The flavors are created utilizing natural ingredients, instead of pre-made extracts and pastes. For instance, fruits are bought at the farmer’s market.
“I’m buying like $3,000 worth of strawberries at a time,” Ray said. “If it’s not the most aromatic and strong-flavored fruit, it won’t shine on the ice cream.”
Or take mint-chocolate chip ice cream for instance.
“We use a 59% chocolate from Cordillera, and we use that because it doesn’t get too waxy when it’s cold, but it still has a nice dark chocolate flavor,” Ray said. “And then for the base, we infuse it with peppermint tea … and we take fresh mint and blanch it and puree it in it to make it green.”
Brad Ray pours a particular combination into an ice cream machine at Henry’s. William Liang for CA Post
Ray’s method to making ice cream comes from his fantastic eating background.
Previously, he was pastry sous chef at Eleven Madison Park in New York, which has three Michelin stars. In LA, he turned identified for his ice cream as chef de delicacies and government pastry chef at Antico Nuovo.
But life took a flip that Ray called “very humbling” — when he turned sober — before he was prepared for a enterprise like Henry’s Secret Ice Cream.
A pair years before, he had acquired a telephone call from restaurant entrepreneur Lawrence Longo — proprietor of Irv’s Burgers, Prince Street Pizza and Bar Next Door — to construct an ice cream model together.
Lawrence Longo (left) and Brad Ray pose in entrance of Henry’s. William Liang for CA Post
Longo’s present ice cream company, Hall Pass, wasn’t doing so effectively, so he called the person behind his favourite ice cream at Antico Nuovo. But Ray didn’t reply the call.
“He ghosted me for almost two years,” Longo recalled.
Ray admitted: “I had a bit of an ego and just, you know, young chef mentality, right? I didn’t think that the projects he had going on had any interest to what I was doing in my career at the time, I guess.”
Later, however, Ray grew past his ego when he was working as a non-public chef and also promoting his selfmade ice cream out of the back of his truck. Each week for three or 4 weeks, Ray would promote out of around 80 pints of a different taste.
“I would meet people at the Vons in Arcadia,” Ray said. “It was like an ice cream drug deal. My Instagram for a while was like, ‘Meet me at the Vons. I’ll be in the black Audi.’”
After that mini enterprise, Ray finally called Longo back.
The exterior of Henry’s Secret Ice Cream. William Liang for CA Post
Henry’s Secret Ice Cream pays tribute to Chef Brad’s late colleague and best pal, Henry, who handed away from cancer in 2022.
“When I think of ice cream, I think of him because when we worked together, that’s something that we were always working on together,” Ray said. “We were always developing different flavors for the menu. I miss him all the time.”
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