I am as influenced by instagram as the next person. So it’s not a surprise that when I saw Noble Folk pop up on a food blogger’s Facebook feed, I knew had to go. But I had delayed my visit to Noble Folk for so long, because it’s located in a part of Bay Area that I rarely visit. Mostly because I don’t drink. So vineyards in Napa and Sonoma?
As life happens, I became very aware of my flexible “free” time was declining in short order by a decision to take a full-time role to, as I have described to writer friends, “close the income gap”. So in short order, suddenly of all dates, on Fourth of July, I grabbed the significant order and we went up north to Healdsburg.
The sun was strong, but not as strong as in Las Vegas the previous week. We swung into an open parking spot and walked through the town square. The morning Fourth of July activities were just ending—a rubber ducky race, a live band, and more. Residents sprawled across the park with picnic blankets, lawn chairs and they scurried to add more to the fray to seemingly reserve for a late afternoon gathering. I wondered if some were annoyed with the lack of full parties present, especially for the carefully laid out tables with placemats and waving American flags.
Then it was Noble Folk. Like many contemporary shops, the rustic wood screamed “locally made”. With an abundance of ice cream flavors, even the “odd” ones seem appropriate for the California shop like cornflake maple. The line wasn’t out the door yet, but the shop was bustling.
Homemade pie has always beckoned me. My usual spot is in San Francisco at Mission Pie and I couldn’t resist when I saw the possibilities of sliced pie. Immediately landing on fruit pies, particularly the strawberry blueberry ginger, now the only decisions to make was the ice cream flavor.
Especially since the pie a la mode was a good deal.
So we tried the various ice cream flavors. I wanted a single flavor. To fully complement the pie rather than trying to halve a single scoop. We landed on the almond matcha flavor which elevated the almonds (“like horchata”, Chris said) and the matcha (a nice grounding flavor that leveled the almonds).
And of course, that nice color complement of green and pie colors of magenta/blue/golden pie crust.
Noble Folk Ice Cream & Pie Bar
Website
Ice cream and pie shop in Sonoma County using local ingredients made by local folk
Address: 116 Matheson Street, Healdsburg, California 95448
Hours: Open everyday · 12 PM – 9 PM
Phone: (707) 395-4426