Elite Event: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Truck Secret Stop

This event was a nice break from stress in life as it is midterm time for me. What better way to kick back than gourmet ice cream and random painting?
Jeni’s has the most wonderful ice cream. It is different and you can tell that thought was really put into creating these mixes. I tried the salted carmel, vanilla, chocolate and the sweet potato+marshmallow mix. Interestingly enough the flavors you’d think are the plainest were the ones that tasted the best, the vanilla and chocolate. Especially when they are mixed together.
My boyfriend and I painted random creations that will be part of an Art Bombing at Chastain part. Makes me feel good to know that I am participating in something that will raise the awareness of art in atlanta.
Thanks Ben and it was so nice to meet you!
#Yelp100

This event was awesome — delicious and creative. Jeni’s ice cream was honestly amazingly fresh, clean, and good, and not just because it was free. I heard several people around me say, «this is the best vanilla I’ve ever had.» Vanilla. Plain vanilla was good. Shocking! Sweet potato & torched marshmallow was my fave but I’m not really a vanilla kinda girl… even if I look like it ;)
After some ice cream I dove into a canvas with my much more creative boyfriend and participated in some pre– «canvas bombing» fun. I love when I’m given the chance to be creative… and fill up on sweet sweet ice cream. It was a good time.

What a fun event!
I came expecting to have a few bites of some amazing ice cream but there was so much more! First off, the ice cream by Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is indeed amazing. so so so good, words couldn’t do it justice. The staff was super friendly, they let us sample all the flavors before we made our final decision. My two favorites are the Salty Caramel and the Sweet Potato and Torched Marshmallow, the Salty Caramel is hands down the best salted caramel ice cream I’ve ever tried, and I was a little hesitant to try the Sweet Potato flavor but it’s delicious — there are actual chunks of marshmallow! The chocolate and vanilla flavors are also lovely traditional standbys. Jeni’s is poised to open their Atlanta location in the Westside Provisions District next week and I for one cannot wait, I’m sure I’ll be a regular in no time.
What I didn’t expect was the «art bomb». After we got out ice cream, we were invited inside the AFFPS (Atlanta Foundation For Public Spaces). Ben explained that they were doing an art bomb project, where we would paint something — anything we wanted, how many canvases we wanted — even leave a message on the back — for people to find (and keep) at Chastain Park for their arts fest — so. cool.
The staff at AFFPS were all so great. They provided us with such quality supplies: 8×10 canvases, acrylic and oil paints, paintbrushes, pencils, and such sweet encouragement for someone as art challenged as I.
Thank you so much to Ben for putting together such a fantastic event and to the staff at Jeni’s and AFFPS for being so wonderful and helpful!

Oh my god, that Salty Caramel and the Sweet Potato & Torched Marshmallow. All the other flavors are delicious as well, classics made with simple good ingredients, but the ones I mentioned were undoubtedly the stars. The two ladies who served us were awesomely nice, even when I asked for samples and scoops of err’thang.
I apparently didn’t read the whole email ’cause the funnest part of the night was being handed a paintbrush (ok fine I hoarded 2 of them), some paints, and unlimited blank canvases to paint whatever I wanted for an art-​bombing. I’ve never felt so creatively free, but at the same time so inadequate because the lovely staff at AFFPS’s pieces were so pretty :(. But it was a great time, and it was fun to see that us ATL Unilocalers are artsy people!
Thanks so much Ben, Jeni’s and AFFPS for putting on such a fun and spontaneous event!
PS. It was fun even with the inclement weather, and that’s saying something: P

I mean, really, can you go wrong with all-​you-​can-​eat ice cream? And super premium ice cream at that? When the first thing that greets you is an ice cream truck scooping up all the goodness you care to consume, you know it’s going to be a good night. And consume I did, sampling the dark chocolate, salty caramel, and sweet potato flavors. Daniel B’s review makes me wish I had tried the vanilla (I’m not usually a vanilla kind of girl), but I guess that just means I have an excuse to make it to their storefront sometime soon. Add in the fun «art bomb» project, and it was a great night.
The only thing that was missing? Name tags! Even with six+ years of Atlanta eliteness under my belt, I don’t know *everyone* and couldn’t tell (beyond the familiar faces) who was there because of Unilocal,and who had come because the event was cross-​posted across several social media platforms as free/​open by the vendors/​hosts without any mention of Unilocal.
All in all, a fun, chill, relaxing elite event, and a great teaser to make it out to Jeni’s sometime real soon. Like, the moment they open. I need my sweet potato fix.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is considered by many to be the best ice cream in America. An Atlanta location is opening on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at the Westside Provisions District. Thanks to new Unilocal Atlanta ITP CM Ben G. for letting Elites know about a «secret,» pop-​up, ice cream truck stop Jeni’s set up last night near Piedmont Park. We indulged in several complimentary scoops of multiple flavors before the store’s grand opening next week.
Coincidentally, Kotaku (a video game blog I regularly read) posted a nicely written review of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams on Monday. Yes, a video game blog with posts about food. Kotaku’s series of food-​related blog posts is known as «Snacktaku.» The author of the blog post ordered the ice cream and had it shipped on dry ice from Jeni’s HQ in Columbus, Ohio. You can see the full review with video here:
. Long story short, we’re lucky Jeni’s is opening a location here in Atlanta.
Last night, Jeni’s ice cream truck offered the following flavors:
Salty Caramel
Dark Chocolate
N’Dali Estate Vanilla
Sweet Potato and Torched Marshmallow
I tried all the flavors. This stuff is high quality, gourmet ice cream — rich, smooth, creamy, and incredibly flavorful. I can see why so many people love it. The vanilla ice cream is made from vanilla beans imported from the N’Dali Estate in Uganda. I think these particular vanilla beans are supposed to have more flavor than the vanilla beans typically used. The sweet potato and torched marshmallow was certainly an interesting and unique flavor, which also was surprisingly very good. Among the four flavors, my favorite was the vanilla.
The truck set up shop in front of the Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces (AFFPS). The foundation office was open and the folks there invited us inside to take part in an «art bomb» project. We each painted anything we wanted on 8×10 canvases. Our artwork would then be given away for free to the public at various undisclosed locations throughout Atlanta. The art bombing is a type of guerrilla marketing campaign the AFFPS is doing to promote November’s Chastain Park Arts Festival.
It’s funny this painting activity coincided with the ice cream truck event because Heidi just had a Unilocal Atlanta OTP event at Pinot’s Palette in Johns Creek on Monday night (
) where we also painted. Two Unilocal-​related painting events in one week.
If you missed out on the free ice cream last night, Jeni’s is giving away free scoops of ice cream again at the store’s grand opening next Wednesday from 7pm to 10pm.
Thank you, Ben, Jeni’s, and the AFFPS. The ice cream was delicious and I look forward to seeing our artwork around town.

Mmmmm … I’m in love with their Salted Caramel! I think it might be the best salted caramel ice cream I’ve ever had. It started with a sample and right away I knew the sample wasn’t enough :) They also brought three other flavors which were also good — Sweet Potato & Torched Marshmallows, Ndali Estate Vanilla Bean, and Dark Chocolate. But I want to buy a pint of the Salted Caramel — looking forward to their store opening, and can’t wait to try all their amazing flavors:
. Thanks to Ben G for scoring a sneak preview for us, and welcome to Atlanta, Jeni’s!
The other unexpected fun activity this evening was the Art Bomb project, sponsored by the Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces. We got to paint our own canvases which will be distributed to random places around the city, and whoever finds these canvases gets to keep them. They also function as invitations to the Art Bombing at Chastain Park. So clever! Except I feel sorry for the person who finds my «modern» art :)
Thanks again to Ben G, Jeni’s, and AFFPS!