Lucky Plum Ice Cream Shoppe. 747 C St., SE.
When pastry chef Rochelle Cooper returned from maternity leave in July to find milk protein powder—instead of the normal milk powder she uses for ice cream—in the shared kitchen of the Duck & The Peach, the Wells, and La Collina, she banished the accidental shipment to the back.
“What the heck is that?” Cooper recalls asking herself.
But then she got to researching. She found that milk protein powder can be used to help stabilize ice cream. With the protein craze in mind, she tinkered with her ice cream base recipe until she got something that boasted around 40 grams of protein per pint without any of the chalkiness and grittiness that often comes with protein supplements.
“I’m not trying to be like ‘protein, everybody gets protein,’” she says. But as someone who downs a daily protein drink for breakfast and who parents a picky eater, she recognizes the value of getting your protein in when you can.
Cooper is now selling protein ice cream—alongside her regular lineup of cold treats—from Lucky Plum Ice Cream Shoppe, which operates out of the shared kitchen of the three establishments. Tuesday through Saturday, ice cream is also available through La Collina’s takeout window. It’s also available for delivery.
Cooper’s first protein ice cream flavor was inspired by childhood memories of her mom allowing her to sometimes eat ice cream for breakfast on the weekends: “Ice Cream for Breakfast,” a rice cereal-flavored ice cream with dark chocolate-and-espresso-covered puffed rice. Then came rainbow sprinkle-speckled “Confetti Pancake” ice cream and “Chocolate Banana Brownie” with black cocoa brownie and caramelized banana. Each “pint” (technically, they’re 24 ounces) costs $18.
While she says the folks at the Orangetheory down the street are excited about her protein offerings, protein is not how Lucky Plum developed a small, but loyal Capitol Hill fan base.
The seeds for the shop were planted in December 2021, during the Omicron wave of Covid when the Duck & The Peach and La Collina had closed their indoor dining. The restaurants instead offered to-go meals, which unfortunately did not translate well to the desserts Cooper had prepared. The restaurants also had cafe offerings before the wave, leaving them with a whole shelf of milk that now had little use.
“What if I take all this milk and all these random dessert things and craft them into artisan ice cream?” thought Cooper. “Worst case scenario, we all eat our feelings if this doesn’t sell.”
Using her technical culinary background–she has worked in restaurants like Range and Minibar, at one point serving as an R&D chef for José Andrés–she created an ice cream base with no heavy cream, soy, gelatin, or eggs. Cooper liked that the shop was sustainable, ensuring the dessert prep she did for the restaurants did not go to waste. Leftover chocolate mousse cakes became her Vanilla Chocolate “Mousse” tracks flavor. Carrot cake became carrot cake ice cream.
The pop-up has continued since the pandemic and recently rebranded as something more permanent: Lucky Plum Ice Cream Shoppe. Cooper estimates that she has sold 3,819 pints of ice cream over the last five years, developing a nice Capitol Hill community around the shop. She now recognizes names and ice cream orders.
“It’s been very ‘if you know, you know’ kind of thing,” Cooper says.
