La King's Confectionery (Galveston) - a trip back in time (dexmat)

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:23:44 GMT

(Not sure what forum to put this in - moderators move it if necessary).

For all the years I’ve been around Houston and the Gulf Coast I was amazed recently to learn of this place. If I had ever noticed it before, and I probably had when on the Strand in Galveston, I would have dismissed it as a tourist trap candy store and that would have been a mistake. La King's is a living history museum of candy, ice cream and coffee. They are the only place left that serves Purity Ice Cream, Texas first ice cream company, started in 1889 in Galveston. They make it in their own building with some of the original equipment and recipes. The serve Duncan coffees, a company dating back to the 1910s, an offshoot of Maxwell House, revived a few years ago by a descendant of the founder after it had been bought out by Coca Cola Foods decades ago and eventually phased out. And their candy store traces its heritage to the 1920s in Houston, again using some old equipment and recipes.

And they have a working, antique soda fountain dating to the 1920s.

I tried the Chocolate Chip ice cream. Their best seller today is said to be Mint Chocolate Chip but I’m not a big mint fan (their biggest seller historically was Butter Pecan). It’s a little richer than Blue Bell, with a little more butterfat, and supposedly always outsold BB on the island. I have to admit I’d probably still go for BB in a side by side test because of the more copious add-ins but it was a treat.

The candy case displays were incredible. I guess I’ve never been in a candy store like this before. I’ve been to places like See’s and Godiva boutiques, but nothing like this that produces such a variety. I have to be there sometime on a Saturday for the candy making demonstrations.

I didn’t take any pictures since I’d already found the website and knew there were many there but didn’t realize they’re not thumbnails and you can’t enlarge them or I would have taken some better pictures of the candy cases. I drove the girl crazy running up and down trying to decide what I wanted.

I got a dark chocolate, sugar-free almond bark, two dark chocolate pecan clusters and a dark chocolate Sand Dollar. I just took them out of the fridge and should have let them come to room temp to look better. Next time, I’ll just save tummy space for the Sand Dollar and it’s a good thing dark chocolate is good for you and also a good thing for both my wallet and my waist line this place is not right in my neighborhood.

This is going to be regular stop for me when I visit the Island and I’d recommend it to any Roadfooder visiting the island.

There’s more on the website about all their offerings and here's a little additional history on Purity and the 10 o'clock valve.