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Bradley Ray, one of the original pastry chefs at Antico Nuovo (one of the highest-rated Italian restaurants in LA), started doing weekly drops in April: three flavors a week in pints, with pickup days on Fridays and Saturdays. Made by hand in limited batches, with a cutting-edge Italian machine and only premium ingredients, Henry’s Secret Ice Cream is not a secret anymore. The name is an homage to his late friend Henry, who passed away from cancer in 2022. They both worked at NoMad New York before moving to LA in 2017.
The ice cream sells out in as little as four minutes, so on Wednesdays, make sure you’re on the website at 12 on the dot to add your desired flavor to your cart. Pickups are in a ghost kitchen in West Hollywood, where you give him your order number and he will place the pint in a cooler bag with a small cold pack. Don’t forget to check the Instagram stories for the latest updates before the drop.
I got the strawberry shortcake, but as soon as I received my order confirmation, I had second thoughts after seeing the picture of the smooth vanilla ice cream made with Tahitian vanilla beans. Four minutes later, Bradley shared on Instagram: “And we are sold out!! Wow…no words. We love you all.”
Fast-forward to Friday, after braving the rush-hour traffic in West Hollywood and waiting all week, I eagerly opened the pint. I didn’t take a full bite when the blast of flavor reached my brain. Talk about a full dopamine hit! Henry’s Secret Ice Cream is indeed the best ice cream in LA right now. Made with the renowned, Oxnard-grown Harry’s Berries strawberries, this flavor struck the perfect balance between tartness and sweetness.
It goes without saying that to achieve an ice cream flavor of this caliber, Bradley sources ingredients from the farmers market. He said, “The strawberry shortcake is made with Harry’s Berries. It’s swirled with vanilla ice cream, strawberry jam, and vanilla cookies.”
In an Instagram reel, Bradley macerates the strawberries to ensure its maximum flavor. The swirls of vanilla helped counteract the strawberries’ strong tartness. Coupled with the tender bits of vanilla cookies, my taste buds were on Cloud Nine. I could also detect a hint of lemon, which further brightened the flavor. Incredible is an understatement. Just WOW.
When you’re debating which flavor you want, don’t overthink it too much because I guarantee you’ll be blown away — just like all the glowing reviews Bradley reposts on his Instagram stories. A pint ranges between $19 and $23 but given the stellar quality and labor, I will happily pay for this again. In a matter of three days, Henry’s Secret Ice Cream Instagram account grew from three thousand to ten thousand followers.
The word has spread very quickly. From write-ups in the LA Times and Eater LA to the onslaught of attention on social media, Bradley could have never anticipated such a response. Angela, Bradley’s wife, said: “Brad’s pretty wiped right now with putting in some really long hours. We didn’t anticipate this strong of a response from the community this early on. But we are grateful!”
When I went to pick up my pint, there was already a line forming at the door, and most people were taking home up to three pints. “See you next week, Brad!” said an excited customer as he walked through the door with the cooler bag, smiling ear to ear.
The following week, the flavors were Vanilla Bean, Chocolate, Mint Chocolate and Cookies and Cream.
If you miss his drops or you don’t want to go through this arduous yet rewarding process (although I highly encourage you to), don’t worry. Bradley shared that he’s planning on scaling the business with more employees and a bigger facility, although the timeline and logistics are still completely TBD. “I’m uncertain of Henry’s Secret’s evolution, but excited for it,” he said.
Last summer, before the sudden success of Henry’s Secret Ice Cream, Bradley made pints of ice cream from his home kitchen, where customers would DM him their orders and pick them up in a Vons parking lot in Arcadia. This first iteration, however, was much quieter. That changed when restaurateur Lawrence Longo offered him a space on Sunset Blvd., where he started making pints again this year. As of right now, Bradley is making 1,000 pints a week with one newly hired employee.
Bradley said: “I learned to make ice cream at a restaurant in South Carolina and continued learning more at Eleven Madison Park and NoMad in New York.”
Regarding his late friend Henry: “Henry was incredibly kind, funny, and smart. A very talented chef. We moved to LA around the same time in 2017. He was the kind of guy that could make a room full of people feel good, even if he was having a tough day.”
Henry’s Secret Ice Cream: Website and Instagram
