Thrillist editors create ice cream flavors, look handsome

Just two dudes making some ice cream

Recently, two Thrillist editors were bestowed the ultimate honor: being knighted by Queen Elizabeth, then receiving a long, tender hug from Paul McCartney. Okay, it was the second-most-ultimate honor: they were actually asked to submit ideas for two new Ben & Jerry's flavors. Which guy did a better job capturing his city's essence? We threw in some sweet factoids to show how historically spot-on each guy was, but as with any decision involving ice cream, in the end you just have to go with your gut.

Kevin's ice cream flavor

Fernet Branca Ice Cream w/ Sourdough Bread Pudding Swirl, Puffed Rice & Miniature Chocolate Cable Cars

Did you know that in 2008, San Francisco consumed 25% of all fernet sold in the United States? Which is weird, because Kevin lived in Boston at the time.

Another fact whose poignancy is only heightened by the fact that it was found on an Angelfire website: sourdough bread wasn't called "sourdough" until the California gold rush, when prospectors noticed the distinct taste of bread made with starters provisioned in SF. Later, the lactic acid bacteria responsible for that taste was given the fun name Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis. For a time, the gold miners themselves were called "sourdoughs", as calling them 49rs in 1849 would've been like calling them "this yearers". While that term fell out of favor due to almost every style of bread making for a terrible nickname, it does survive with "Sourdough Sam", the 49rs mascot who is beloved by all, except for people who are terrified of giant-headed mascots.

One criticism: Rice-A-Roni ("The San Francisco Treat!") does not actually use puffed rice -- it's more of a pilaf style.

Andrew's ice cream

Egg Cream Ice Cream w/ Hot Nuts & a Cheesecake Swirl, Gentrified by Mint Leaves from our Rooftop Garden & Chunks of Cronut

According to Darcy O'Neil, author of the "golden age of soda fountains" history Fix the Pumps, the original egg cream was an evolution of the ice cream soda, a nationally popular treat that might've originated in New Orleans, or possibly Detroit. Egg cream proper rose up out of Brooklyn in the 1920s, and -- this is very serious and hilarious -- might have been invented by famed New York intellectual Daniel Bell's "Uncle Hymie". Weirdly, due to fierce soda fountain wars, egg cream makers eventually quit using eggs to keep the price down, then subbed in milk for cream. So if you're being technical, egg cream should actually be called "__ __".

Hot nuts are everywhere in New York, and while it'd be hard to keep them toasty when packaged with the ice cream, science would definitely find a way. Also: while your hot nuts jokes are hilarious, they are not as hilarious as Rudy Ray Moore's "Hot Nuts", a.k.a. "the song that invented euphemisms".

And finally, here's everything you need to know about the cronut.