Winning ice cream inspired by seersucker

"Seersucker" is the striped cloth that keeps us cool on steamy summer days. Now, you can eat it and chill out even more.

A panel of judges gathered at Circa 1886 last week to pick a winner of the restaurant's recent ice-cream contest, which invited people to submit flavors that best represent Charleston.

"Seersucker," submitted by Kevin Kelly of Mount Pleasant, took top honors. It's a vanilla ice-cream base blended with blueberries, Charleston Chews candy and honey-roasted peanuts.

"All those flavors equal Charleston," says Kelly.

Appropriately, "seersucker" actually comes from the Persian words "shir o shakar," which means milk and sugar.

The contest drew more than 200 entries: some sweet, some savory. Creative names joined the creative use of ingredients as Circa 1886 executive chef Marc Collins and pastry chef Scott Lovorn came to consensus on the following entries: Charleston Gold, Cobblestone Cobbler and Seersucker.

Three local judges, Stephanie Barna, editor of the Charleston City Paper; Dean Stephens, anchor at WCIV-TV; and Marion Sullivan, food writer for The Post and Courier and Charleston Magazine, had the task of determining the finalist.

Runners-up were Jill Barnes of Mount Pleasant, whose Cobblestone Cobbler combined peaches, brown sugar ribbons, toasted pecans, sour cream and cinnamon; and Greg VanDerwerker of Johns Island, whose Charleston Gold contained Carolina Gold rice, local honey and orange blossom water.

Seersucker is available throughout August at Circa 1886, 149 Wentworth St.

Kelly was rewarded with dinner for four at the restaurant, bragging rights for his flavor and for the summer of 2008, the "taste of Charleston" in a frozen confection.