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saturday july 12 2003 15 economist sun suntribune diversions getting the on york s cold war vanilla still no 1 among all flavours by roy green staff writer when i was a kid ice cream came in three flavours vanilla chocolate and that triplelayered oddball called neapolitan which i hated today there are officially umpteen flavours and a trend soft ice cream has come and is almost gone and thats not counting a whole new trend gelato the italian ice cream now popping up in multiple flavours most notably inwoodbridge because july is national ice cream month diversions decided to get the scoop on the current cold war in york region first stop is the baskin- robbins outlet with the familiar 31 flavours sign onyonge street in richmond hill except when i count the flavours available there are way more than 31 the number is meaningless says manager jeff peng who is standing behind the frozen bins of french vanilla rum raisin pink bubble gum mint chocolate chip and various yogurt gonecrazy flavours he says they sell a few thou sand cones every week we add a new flavour every month the 31 is just a logo identified with baskinrobbins according to the companys website the 31 made its debut in 1953 when they offered cus tomers a different ice cream for every day of the month staff photosteve somerville katie and connor maccallum are served sinbads triple punch sunset and pinkbubble gum flavoured ice cream cones by steve huang at baskinrobbins in richmond hill in fact they claim to have orig inated thousands of flavours and break them down into permanent ones flavour of the month sea sonal flavours even regional flavours but not this region a check in the category reveals a new york french vanilla but no ice cream peculiar to york region maybe they could consider a york yogurt for their next flavour of the month the most popular flavour according to employee kevin huang is jamoca almond fudge followed by mint chocolate chip and maybe pralines and cream he adds but outside the store an 11- yearold conehead named david is rapidly devouring a dripping delight called pink bubblegum thish is the besht he manages between licks his mom angela daintily nib bles on a lowfat yogurt and says she is a traditionalist vanilla all the way theres a lot of myth associated with ice cream history including tales of marco polo bringing it home to italy from china and catherine demedici introducing it in france in 1533 but the international association of ice cream manufacturers says it probably originated in china in 1774 a caterer in new york was offering it as a new product and the wife of american president james madison served ice cream at her husbands inau gural ball in 1813 the first canadian to start sell ing ice cream was thomas webb of toronto in 1850 william neilson produced his first batch intorontoinl893 see icecream page 16 sheryl greenspan notes on a napkin restaurant offers menu to please all asia hut location 9255 woodbine ave at 16th avenue phone 9058876628 type chinese entree selection extensive price range averages 7 to 9 hours 8 am to 11 pm payment take note cash only take out available ive been to many chinese restaur rants in and around markham but this one is different first the decor is sim ple clean and relaxing with an interest- ing bamboo hutstyle ceiling and with almost 200 items on the menu there is something for every taste from simple canadianized sweet and sour chicken balls and fiery kung pao to a full selec tion of congee and dim sum to date i have been to asia hut a dozen or so times sampling more than half the menu and i vow not to rest until ive tasted it all my biggest dilemma when dining at asia hut is whether to start with the per fectly spiced hot and sour soup 349 loaded with chinese mushrooms bam boo and shredded pork or the slightly sweet crab meat and corn soup 329 creamy and delicious with delicate strands of egg both are without excep tion the best examples ive ever had this time we opted for the crab and corn and threw in some spring rolls 329 for two and panfried dumplings 499 as appetizers both the spring rolls and dumplings were crispy and stuffed to capacity see moo shu page 16 ofititip rfipv tift j i you choose the shows and viettous m w3c lions a see it hear it- p 1 la f z469j for a free broctiure box office summer hours mon to fri i i am to 430 pm theres nothing better