There are few things that bring me pure, inexplicable joy. Among them is the cheese popcorn from iPic theaters.
Have you been to an iPic theater? It’s one of the luxury chains that offers plush seats, blankets and in-theater dining. There’s a location off Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood and another in Old Pasadena.
The waitstaff never balks when I request every condiment in the kitchen to accompany my French fries. And they let me order the cheese popcorn with extra butter and extra cheese.
“I want to see a sea of orange in my bucket, please.”
Nine times out of 10, they oblige.
It is not the white cheddar powder you might find on grocery store popcorn, marketed as low calorie or of a skinny variety. This iPic popcorn is coated in a virulent, nearly radioactive orange powder that could only exist in the world of heavily processed foods. I’m talking Chester Cheetah orange. Home Depot sign orange. The orange of a President who was a little too zealous at the tanning salon.
The popcorn collapses under my teeth and gushes with butter and cheese. The sensation is exquisite. Not too dry or airy. Not too chewy — just perfectly crunchy.
The powder clings to my fingers, staining whatever I touch. I’ve left traces of my favorite snack in friends’ cars, on kitchen counters and across mahjong tables.
I suggest you order the popcorn with a pair of chopsticks, so you can dig around for the cheesiest pieces and keep your fingers powder-free.
My obsession for this popcorn is so unhinged, that I find myself at the theater, watching a movie I may not be particularly interested in, just to sit in a cozy chair and eat the popcorn. This will by no means fit into any version of a food pyramid, but my dream dinner involves a bucket of cheese popcorn and a glass of crisp white wine.
I visit the theater to pick up buckets to go, even when I’m not seeing a movie. It was a hit at a recent mahjong gathering, with a friend who preserved the leftovers in an airtight container and polished off the popcorn over a week’s time.
Late last week, friends familiar with my cheese popcorn obsession forwarded me the news that iPic plans to close both its Pasadena and Westwood locations on April 28. I quickly spiraled into the depths of despair. Are there other L.A. theaters that might fill the orange cheese popcorn void soon to plague the city?
Turns out, AMC, the largest theater chain in the world with more than 30 locations in the Los Angeles area, serves something called “gourmet” cheddar popcorn at its theaters. But to my horror, I learned that “gourmet” means the large mushroom popcorn kernels that are round in shape and taste stale, even when they’re fresh. And though the coating is the same shade of Home Depot orange, the flavor is barely detectable beyond the color.
I reached out to iPic to learn more about their popcorn, hoping for some information on a vendor, or at the very least, where they source the cheese powder. They’ve yet to respond.
If you know of a theater pushing orange cheese popcorn, please share. I’ve ordered multiple cheese powders online in the hopes of recreating the popcorn at home. And I’ll be at the movies with a bucket in my lap, double-fisting a glass of white wine and a pair of chopsticks as many times as possible before the end of April.
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