Cool Reception for New Price

After 23 years, Diddy Riese’s ice cream sandwich is finally taking a licking -- from inflation.

The landmark Westwood shop, where UCLA students sometimes line up out the door in pajamas to buy $1 ice cream cookie sandwiches, has melted from economic pressure and upped the price to $1.25.

That’s giving longtime customers such as Daniel Horowitz the chills. It’s the “one-buck ice cream sandwich, not the one-buck-and-twenty-five-cents sandwich,” he moaned.

Diddy Riese Cookies owner Mark Perry said he had kept ice cream sandwich prices frozen at 1983 levels. John McEnroe won his second Wimbledon singles crown that year, and the United States invaded Grenada.

Rich Edling, a Sacramento veterinarian whose daughter attends UCLA, meekly dug deeper to pay for a scoop of vanilla ice cream wedged between two fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. “I was going to make a big scene out of it,” he said, “but it’s still a bargain.”

Horowitz discovered the change last week when he dragged a friend from Santa Monica to the shop for what he termed “a bundle of joy.” Horowitz had promised Josh Stone, 31, that he’d pay for his sandwich. And then he saw the new price.

“I had to lend him a quarter,” Stone said.

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Budget menu

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Not all wine has to cost more than a meal, and not every taco has to squeeze your wallet. A mouthful of bargains around Los Angeles:

* Barney Greengrass, 9570 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills: egg cream drink, 50 cents.

* Big Daddy and Sons Food, 1425 Ocean Front Walk, Venice: hot dog dipped in barbecue sauce or grilled potatoes, $1.

* Chef Marilyn’s 99 Cents Soul Food Express, 2638 S. Crenshaw Blvd.: select soul food sides, 99 cents.

* Palermo Ristorante Italiano, 1858 N. Vermont Ave.: plastic cup of wine, 75 cents.

* Philippe, The Original, 1001 N. Alameda St.: coffee, 9 cents.

* Al Wazir Chicken, 6051 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood: baklawa dessert, 90 cents.

* Tacos Mexico, 5120 E. Olympic Blvd.: taco, 45 cents Wednesdays; 85 cents regularly.

* Billy’s Deli, 216 N. Orange St., Glendale: Tea cake, 85 cents.

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Source: Times staff reports