Advertisement

Ice cream made the customer’s way at new shop

Share

Huntington Beach has a new ice cream shop, and it offers entertainment, in a sense, as well as options for people with dietary restrictions.

The Ice Cream Way, which opened June 6, provides gluten-free, lactose-free, sugar-free and even egg-free options. And it puts on an ice-cream making show.

The area where the goods are made isn’t hidden behind kitchen doors. It faces the entrance of the shop and is the first sight guests see as they walk in.

Advertisement

With the mixing bowls on the counter, the ice cream makers stir up a customer’s choice of an ice cream base, a flavor and any additional toppings to create a creamy concoction that resembles milk. The final touch is liquid nitrogen to freeze the mixture.

Tanks containing the nitrogen, kept at a temperature of minus-321 degrees, release the element, creating fog. When the mixture is exposed to the fog, it transforms into an extra creamy ice cream that keeps its flavor.

“When you leave ice cream in the freezer, it loses aroma and freshness,” shop owner Josh Suermeli said. “Here, we’ll make it fresh and we’ll make it in front of you.”

The ice cream base consists of either almond milk, coconut milk, premium cream, yogurt, sorbet or egg-free.

“If someone can’t have dairy, then they can have their ice cream made without dairy,” Suermeli said. “It’s the consumers having control of what they get.”

For three years before opening at this location, The Ice Cream Way was a catering service serving parties in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange County.

“We always wanted a store, but we were waiting for a location,” Suermeli said.

The Ice Cream Way eventually found a home at 214 Fifth St., by the beach.

Visitors have a choice of over 30 flavors, from the fruity tastes of strawberry and green apple to the richness of chocolate and coffee mocha, and starting next week, the shop plans to reveal “international flavors.”

Advertisement