6 North Texas ice cream spots with creamy, creative treats

The Texas heat has officially arrived. For those brave enough to go outside, a scoop of soft ice cream can be the perfect treat. Fortunately, there are several unique soft-serve shops in the D-FW area with a variety of unconventional flavors – such as raspberry cola, ube and lychee melon lemongrass – and unique toppings – such as candy floss, funfetti cake pieces and dewberry compote. Here are six stores for soft serve with a twist this summer.

Lilis Pramasurja, founder and connoisseur of the soft serve taste, works with her two sons Darien Wong and Andre Wong in the Sugar Pine Creamery in Plano.(Shelby Tauber / special article)

Sugar jaw cancer

The Sugar Pine Creamery is run by Lilis Pramasurja and her husband Wan Wong. The Indonesian couple opened their store in 2019 and have seen more repeat customers since then, especially families with young children, says Pramasurja.

“We have a lot of children who came when they were babies,” she says. “You are so excited. They say ‘ice cream!’ But it’s not just the ice cream, it’s the tasting and everything. It’s almost as if they were going to visit grandma. “

Apart from the “family atmosphere” of the store, it is also known for its unique soft ice cream flavors that differ from the standard chocolate and vanilla. Pramasurja says she and her husband have traveled extensively, which motivated them to create a soft serve shop with bold and unusual flavors. One of the current flavors, Hojicha, is a Japanese green tea with a nutty flavor.

The Sugar Pine Creamery menu changes every few weeks and flavors only appear on the menu once or twice a year. There are always a few dairy-free options like balsamic peach and lychee melon lemongrass. In addition to soft ice cream, the menu also includes milk tea and flavored iced tea with or without Boba, in the same flavors all year round.

6832 Coit Road, Suite 270B, Plano. Sugarpinecreamery.com.

Four of the six flavors that are offered alternately in the Sugar Pine Creamery in Plano are Cherry Almond, Milk & Cookies, Genmaicha and Balsamico Peach. (Shelby Tauber / special article)Pure Milk & Honey Bonfire Sunday in Dallas (Lola Gomez / photographer)

Pure milk and honey

Pure Milk and Honey on Mockingbird Lane uses raw honey from Bonton Farms, a local farm with a farmer’s market, cafe, and coffee house, all of which are community-focused. The soft serve shop also uses organic whole milk from Texan farmers.

“We try to keep everything as natural as possible for the health-conscious clientele we have,” says President and CEO Cindy Chung. “I try to stay away from anything with preservatives and keep things as natural as possible.”

Some of the flavors at Pure Milk and Honey this summer are honey, lavender, and raspberry, which are vegan-friendly. Customers can also enjoy the shop’s signature honey, chocolate and hazelnut soft ice cream.

Chung says people love the shakes and sundaes in summer. Ice cream sundaes come in flavors such as “chocolate explosion”, cookies and cream, strawberry cheesecake and more. The menu also includes yuzu, blueberry and cherry iced teas, as well as chai. There are a couple of ice cream sandwich specials too.

On July 1st, Pure Milk and Honey is launching ice cream tacos, starting with a strawberry and chocolate truffle taco made of chocolate ice cream in a waffle taco bowl, topped with a homemade strawberry and chocolate truffle, dark chocolate pieces, white chocolate pieces and Strawberries. The final touch is a dash of strawberry jam and fudge sauce. The specialty taco will be available in a dairy option or a limited non-dairy option throughout July.

5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, Unit 135, Dallas. puremilkandhoney.com.

A taco ice cream from Pure Milk & Honey in Dallas (Lola Gomez / photographer)Cindy Chung, CEO of Pure Milk & Honey in Dallas (Lola Gomez / photographer)An upside-down cone served in a mug with ube-flavored soft ice cream from SomiSomi Soft Serve & Taiyaki in Frisco(Ben Torres / special article)

SomiSomi Soft Serve & Taiyaki

SomiSomi was founded in Los Angeles in 2016 and has been a national trend ever since. There are now several locations in California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Texas, with the closest being the Frisco and Carrollton locations.

SomiSomi is famous for its Ah-Boong, a Korean dessert that consists of a goldfish-shaped waffle cone filled with a sweet filling and soft ice cream. There is also the typical taiyaki, a fish-shaped cake filled with either Nutella, red beans, custard or taro.

“Taiyaki is originally from Japan,” says Penny Wang, franchisee and manager of Friscos SomiSomi. “It’s a very popular food, and the tai is actually a type of fish, a type of fish that is important to the Japanese, and they make a pastry out of it.”

Some of the most popular SomiSomi flavors include oreo, ube, milk, and matcha. Customers can also choose two flavors to create a new creation. Miniature macarons, rainbow sprinkles, fruity and cocoa pebbles and oreo biscuit crumbles are fan favorites when it comes to toppings.

9292 Warren-Parkway # 260, Frisco; 2540 Old Denton Road, No. 126, Carrollton. somisomi.com.

Soft ice cream in Aqua S in Victory Park can be served with a toasted marshmallow.(Jonny Ngo)

Aqua S

This Australian brand was founded in 2015 and is already international. Aqua S features Instagram-worthy decor in light pastels and exaggerated toppings like giant toasted marshmallows, caramel popcorn, and famous fairy silk – a giant hand-spun cloud of cotton candy. The shop is also known for its blue sea salt soft ice cream, which is available all year round.

There are over a hundred flavors in the Aqua S, and the menu changes every two weeks. At the US locations there are currently raspberry-cola and muesli-milk-soft ice cream, both of which can be combined in a vortex with the classic sea salt.

Aqua S Dallas shop owner Minh Nguyen says opening it last year was a challenge.

“We’ve had to change our business model a bit since everything closed,” says Nguyen. “But in order to keep all the employees and then make rent and everything, we picked up the curb and then we also delivered our mini bathtubs free of charge.”

Aqua S sells mini cups and pints of some of their most popular flavors, such as sea salt, non-dairy lychee, oolong milk tea, cookies and cream, and durian, a popular fruit in parts of Asia with a notoriously controversial smell. Although the free delivery of the Softserve cups has been discontinued, the mini cups and pints are still available for online orders.

2375 Victory Park Lane, Suite 140, Dallas. aquas.us.com.

Owner Katherine Clapner (right) and manager Eddie Murphy at Dude Sweet Chocolate in Oak Cliff.(Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)

Dude, sweet chocolate

Dude, Sweet Chocolate also had a challenging year due to the pandemic and had to permanently close its downtown Dallas location. However, the location in the Bishop Arts District in North Oak Cliff remains open and continues to serve fun chocolate treats and ice cream.

Like some of the other D-FW soft ice cream shops, Dude, Sweet Chocolate changes their ice cream flavors often and each one is unique. One of the latest creations from owner Katherine Clapner is a lemon sassafras soft ice cream with freshly baked vanilla pod scone crumble and cabbage compote. Customers can visit Instagram and Facebook to see the latest flavors from Clapner.

“I make all kinds of flavors,” says Clapner. “Sometimes I make chocolate, sometimes I make fruit, you know, there is always something crunchy. Sometimes I make cones, sometimes there are brownies in between. “

In addition to soft serve, Dude, Sweet Chocolate also offers coffee pour overs and floats. Chocolate is of course the specialty. The candy store has all kinds of candy bars, drinks, truffles, fudges and its signature quirky items like chocolate skulls. Clapner doesn’t use processed sugar and instead opts for Steens cane syrup, agave, barley, or cane sugar.

408 W. Eighth Street, # 102, Dallas. dudesweetchocolate.net.

Owner Katherine Clapner prepares a “sundae on a whim” at Dude Sweet Chocolate in Oak Cliff(Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)Topo Chico Aqua Fresca Float at Dude Sweet Chocolate in Oak Cliff (Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)Soft serve options at Cow Tipping Creamery(Jeff amateur)

Dairy for tipping cows

Cow Tipping Creamery was acquired in 2017 by Jay Jerrier, who is known for pizzerias like Cane Rosso and Zoli’s Pizza. The ice cream parlor has locations in Fort Worth and Frisco, which have a slightly more extensive menu than the Fort Worth location.

Cow Tipping Creamery is all about forklift trucks, which, according to their menu, are “like sundae, only better”. Each stacker includes a soft ice cream flavor of the customer’s choice as well as some special toppings depending on which stacker they choose.

Jerrier says his all-time favorite isn’t on the menu every day, but it’s the Cookie Butter Stacker, a biscuit butter-flavored ice cream from Trader Joe with biscuit butter sauce, biscuit butter bars, and hot fudge.

Currently, both locations’ menus feature the Brownie and Cookie D’oh stacker, which includes a customer-choice soft serving flavor, triple fudge brownie pieces, chocolate chip cookie dough, cocoa biscuit crumbs and brown sugar hot fudge.

Jerrier’s advice to parishioners planning to dine out this summer is to stay local.

“I think 2020 really showed that you have to support them if you want your favorite restaurants to last,” says Jerrier. “You can’t just take these places for granted.”

3685 The Star Blvd., Suite 201, Frisco; 3501 Hulen St., Fort Worth. cowtippingcreamery.com.

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