Creamistry, a CA-based Ice-cream Chain Using Liquid Nitrogen, with Numerous Area Locations

[Sundae in the Park]

Oops, double post, read on...

[Sundae in the Park]

Now this place is interesting! We visited the Cerritos location and Creamistry's gimmick is that they make your ice cream fresh-to-order in a billowing cloud of liquid nitrogen. While the process is very much a gimmick (and makes the line move rather slowly), there's no denying that their technique yields an extremely dense and rich ice cream.  Apparently the flash-freezing process eliminates or minimizes the formation of ice crystals.  One nice aspect of the available choices is the variety of bases - organic, vegan, etc. Our group tried a bunch of the flavors and they were all strong/bright/tart, as appropriate, and there are a ton of candy-n-more type toppings to choose for additional customization.  The chocolate combustion we tried was basically the ice cream version of fudge - airy, this ice cream is not. In fact, their own description of their product is "decadently rich and luxuriously creamy ice cream with virtually no overrun!"  There are many locations (60 now, primarily in CA, AZ and TX, with apparently hundreds more of franchises in the works) and a huge expansion push that reminds me of the 5 Guys story.  Incidentally, the use of liquid nitrogen keeps the stores nice and cold, which is additionally refreshing on hot days. It was a bit expensive, about on par with any premium scoop shop these days, but I like that they have a genuine element of "can't get this anywhere else" and it's a fun treat.