Sub Zero Ice Cream

Our day was not complete until we tried some dessert...

which was still in Encinitas, but just a few minutes more inland, to a place the serves ice cream in a unique way...


TC saw a program (probably on Food Network or something) about an ice place that makes ice cream using liquid nitrogen. When I saw Kirbie's post on it (linked at the end), she said that was the place (but maybe not the same location).

It's in the Ralph's shopping center which also has a Trader Joe's.

At the time of our visit, we were the only customers. A teenage worker was the one who took our order.

He was a nice and patient kid, explaining the steps in how to order our ice cream.

Seems pretty simple. TC ordered the full fat ice cream while Bert and I had the non-dairy options (Bert with soy and me with almond milk).

The liquid ingredients are placed in metal bowls along with your flavorings and mix-ins.

"This is where the fun begins"....said the worker as he pulled out a hose and started to mix the liquid nitrogen with the ingredients.

Maybe I'm just blase about stuff like this, but I wasn't as excited as a six year old would be. Don't get me wrong, it was neat to see the "smoke" and hear the noises and all, but it's still just a "show" and you are paying a premium for that.

It looks very mad scientist. I kept thinking, "OMG, this takes so long. It's so much faster to get a scoop of ready made ice cream!", haha

The guy was scraping and mixing the ingredients which were already made solid by the nitrogen.  This was my coffee and mocha flavored "ice cream" with almonds.

TC had Vanilla and Watermelon as her flavor with cherries as her mix in. Hers was the one that tasted most like real ice cream, which made sense since she had the full fat premium cream as opposed to the thin, fake, "healthy" stuff that Bert and I got.

We wanted to do a comparison of flavors and textures was why we did that. By the way, there is a new smaller size, the Kid Size ($3.50) which is what TC and I got. I wasn't sure if I could finish a "small".

Bert's flavor was peanut butter and butterscotch with pecans as his mix-in.

The texture of my ice cream was thin and icy and seemed to melt faster. I liked the crunch of the almonds in my serving. It actually gave me a caffeine buzz because later on, I couldn't sleep at night. I was going crazy trying to think of what I ate or drank that day to keep me up and I realized it was the ice cream.  Well, that's my theory anyways.

Bert's cup was also thin and icy. It seemed to melt even faster than mine. Bert's soy ice cream was the most watery of all. I didn't like how his tasted, although I enjoyed mine.

Bert thought it was just okay while I thought mine was just so-so. TC really liked hers but agreed that it was on the pricy side.

The spelling of the business next door, "Pupologie" threw me for a bit. If it's supposed to be pronounced "Pup-ology", shouldn't there be two P's (like in 'puppy')? I know that would look wierd, but it would be pronounced correctly.

I had some sort of brain fart and was wondering why someone would name a store, "Pupo-logie" (poo-po-lo-gee, like in "logie", the kind that you spit), which of course doesn't make sense.  WTH right. Anyways, it's a bit of an awkward store name in my opinion.

Who else has been to Sub Zero?
The always on point Kirbie went here back in October 2013

Sub Zero Ice Cream
123 N. El Camino Real, Suite E (in Ralph's shopping center)
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 944-9085

www.subzeroicecream.com

Well, we can cross this place off our list. It was fun to try once but I don't think I'd go out of my way to try this again. I can see the appeal for the young kids and for the curious folks but this would be an expensive habit and I'd rather eat ice cream the "normal" way from places like Oasis or Mariposa.