Mint chocolate confetti ice cream at Mission Hill Creamery
Join the fun on Friday, Oct. 5 at Mission Hill Creamery’s Scoop Shop and Dessert Cafe. It’s at 11101B Pacific Avenue near Cathcart, next to Taqueria Vallarta and across the street from Kianti’s. The party is from 5:30-11p.m. It begins with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane and continues with free ice cream samples.
Another highlight for Friday’s party: owner/chef Dave Kumec is donating a portion of that night’s proceeds to the Bryan Stow Foundation. If you haven’t had the opportunity to meet the man behind Mission Hill, be sure to introduce yourself. He is truly humble and down-to-earth, especially for someone who creates such delicious concoctions and has a resume including being the opening chef at Disneyland Paris!
The artisan ice cream that Kumec creates includes popular flavors such as Salted Caramel, Ricotta Fig, Maple Candied Bacon, El Bracho (Vanilla, Roasted Almonds, Dark Chocolate Chunk), Turkish Coffee, Fresh Nectarine, and Mint Chocolate Confetti. Not to mention the fabulous sorbet such as Plum-Zinfandel, Strawberry, or Lemon Blueberry.
Kumec uses 100% organic dairy products in his ice cream, and locally grown organic fresh fruit (often bought at the downtown Farmers Market) in selected flavors such as seasonal Windmill Farms Strawberry. He is a proud community member, always striving to support as many local farmers as he can.
If you have any ice cream-loving friends or family in nearby cities, they’ll be happy to know that Mission Hill is probably for sale there. In fact, availability has greatly expanded since the first retail shop had to close in 2011. “It was a sad day when we had to close our Front Street location, but it was worth the long wait…we now have the perfect location,” says Kumec. “We have been growing a fantastic wholesale business in the interim with distribution to over 40 gourmet markets in 9 counties from Monterey to Napa and Sonoma. We are now found in most Whole Foods Markets in the Bay Area as well as New Leaf, Staff of Life, Draeger’s Markets, and our marquee partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.”
In addition to ice cream and sorbet (available in cups or on regular cones, sugar cones, hand-rolled waffle cones, and in pre-packaged pints to take home), you can order hot fudge or strawberry sundaes, milkshakes, and ice cream floats featuring artisan sodas. Plus, there is a coffee bar featuring Lulu’s artisan roasts.
Mission Hill Creamery hours:
Sun-Wed Noon-10p.m.
Thurs-Sat Noon-11p.m.
Stay up to date with the creamery via its Facebook page.
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