Restaurants / Openings

Houston’s New Hand-Rolled Ice Cream Trailer is No Ordinary Food Truck: Regular Ice Cream Men Have Reason to Worry

BY // 02.13.18

A new hand-rolled ice cream shop is coming your way — and it’s on a roll. Mico’s Ice Cream isn’t a store but an eye-catching traveling ice cream parlor. A sophisticated ice cream truck if you will.

The shop’s hot pink vintage trailer is on the move and home to five different hand-rolled flavors. Here’s the scoop on the cool treat that isn’t served in your same old scoops.

The family-owned ice cream shop is pulling up to Midtown Park this Saturday, February 17 for its grand opening. From 2 pm to 5 pm, there will be hand-rolled ice cream and waffle cones available. And the chance to play a nine-hole round of mini golf.

Husband and wife owners, Chris and Kimico Frydenlund, first caught on to the Instagrammable hand-rolled ice cream craze in a viral video last year.

“We thought ‘Wow, that’s new,’ ” Kimico Frydenlund tells PaperCity.

The couple came across hand-rolled ice cream again not long after. The very next day, Kimico Frydenlund knew the entrepreneurial bug had bitten her.

“I saw it again and turned to Chris and said, ‘Let’s open an ice cream shop,’ ” she says. “We started looking for vintage trailers all over Texas.”

They tracked down their future digs-on-wheels in Lufkin, Texas. “We wanted to do a food truck because that’s different, exciting,” she says. In a way, it goes with the unusual dessert.

The hand-rolled ice cream method hails from Thailand. It’s a simple practice but stunning to observe. A liquid base is poured on an ice-cold metal surface and freezes rapidly. It’s then chopped, scraped and rolled into long, thin spiral cylinders. Several tubes are made and then tucked into a cup. Then, for the final touches, it’s topped off with fresh fruit, whipped cream, chocolate sauce or cookie crumbs.

The creative confection took off in Houston in 2016 with Chinatown’s Class 502. It has since spread beyond Chinatown. Mico’s Ice Cream will be Houston’s only mobile hand-rolled ice cream shop.

mico's open
The unusual hand-rolled ice cream method comes from Thailand.

Kimico Frydenlund has set her ice cream apart, taking the Thailand texture to the states. The traditional South Asian treat is “very light and not very filling,” she says. “This won’t be the typical ice cream you find in those shops.”

Instead, expect “more of the American ice cream you’re familiar with, with dense, richer texture.” Mico’s will also offer up a Texas twist, with taco shell-shaped waffle cones.

Another distinction: instead of whipped cream, you’ll find the Danish alternative, aptly called Yummy. In Chris Frydenlund’s native Denmark, they don’t always scream for ice cream. But they’ll shout for Yummy from the rooftops. Made out of egg whites and sugar, “it has a light, sweet taste to it,” Chris Frydenlund says.

“We don’t have a long season of summer, so in the month we have, we eat ice cream. But we have to have Yummy on our ice cream. If you don’t have it — really, it’s 50 percent of why we buy ice cream.”

They worked to perfect a S’mores flavor, with a vanilla base, toasted marshmallows and Hershey’s chocolate squares. The treat is placed on a bed of graham cracker crumbles and topped with the campfire cookie as well.

Other flavors include Taste the Rainbow, with fruity pebbles; Chocolate Fix with Asian snack favorite Pocky sticks; Cookies and Cream and Strawnana, made of fresh fruit. New flavors will pop up as the seasons shift. The Frydenlunds also plan to workshop potential flavors and allow ice cream fanatics to vote on what they’d like to taste.

A Family Ice Cream Affair

A percentage of the proceeds from every cup of ice cream sold will go towards the couple’s nonprofit, Mico’s Kids. The organization is designed to provide guidance, support and membership to children who have lost their parents.

“There’s something about children that just touches our heart,” Kimico Frydenlund, mother of two young daughters, says. “It’s a group that’s often forgotten.” Kimico Frydenlund lost her father to a motorcycle accident when she was young.

Family is at the core of Mico’s. “We want people to see the ‘Who’ behind our ice cream,” she notes. It was named Mico’s after her own first name. She was given the unique opportunity to stay at home with her children during her several years living in Denmark.

Before then, in the United States, Kimico Frydenlund worked as a registered nurse. Working in Denmark wasn’t an option because she is not fluent in Danish.

“I realized that I want to be there for my kids, not just breakfast and dinner. But for the whole day,” Kimico Frydenlund says. “Starting a business gives you freedom to set your own schedule, to be home with your kids. To give myself fully to them.”

Her daughter Maya is a huge fan of the Taste the Rainbow. “It hasn’t gotten old to her yet ,” Kimico Frydenlund says. “Every time we turn on the machine, Maya is standing there.”

A Mico’s mascot is on its way, ideal for birthday parties and children’s events. Mico the Panda will stand over six-feet tall, as the bear suit will be worn by Chris Frydenlund himself.

“We don’t want to be just another food truck,” Kimico Frydenlund says. “We’re putting the effort in.” Soon, you’ll be able to get a Mico’s pint club membership, good for four pints a year. Mico’s will even deliver the pints directly to your door.

Let the good times roll.

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