Icicles (Cupertino, CA)

ICICLES (Cupertino, CA) – There are so many new places in Cupertino since I left De  Anza – totally unfair, in my opinion. One thing I wanted to try when I was in the area was Icicles, where they serve rolled ice cream, just like Thailand’s street vendors.

Icicles is located in the Merlion complex on Stevens Creek, which has a bunch of eateries already, like my mainstays Olarn Thai and Yogurtland. It’s a little off to the corner when you enter the complex, so keep that in mind. The line was a little long when I got in, but you get to order pretty quickly. There are several different flavors with fun names like “Bae-sic” and “Nutella and Chill” which can be customized with different toppings. When placing your order, they’ll write your name on the cup and then call you up when it’s ready to cut and roll up your ice cream. They also have a sign to alert them of any allergies, so be sure to tell the cashier if you do! The issue here is, it’s loud in there, especially with the music they play, so it’s a little difficult to hear your name. But once you do, you go up to the window and watch your ice cream being made. After that, you move down the line and another server will put toppings you can choose from on the rolled ice cream. I like that you pay one flat price for all of this and can get however many toppings you want.

I ordered the Oreo Blast, which is their version of cookies and cream with your choice of classic Oreo cookies or mint Oreos mix into their classic custard base, which cost $7. I chose mint Oreos and added raspberry and Nutella drizzles on top. It was a lot of fun watching the ice cream being made! The surface on which they combine the custard and cookies is already frozen so it slowly starts freezing and they roll it up into the proper consistency.

What you get is thick, creamy ice cream! Since they roll it out so flat, I figured it would be rather thin, but the ice cream ended up being much creamier than I thought. It also stays colder for much longer! The drizzles were also good choices – I already had a lot of flavor from the mint and cookie, so I didn’t really want to add too many extra toppings. I wish it would be possible to do half and half – I want to be able to try other flavors too!

I’m glad there’s one closer to me than Cupertino, because now I would be more inclined to go. Icicles has several locations throughout the Bay Area, and I think it’s worth trying at least once for the experience!