Taste of Sacramento: These three ice cream shops hit a very unique sweet spot

Michael Janwar was about 4 years old when he first tasted gelato. It was a simple fior di latte, a sweet milk flavor, and he never forgot how good it was.

“I wouldn’t want to call it an out-of-body experience, but — it just tasted so delicious. It was mind-boggling delicious,” Janwar said.

He decided when he grew up, he wanted to own a gelato shop.

He ended up with a career as a commodities trader. But then a few years ago Janwar sold his business and decided to revisit his old dream. He found an Italian gelato master to teach him the art of making gelato. He found a location in East Sacramento on Folsom Boulevard at 59th Street.

And in August of 2019, Yume Gelato opened for business. “Yume” is Japanese for “dream,” Janwar said. And it also sounds a bit like “yummy,” which is good for a gelato shop.

Yume has a constantly rotating menu, with flavors changing almost daily.

“We try to make it as seasonal as possible,” said Janwar. “Right now, it’s all about the fall flavors, the pumpkins and the s’mores.”

A couple of flavors have become perennials. Mike’s Breakfast is chocolate hazelnut with bits of nuts and wafer. It got its name because Janwar liked it so much. “I actually did eat it every morning for about two or three months,” he explained.

Yume serves about 10 to 12 different flavors at one time, including several vegan options. Vegan gelato is made from a base of water, oatmeal or coconut milk.

Yume also tries to create unusual and interesting flavors, like black sesame, watermelon tomato basil, pineapple jalapeño cilantro and cucumber lemonade. The shop has a suggestion box on the counter where customers submit can submit their own ideas.

“If we think it’s interesting or we think we can do it, we’ll try it,” said Janwar.

Gelato is known for its flavor and texture. Compared to ice cream, it contains more milk and less cream, resulting in less butterfat. According to Janwar, you can taste the flavors more when there’s less fat coating your tongue.

Gelato is also served at a higher temperature than ice cream, giving it a creamy texture that melts instantly in your mouth. At Yume, the gelato is served about 7 to 10 degrees hotter than a typical ice cream. If you take home a pint, they suggest thawing it in the fridge for five to 15 minutes before serving.

COVID-19 hasn’t been easy for local restaurants, but Janwar says he can’t complain about how his business is faring.

“We get a lot of support from the community, especially from people all around East Sac. Most of our regular customers are basically our neighbors.”

Cornflower Creamery

Buffalo Pizza and Ice Cream Co. is known for breakfast pizza and artisan ice cream, made by Cornflower Creamery.

Cornflower was founded in 2015 by Cynthia Broughton. The idea was to bring an all-natural, locally-sourced ice cream to Sacramento.

Ice cream flavors are seasonal, which means you can’t get strawberry ice cream in the winter — strawberries, like peaches and plums, are summer flavors.

A few flavors are available year round, like chocolate and vanilla. The lavender earl grey started as a springtime flavor but became perennial due to popular demand. It’s made from dried lavender flowers, which allowed Broughton to continue the flavor throughout the year.

“Generally, what we put in ice cream is the real deal,” said Broughton.

“If I make the baklava ice cream, I make the baklava,” she said. “The nuts are hand-toasted — I put them in the oven and toast them.”

Broughton makes her ice cream the same way she likes to eat. She buys organic ingredients whenever possible and avoids foods that are highly processed or high in sugar.

Sugar is somewhat of a given when it comes to ice cream. “In order for ice cream to freeze and be scoop-able, you have to use a portion of sugar or fat,” Broughton said. But if you use more fat, you can use a lot less sugar. So Cornflower makes its ice cream with high-fat dairy.

Buffalo is known for its vegan options for both for pizza and ice cream. Vegan ice cream is made with a coconut milk base and includes flavors like guava and matcha green tea. Buffalo sells ice cream by the pint ($9.95) or by the scoop ($4.75 for a single and $6.95 for a double).

Devil May Care

Devil May Care Ice Cream and Frozen Treats is located in West Sacramento, with a second shop expected to open in downtown Sacramento in November.

The second shop will be bigger in both size and scope, according to owner Jess Milbourn. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the West Sacramento location sells ice cream by the pint only. Milbourn estimated the shop will seat about 15 customers, and there’s enough production space to make ice cream sandwiches, baked goods and other desserts. A house-made root beer will be on draft for floats.

Milbourn takes a pragmatic view when it comes to ice cream. “Our goal is not to make an ice cream that is farm-to-fork or organic or anything like that,” he said. “We just want to make delicious ice cream.”

So he doesn’t insist on baking his own cookie crumbs for the cookies n’ cream ice cream flavor.

“We find that Oreos just work better than anything we could come up with,” he said. “We tried making them awhile ago. At the end of the day, the best that I could do just tasted about as good as an Oreo.”

Some ingredients are made in-house, like their toffee, or the red candy for the candy apple flavor ice cream.

Devil May Care’s ice cream is dense, thick and creamy, according to Milbourn. It reminds some customers of gelato.

And the flavors are bright and intense. “If it’s a coffee ice cream, it’s going to taste like a very strong cup of coffee,” said Milbourn.

The flavors rotate often, and no flavor is guaranteed to make it onto the menu. There are a couple of mainstays, like chocolate and vanilla. And fall and winter flavors will be rotated in more often as the season changes. Pumpkin pie begins showing up in November, followed by egg nog in December.

Ice cream has always been a hobby for Milbourn. As a kid, he churned out batches in his backyard with an old hand-crank ice cream maker. These days, ice cream is a way for him to keep a foot in the food business.

Milbourn majored in government and planned to go to law school. Instead, he ended up in culinary school and eventually opened his own restaurant in West Sacramento, The Eatery.

“Ice cream was a way to get out of the hustle and bustle and grind of a restaurant, but still be able to do something that I enjoyed,” Milbourn said.

When he opened Devil May Care in West Sacramento, he thought of it as a trial balloon. He wanted to know if he could make an ice cream that people liked and were willing to buy.

“From there, we just let it happen organically,” he said. “We just kind of create and go with the flow, true to the Devil May Care branding.”

If you go

Yume Gelato: https://www.facebook.com/yumegelatosacramento, 5921 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento

Cornflower Creamery: https://www.cornflowercreamery.com, 2600 21st St., Sacramento

Devil May Care: https://www.devilmaycareicecream.com, 322 3rd St., West Sacramento