Cauldon Ice Cream, 4646 Convoy Street, San Diego, California 92111
By Sandi Masori
SAN DIEGO — On a recent trip to Kearny Mesa, my younger son by happenstance walked into the most incredible ice cream place I’ve ever been to. When we first walked in we didn’t understand what was going on. There was no counter of flavors, and there were a whole bunch of weird looking machines and some of them had smoke flowing out.
Then we saw the menu. It’s a simple menu, with only a handful of flavors, but flavors that you don’t see everyday, like Earl Grey Lavender and Vietnamese Coffee. Then you have the option of a regular cup, a waffle cone, or a puffle. A puffle is a cross between a pancake and a waffle I guess, it’s kinda puffy and has bubbles instead of the depressed squares a waffle would have. It’s hard to explain, but maybe you can see it in the photo.
I ordered the Smores in a puffle, Shor ordered the Earl Grey Lavender in a red velvet puffle and Sky ordered the “Cauldron” flavor in a cup. Cauldron flavor was basically vanilla, cinnamon, Oreo – so I guess it was what you would get if you marry a churro and an oreo.
Anyway, once you order, then you see what’s really going on. They go and get a big mixing bowl and put the raw ingredients in it, cream, flavor, mix-ins. Then they mix it up and the magic happens. They freeze it on the spot with liquid nitrogen. And then, because this place was obviously made for instagram, they shape the scoop of ice cream into a rose.
The presentation was awesome, the staff was friendly, and the ice cream was surprisingly good. Sky declared it his new favorite ice cream place and set the policy that we would go there whenever we were seeking ice cream and willing to leave our neighborhood.
The only drawback to the place is the parking situation. The parking lot is one of the smallest and busiest in San Diego. The entire strip mall is eateries and there is not nearly enough parking to support it. So be prepared to find a spot on the street or drive around for a bit. Other than that, it was surprising and awesome.
So what score would we give it, you may wonder? Shor gave it a 10, saying that he was really impressed, Sky gave it a 9.999999 because “nothing is perfect,” and as for me, well it came pretty darn close to a 10, but I’m still holding on to that achievement, so it gets a 9.75
We will definitely be back!
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Masori is the food and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World. When she’s not hanging with her kids or trying new places to eat, she’s busy helping aspiring authors self-publish their books. If you want to reach Sandi either for a review or to talk about self publishing she can be reached at sandimasori@gmail.com