It’s always ice cream weather in Portland, but there’s nothing like a little sunshine to make ice cream taste extra sweet.
Luckily for us, Portland’s ice creameries are gearing up for spring. There’s a new location of a favorite from last summer, several new and returning flavors you will want to try and finally, a loyalty club for the ice cream diehards.
Kulfi opens a new location
One of Portland’s best frozen dairy dessert spots, Kulfi, is opening a second location on Saturday. What started as a personal project for Kiran Cheema, then a cart, and then a store on Northeast Alberta Street, is now a local chain.
Kulfi’s second storefront will be located at 3540 N. Williams Ave., in the former home of another Portland ice cream institution: What’s The Scoop? What’s The Scoop closed last August after 10 years.
Kulfi will be open from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from noon to 10 p.m. on weekends.
Kate’s Ice Cream and Salt & Straw announce seasonal flavors
Kate Williams, owner of Kate’s Ice Cream, stands in front of her vegan and gluten-free dessert shop in the Mississippi neighborhood of Portland on Thursday, March 10, 2022.Vickie Connor/The Oregonian
What better way to celebrate the change of the seasons than new (or returning) flavors. Kate’s Ice Cream, Portland’s all-vegan, all-gluten-free ice cream destination, announced four new flavors earlier this month: Blue Moon, Salted Chocolate Pretzel, Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake and Birthday Cake.
Portland classic Salt & Straw is also switching up the flavors, as they always do. April will be another edition of the company’s “Vault Series” flavors. Starting Friday, ice cream eaters can try Salt & Straw flavors from the past: Honey Marshmallow Rocky Road, Black Olive Brittle and Goat Cheese, Sweet Corn and Waffle Cones, Strawberry Cilantro Lime Cheesecake and Mango Habanero IPA Sorbet, which is vegan.
Nico’s has a new loyalty program for ice cream and fruit lovers
Nico’s Ice Cream serves New Zealand-style fresh fruit ice cream to customers at the brick-and-mortar shop along Northeast Fremont Street, pictured here on Friday, April 1, 2022.Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
Nico’s fans, rejoice. The New Zealand-style ice cream spot in Northeast is unveiling another reward for buying its ice cream.
“Nico’s Real Fruit Club” will be a rewards program to the max. Ice cream eaters will get a punch card and each card will have 60 punches. Every visitor can get one punch per visit and everyone needs their own punch cards.
Fill up one card? You get a “Real Fruit Club” hat. Two cards? A shirt. Three cards, a sweatshirt and four cards “a fun little spa package” from Knot Springs.
Remember, each card has 60 punches so if you have four cards, we are talking 240 visits to Nico’s, which means, with the cost of a kid’s cone being $4, to get to four cards, you would need to spend a minimum of $960. With tip, let’s say we’re over $1,000 no matter what.
But say you are in it to win it. If you make it to five cards, you get a custom nameplate in the Killingsworth shop. From there, the rewards go in tens. Ten cards, you get a “small custom item” from Orox Leather. With 20 cards, you get a custom pair of Nico’s Ice Cream x Converse shoes. Somehow, if you miraculously make it to 30 cards (at this point you’d be out a minimum of $7,200), you get a custom Orox Leather bag. Still going? At 40 cards, you get a custom Settlemiers Jackets x Nico’s varsity jacket. From there, at card 50, “You get to pick your favorite non-profit, and we will donate 100% of proceeds to them for a whole day.”
And then, finally, if you get to 100 cards ($24,000), according to the Instagram post about the new program: “Well, this one is a surprise …”
If you make it to 100 cards, please, send us a message and let us know what the surprise is.
— Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052; lacker@oregonian.com; @lizzzyacker
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