….my 8th day traveling the west coast of California for C.Nelson Mfg., Company visiting great ice cream shops new and old.
Mission City Creamery, Santa Clara, California
Mission City Creamery, across from Santa Clara College in Santa Clara, CA – is a local neighborhood ice cream shop that makes wonderful tasting ice cream. Mission City Creamery is owned and operated by Chris Leahy a transplanted east coast boy who grew-up near, the Warren family’s Four Seas Homemade Ice Cream shop in Centerville, MA. Chris told me, tonight, that he always wanted to operate his very own ice cream shop from the days he was a kid – hanging out – at – the Four Seas Ice Cream shop.
Talking about his dream
Chris has been experimenting, for about 20 years, developing his own homemade ice cream recipes. Chris then tested those proven recipes out on his family and friends at his annual summer ice cream socials. Chris was not sure when he would open his own shop but he knew he had recipes – ready – for the day that would come soon.
This past January Chris finally had the chance to open his own shop and has been making ice cream ever since. Chris his wife and children have enjoyed the Santa Clara community as their home and Chris said “it felt right to open my dream ice cream shop here” in Santa Clara.
One of the cool things Chris did to his ice cream dipping cabinets was; he puts his homemade ice cream into gelato style pans, like what you see at Italian Gelato shops, this keeps his ice cream fresh, allows him to display more flavors, and it just looks cool.
I sampled a few of Chris’s great tasting flavors; Coffee, Honey Lavender, Coffee and Heath, Vanilla, and his most popular, Salted Caramel. I enjoyed all the flavors but my favorites were the Vanilla and Salted Caramel. All his ice creams start with an Organic ice cream base from Straus Family Creamery and then Chris adds his own special flavors and secret ingredients to make it, his special, ice cream creation.
I ordered a scoop of his Salted Caramel and sat down to listen to Chris tell me how the last 9 months have been a lot of fun. Chris enjoys it most when the children from the local school come in for their monthly ice cream visit. The entire class comes and the whole shop is filled with laughter and joy he said to me.
Chris started out with a small Emery Thompson batch freezer and moved up to a 20 quart Emery Thompson soon after he opened. He could not keep up with the demand he told me. He wanted to be out front with the customers and not stuck in the back all day making ice cream.
The Ice Cream Production room.
The state of California requires that homemade ice cream shops like Chris’s must have a separate ice cream production room that must be kept clean, he added a window to the room so customers could watch him making ice cream. He didn’t realize how much the children loved watching him make ice cream. They learned how ice cream was made and then they would enjoy the finished ice cream when he was finished.
This is my 8th day in California calling on ice cream shops and other related ice cream & yogurt businesses that service shops like Chris’s. Today I had the chance to visit San Francisco Food Supply of San Jose, CA a supplier of ice cream ingredients SFFS is operated by George Lyons. George is the gentlemen who introduced me to Chris Leahy. George really has all the fun because George gets to visit with Chris often and sample Chris’s new flavors.
George Lydon, former California Ice Cream Association President
You see George Lyons used to be involved with the famous Bud’s ice cream shop of Noe Valley for many years and operated his own family shop, Lydon’s Ice Cream, voted best of San Jose in 1997. George’s San Francisco style and skill of making homemade ice cream has helped his customers learn the craft of making quality ice creams.
George Lyons and Chris Leahy have made my 8th day here in California wonderful and I have learned a lot about making ice cream here in San Francisco. Did I tell you Chris also makes his own hot fudge chocolate topping WOW is it good!
If you stop by Chris Leahy’s Mission City Creamery please try the Salted Caramel it’s my favorite and remember what Chris’s wife once said…
….you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream…
and that’s almost the same thing!
To my new friends George and Chris I thank you both for making this day a great day for enjoying one of my favorites, homemade ice cream.
Thanks to you both…..
George Dunlap