Ice Cream News

New dessert shop in Plano swirls out the hottest new trend in ice cream

Swirl and swirl for days.

Photo courtesy of Sugar Pine

Thai-style rolled ice cream is so 2017. And froyo what? The rising trend is soft-serve ice cream, and there's a brand new place to get it: Sugar Pine Creamery is an ice cream and bubble tea shop that opened in January in Plano, at 6832 Coit Rd., in a strip center at the corner of Legacy Drive.

At Sugar Pine Creamery, their goal is to create soft-serve ice cream that goes beyond traditional chocolate and vanilla, with flavors that blend Eastern and Western tastes.

"We do a chocolate flavor, but always with a twist," says spokesperson Jessica Lionarda. "This week it's chocolate hazelnut, which tastes like Nutella, but better."

Future chocolate spinoffs include hot chocolate with marshmallow and chile chocolate — "perfect for Valentine's Day," Lionarda says.

Their daily menu features six flavors, two of which are always dairy-free. And they rotate flavors in and out.

This week's lineup includes chocolate hazelnut, rose, black sesame, and salted caramel; the dairy-free flavors are limoncello and honeydew.

Any cup or cone comes with choice of toppings from a dozen options such as chocolate sprinkles, dark chocolate wafer, colorful star-shaped sprinkles, and toasted coconut. They also rotate in toppings to match flavors. For example, a recent combo consisted of mascarpone soft-serve ice cream with an option to get crumbled potato chips. Mmmm.

Their bubble tea is a dairy-free milk tea in flavors such as taro, honeydew, salted caramel, and hazelnut; they also offer regular iced tea with yummy flavor options such as strawberry and green apple.

Beyond the uniqueness of their flavors, they also stand out thanks to their cones, imported from The Konery, an artisanal cone maker from Brooklyn which offers an array of distinctive flavors. Sugar Pine regularly offers four: cinnamon brown sugar, midnight vanilla, salted blue corn, and pink vanilla.

Their cones boast vibrant colors that turn the ice cream into a visual treat. "They're also dairy-free," Lionarda says.

The cone was part of the inspiration for their name: The sugar pine is the tallest pine tree, with the longest cones of any conifer, and is itself shaped like a cone.

Soft serve wasn't even part of their original plan. They started out wanting to do a bubble tea place, but became entranced with the idea of soft-serve; it soon evolved to become a dominant part of their concept.

"Soft-serve is still a new idea for a lot of people," Lionarda says. "We get people who come in and see the swirl and mistake it for frozen yogurt. But we wanted to do ice cream."

desserts ice-cream

Sushi News

Fun conveyor-belt sushi restaurant debuts at McKinney mixed-use

Photo by Jakob Layman for Kura Sushi

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A Japanese-inspired restaurant that brings you sushi on a conveyor belt is now open in McKinney: Called Kura Revolving Sushi, it’s located at 8585 W. University Dr. #150 in the West Grove mixed-use development, where it debuts on April 25, with an opening party taking place all weekend from April 25-27.

"We are thrilled to open our sixth DFW location in McKinney, which is one of the fastest growing cities in the country with a population that's increasingly diverse and open to new culinary experiences," says Chief Development Officer Robert Kluger in a statement. "We believe the West Grove shopping center is the perfect place to share our authentic Japanese dining experience with this growing community."

Kura Sushi USA was established in 2008 and has grown to be the largest revolving sushi chain: Small plates of sushi and sides are placed on a conveyor belt that snakes around the restaurant, allowing customers to grab items as they pass by.

They have more than 100 menu items, including sushi, ramen, and popular Asian starters like edamame and wontons. Each item is charged separately starting at $3.45 a plate.

There are two conveyors as follows:

Revolving Sushi Bar. The primary belt that snakes through the dining area, with plates of sushi that are protected by the chain's Mr. Fresh ventilated sushi lid. They say it limits airborne exposure and has plate-tracking technology that monitors how long the item has been circulating, ensuring food remains fresh.
Express Belt. Referred to as the "sushi highway," the express belt is positioned above the primary belt and is used to deliver special orders.

Bikkura Pon Prizes
An integral part of Kura Sushi USA’s tech interactive dining experience, Bikkura Pon is a machine that dispenses prizes after customers dispose of their plates properly. A touch panel registers the number of sushi plates dispensed into the plate disposal slot. After five plates, a short animation plays; after every fifteen plates, a prize such as a keychain or phone mount pops out.

Kura has more than 550 locations in Japan, U.S., and Taiwan. There are 70 locations in 20 states and Washington D.C. McKinney is the sixth location to open in DFW; other locations include Carrollton, Euless, Plano, Frisco, and Fort Worth.

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