by Caitlin Abrams
ice cream shop with barrels out front
The Travail Collective has added to their group something more whimsical than an umbrella full of hanging meat: an ice cream shop called Dream Creamery.
When their MN BBQ closed last year, the team let the building sit empty while they mulled their best move. It didn't take long for them to figure it out, because they found a secret weapon: Nate Mickelson.
Mickelson is co-owner of the business and he's the ice cream savant, "I do this daily thing, I play a game called Where's The Middle of the Pint? I always lose!" He loves ice cream. No, he really loves ice cream. Yes, more than you.
Of course he has fond childhood memories of eating ice cream, that's what the whole place is based on. But he's one of those people that has found a creative lane with it, it's his medium.
"When I was a cook at Libertine with Tim McKee, we would have these whole animal dinners. One night Sameh Wadi was the guest chef, and at the end of the night he came in the kitchen and shouted 'Great job tonight! I'm opening an ice cream restaurant, who wants to come make ice cream in the mornings?!' Everyone kind of looked around, and I thought: I want to do that! So I threw my hand up."
That's where he met Ben Spangler, who Mickelson says helped change his life. "I went in for the interview and there he is, all tattooed and intimidating. So he asks me why I want to work there. I say: no one likes ice cream more than I do. He dead looks me in the eye and says: I like ice cream more than you do. So I said: No, you don't. To which he replied: you're hired."
Spangler and Mickelson opened Milkjam Creamery with Wadi during a cold January, and there was a line out the door. After Spangler left, and decided to open his own shop, Bebe Zito, he called Mickelson to join him. "I learned so much from Ben," Mickelson told me, "he's like a brother to me." But the partnership didn't work out and he left.
That's when he decided to pitch the idea of an ice cream ghost kitchen to the Travail guys. But as he said, "it wasn't grandiose enough for them." Besides, they had a building to fill which just happened to be in the neighborhood that Mickelson has lived in for the past 15 years.
buckets of ice cream
Dream Creamery is the antithesis of a ghost kitchen. It wants to be a spot that beats as the heart of the neighborhood. Co-owner Mike Brown told me, "There was this guy from the neighborhood who had been watching us renovate the space, and he popped in on one of our soft openings and said 'ooooh this is ice cream???'. He was our first triple scoop. That's like a pint of ice cream, man."
ice cream flavor signs
All the flavors have a story, that plays to the nostalgia for Mickelson's childhood. Grandma Jean's Oatmeal Cookie ice cream literally uses his grandma's recipe and it makes him think of her every time he scoops it. Movies With Shannon, which will debut this week, is an homage to his sister, "The first movie I ever saw in theaters was Aladdin, and she took me. She would shock the concession guys when she asked them to take the Milk Duds and layer them into the bucket of buttered popcorn when they were filling it." That's a killer hack. From that he's making a buttered popcorn flavored base ice cream with brown butter caramel ribbons and chunks of chocolate. Mercy.
burger, pint, ice cream
And we haven't even talked about the burger. There's an Oklahoma-style smash burger that has already lit up the MSP Burger boards. I'd eaten a whole dinner, with the intention of just snacking a bite off that thing, and ended up housing it. It's a worthy smashie. But, there's also a lobster roll (Mickelson did some time in the Smack Shack kitchen and knows his way around seafood too), cheese curds, and fries.
The 8-bit pixelated Mario vibe is all nostalgia for Mickelson, who was born in 1984 and grew up playing Nintendo. He thinks the neighborhood, which is full of families, will appreciate the nod. I think they'll appreciate the burger and hard-pack ice cream, and a place with picnic tables within walking distance. But having an ice scream savant who is giddy about each scoop he forms and smiles from ear to ear while doing it, that's also a nice neighborhood addition.
Dream Creamery is open Wed-Sun, from noon to 9pm. You can also find pints at Pizza Lucé. The team is looking for a few more scoopers and line cooks, so maybe get your best summer job ever. Also, I can't believe that this concept wouldn't make ANY neighborhood more magical, so I'm putting a nudge toward expansion, please.
