A Surprise All-Vegan Ice Cream Shop Opens in Just Weeks in Trendy Silver Lake

A new all-vegan ice cream shop called Creamo is opening soon in Silver Lake, right on Sunset Boulevard. The surprise dairy-free opening comes by way of Mark Trombino, who already owns the growing sweets company Donut Friend in Highland Park and Downtown LA. Trombino has been making vegan doughnuts for years now, and began testing out his all-vegan ice cream at his shops in recent months.

Creamo takes over the closed MatchaBar space at 3534 Sunset Boulevard, right next door to Mh Zh in the heart of Silver Lake proper. Trombino tells Eater that within the 600-square-foot space, he and his team plan to serve anywhere from 10 to 16 flavors at any time, with more coming on the menu and rotating as time goes on.

The ice cream base is made out of soy, and Trombino says it retains its texture much better than other retail vegan ice cream options. “I focused really hard on simple, basic flavors,” he says via email, “instead of relying on mix-ins or strong flavors to cover up the alternative milks.” Trombino previously tried out a few flavors at Smorgasburg’s vegan day last fall.

The plan is to open Creamo sometime in the first week of March, keeping hours from roughly noon to 8 p.m. Meanwhile, the ice cream wars continue in the Silver Lake and Los Feliz neighborhoods, as names like McConnell’s, Ample Hills, and a variety of frozen yogurt shops have all come and gone in recent years. Others, like the long-awaited Smitten out of San Francisco, never even opened after years of delays and an increasingly saturated artisanal ice cream scene in greater Los Angeles. The prominently-placed Jeni’s location on Hillhurst, however, is still going strong.

• Ample Hills Creamery Closes Flagship Los Feliz Location After 15 Months [ELA]