Secret ice cream spots popping up in the Twin Cities

Ice cream, the staple summer dessert, can be found in your supermarket. The slow-moving truck with the familiar jingle or the ice cream parlor in your neighborhood. 

But what if there was a speakeasy-style ice cream shop?

Award-winning food writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl says three new ice cream scoop shops have opened in the Twin Cities with a particularity: They are hiding in plain sight.

She joined MPR News host Tom Crann to talk about three of them and how their owners are finding ways to sell ice cream without a big cash investment.

• The Minnesota Dairy Lab has a secret scoop shop at The Painted Turtle on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. Their current ice cream menu offers a variety of flavors, from classics like vanilla, to more originals like malted heath bar. Moskowitz Grumdahl herself counted 10 buckets of Minnesota Dairy Lab ice cream.

• Little Bird Gelato is a project launched by Steve McMullen, head chef of the Danny del Prado restaurant Porzana. The scoop shop supplies many of Danny del Prado’s best restaurants and is also part of Café Cerés in Minneapolis. Moskowitz Grumdahl says Little Bird Gelato has a three-bucket scoop line in two of their locations.

• The Purple Scoop is a scoop shop initiative launched this summer by James Beard nominated pastry Chef Shawn McKenzie. You can find Purple Scoop ice cream at Rustica Bakery & Cafe near Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis.

Click on the player above to hear the full interview.