Liz & Danny Cortes opened a new mobile ice cream business last week, just in time for a summer of serving up ice cream around the Miami Valley. You’ll see Dayton’s first-ever rolled ice cream truck, e I Heart Ice Cream, all over town this summer.
A Dayton native, Liz shares she comes from a family of entrepreneurs and she has fond memories of her grandmother’s vintage ice truck, which inspired their business choice. This husband and wife team are veterans of the food service business and during the pandemic they decided to make plans to launch their own family business. So they commissioned a 6 x 10 trailer to be built with a 1950’s look to serve a delicious sweet cream liquid based ice cream that is poured onto a frozen pan and then chopped, mixed, spread and rolled right in front of you!
Danny says when they were doing research they had a friend in Thailand that told him about rolled ice cream and they where seeing it in other big cities, so they are excited about being something new to the food truck scene in the Miami Valley. They pour a fresh cream based sweet vanilla onto a frozen stainless plate, mix it up with ingredients, like oreo’s and chocolate sauce, pressed flat and in a couple of minute it’s pressed out and then rolled into strips of frozen ice cream.
They feature 10 different flavors including vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter, cotton candy, cake batter, strawberry and they even have a vegan option. They have a menu featuring a dozen suggestions,
like the Strawberry & Banana Rolls pictured here– Sweet Cream Vanilla Base + Banana + Strawberry Syrup. Topped with Whipped Cream, Strawberry Drizzle, Strawberry Pocky Stick, Banana & Strawberry Garnish.
Since it’s a true family business, they’ve used their children, Ezra- 5 years old and Inez – 2 year olds as taste testers, a job they are very willing to take on.
Here’s where you can find the I Heart Ice Cream cart this weekend:
5/28 4-8pm Xenia Food Truck Rally
5/31- 2-6pm Idol Swim Club Opening Day
or check their website calendar for future dates.