N'Ice Cream - Costa Mesa

You may have noticed from recent posts that I've been haunting the OC Mart Mix like a loiterer, as if nothing else has been going on in the OC food scene. It's not that I'm necessarily obsessed with it; it's just that it seems the current epicenter of interesting eats.

People have called it the new The Camp. I'd have to agree. The concentration of the eclectic and the unique reminds me of it. But at the same time, it's also different since it's mostly an indoor swap meet maze not unlike those at LA's Garment District, but kookier and a lot more hipster.

Most people congregate to OC Mart Mix for Portola Coffee Lab. Me? It'll mostly be for N'Ice Cream. This diminutive gelato counter makes one of the best flavors of ice cream ever: salted caramel.

The color is of rust. You'll know it's the most popular flavor here, trumping even the Greek yogurt drizzled with real honey, because it's almost always about to run out.

It's the salt that makes it great, zapping your tongue like a fully-charged defibrillator, shocking it from stasis like no ice cream has done before. After that, the rich and calming caramel comes, slowly subsiding as it melts and dissolves down your gullet. It's a spoonful you'll want to repeat, again and again. In fact, every other flavor you try after you lick up the salted caramel will taste as dull as plain milk, sort of like a typical strip mall compared to the OC Mart Mix.

N'ice Cream
3313 Hyland Ave. Ste C
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

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