Foggi Ice Cream – Made With Nitrogen

Foggi’s Ice Cream’s Dragon Breath. Photo by Sarah Golder.

Cruising down Johnson Dr., you can’t miss Foggi Ice Cream’s rainbow sign. But this isn’t your ordinary Baskin Robbins — Foggi creates their frozen desserts using nitrogen.

Immediately upon entering the neon green shop, I was greeted with a friendly smile from co-owners and step brothers, Frank Nguyen and Von Mounivong.

After reading through the 15 different flavor options, I decided on two fan favorites – strawberry cheesecake ice cream and caramel con leche cheesecake ice cream. The two small cups I ordered totaled out to only $8, an affordable price compared to my usual small $5 cookie dough concrete from Foo’s.

Each flavor was made with milk and their “special ingredient” to which different toppings were added depending on the flavor. For people whose stomachs rumble at the sight of milk, they offer dairy-free ice cream.Then the mixture is moved to a stainless steel bowl where nitrogen is added and chilled to 320 degrees for 30 seconds.

Once frozen, the fresh ice cream is scooped and garnished with toppings corresponding to the flavor. At the pickup counter you can drizzle different sauces including caramel, white chocolate and chocolate on your ice cream.

The consistency of the ice cream was creamier and thicker than your ordinary Blue Bunny strawberry cheesecake dessert. It’s buttery-soft texture seemed to instantly melt into a rich cream on my tongue. Both cups held the same consistency so my preferred combination came down to my favorite flavor – caramel.

After devouring my ice cream, I tried  “dragon breath”– a common California trend that has been flooding my Instagram feed. It’s basically just frozen cereal that creates a cloud of smoke after biting down. A cup of about eight cereal balls cost $5. According to Mounivong, when the frozen cereal meets your warm mouth, smoke forms and comes out of your nose and mouth. Even though it was basically glorified balls of cereal, the “dragon breath” feature was certainly not something you’d find at TCBY or Betty Rae’s.

After finishing my ice cream and impersonating a dragon, I made my way to a photo booth with the Foggi Coffee and Ice Cream logo. After posing for four photos, I got to pin my pictures along a wall filled with photos of previous customers, another feature unique to Foggi.

Frank and Von explained that they plan to open two to three more locations around Kansas City near either Town Center or Olathe.

If you’re looking for a treat creamier than your average cup of ice cream, then Foggi ice cream will deliver a unique experience without making a dent in your bank account.