Manhattan Beach Creamery

Twenty-eight flavors a day, churned in small batches, and one ice cream sandwich that outgrew the shop: the case does the talking at this Manhattan Beach creamery.

Small batches and a signature sandwich

The freezer is the menu. Ice cream is made by hand in small batches with fresh ingredients, with 28 flavors on any given day and new ones rotated in often, so even a single scoop turns into a choice. Cakes and the Cream’wich sit alongside the scoops as the other two pillars.

The Cream’wich is the house invention, an artisan ice cream sandwich built from cookies made by the family’s other business, Katella Bakery, around Manhattan Beach Creamery ice cream. Created in 2012, it became the signature quickly enough that packaged versions were soon being run out to local beach shops from the back of cars.

A counter built for choosing

Service flow shapes the room more than decor does. The visit is a sequence: read the case, ask about the day’s flavors, taste, then decide between a cone to walk with and a pint to take home. If a favorite is not in the case, it may be waiting in the pint freezer, and a specialist behind the counter will point you there.

Beyond scoops and pints, the creamery runs a two-hour private event for children, with a behind-the-scenes look at how the ice cream is made, a tour of the creamery, sampling across the range, and decorating and dipping treats in flowing chocolate fountains. It reads as a working dessert counter with production and merchandising in plain view, not a table-service dining room.

Order the Cream’wich first, then think about cake

Start with the Cream’wich, which the shop calls its original artisan ice cream sandwich: Katella Bakery cookies around the creamery’s own ice cream. Since 2012 it has been the most specific thing to order here, the one that tastes of this shop rather than of scoop shops in general.

Ice cream cakes are the other specialty, and the builds are worth knowing before you order. Birthday Cake layers vanilla cake with rainbow sprinkles, yogurt chips and Super Sonic ice cream. Double Chocolate stacks chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, mini chocolate chips and chocolate crumbles. Mint Chip pairs chocolate cake with Mint Chip ice cream and more chips. Cookie’s and Cream runs chocolate cake, Oreo crumbles and Cookies N’ Cream ice cream. The vegan cake uses a vegan Oreo crust with coconut-based cookies and cream ice cream, mini chocolate chips and Oreos on top.