Cool creamy creations
Lodi’s newest ice cream parlor serves unique flavors
Horchata, Hot Cheetos and Vietnamese Coffee are not flavors one often sees offered at an ice cream parlor. Nor does an ice cream afficionado see a full slice of cheesecake or a doughnut top an ice cream cone.
But for Roderick and Aminda Tyler, these unique creations have become a passion for them.
The couple opened House of Ice Cream in Stockton three years ago, and are opening a Lodi location next week at 409 S. Cherokee Lane.
They held a soft opening on Friday, introducing themselves to the community and taking input on what customers might want to see at the parlor in the future.
“We’re just two young people who love ice cream,” Roderick Tyler said. “We’ll walk down the shopping aisle at the grocery store and whatever we see that looks crazy, we’ll pick it up and try it.”
How the Tylers came up with some of their out-ofthe-ordinary recipes is not too atypical — they just decided one day to mix things together and see how they turned out.
Some of their homemade concoctions include Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles ice cream, Cookie Monster and Animal Cracker Cookies ice cream.
“We just love to make crazy flavors,” Tyler said. “And we just love getting inspired by our childhood. A lot of our flavors are things we loved as kids, so we thought, ‘why not try them in ice cream?’”
Along with ice cream, the parlor has unique sorbet flavors as well, including mangonada, pink lemonade, pineapplenada and Sour Patch Kids.
The Tylers also offer waffle sandwiches filled with any ice cream flavor and topping, as well as ice cream filled glazed doughnuts.
Tyler said the most popular item they offer is the Crazy Milkshake, which is served in a mason jar — that customers keep — and is topped with an old fashioned doughnut and any other topping you can think of.
What makes House of Ice Cream special, Tyler said, is that he and his wife make all the ice cream in house, and they take suggestions from their patrons.
The horchata, nutter butter and Sour Patch Kids flavors were all customer suggestions that have become wildly popular, he said.
Lodi residents Madelyn Erickson and Curtis Ray said they were excited to learn Tyler would be opening a parlor closer to home after seeing an announcement on the establishment’s Instagram page.
“We’ve been to the Stockton one before,” Erickson said. “So we thought we’d come down and check it out.”
Erickson brought her daughter, Scarlett, and the pair shared a cup of Oreo ice cream. Ray tried the biscoff cookie, while his son, Ethan, also sampled the Oreo.
While she didn’t get one Friday, Erickson said her favorite item to order is the glazed doughnut filled with horchata ice cream, while Ray couldn’t decide.
“I try everything and I get something different each time,” he said. “I haven’t been disappointed yet.”
House of Ice Cream will be open 1 to 8 p.m. every day. For more information, visit www.houseoficecream.net.
“We just want people to know that we’re passionate about ice cream,” Tyler said. “Every type of ice cream we come up with is the best we can make.