Mexican ice cream offered at S.S.F. cafe
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- "Hey. Welcome to the Puddle!" greets Nancy Rosales as customers enter her small eatery.
The brightly painted, tangerine-colored walls make you think of ordering orange sherbet, but you won't find any in this ice cream shop and cafe, known as The Puddle of the Frogs.
Instead, you can enjoy homemade, authentic-tasting Mexican ice cream created using her grandmother Elvida's recipes.
"I've been eating ice cream like a madwoman," said Rosales, who is, oddly enough, still thin.
Aside from her family recipes, the 30-year-old creates her own flavors. So there's always a series of trials and errors.
"After doing something for 11 years, I needed a change of pace," Rosales said.
The cafe is modeled after a popular eatery in Mexico City also called "El Charco," translated to "the puddle of frogs." Rosales decided to bring the concept to South San Francisco because of its large Latino community and the cheap rent.
Rosales refinanced her San Francisco home and, with the help of consultant Guillermo Morales, used the money to open up in a small space -- formerly a jewelry store -- that only allows for two small round tables for customers.
Aside from the large painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe hanging from the far wall, drawings colored in by kids who want a scoop of free ice cream are taped everywhere.
Pepito, an icon, is the eatery's mascot and a popular joke- teller in the Latin culture, Rosales said.
"He tells clean jokes and dirty jokes," she said, smiling. "I'm focusing on the clean jokes for the kids."
No one has ever put a face to Pepito. So she made him into a smiling frog, wearing a sombrero and poncho, and holding an ice cream cone to match the theme of her cafe.
Rosales has high hopes for her business, which currently employs three other people.
She makes the ice cream every Monday, mostly from fresh fruit. Her popsicles are 100 percent fruit juice. Rosales said popular flavors are the sweet potato, cactus root and mamey. Mamey is a seasonal fruit that tastes like a combination of mango and sweet potato.
Customers can also create their own ice cream flavors.
In May 2008, she hopes to start distributing her ice cream to supermarkets, and has even sold her rum & raisin and mango ice creams to Ristorante Buon Gusto, which is a few doors down from her.
"Everybody loved it," said Vincenzo Vecchiola, co-owner of the Italian restaurant. "It's got that flavor of freshness of being just made. It's not heavy. The more you eat, the more you want to eat."
Staff writer Christine Morente covers faith, families and North County. She can be reached at 650-348-4333 or at cmorente@bayareanewsgroup.com.
