When Pixar featured Fentons Creamery in Up (2009), locals instantly recognized a beloved East Bay ice cream parlor. My memories of Fentons include at least one birthday celebration there and many more late nights standing in line for incredibly large scoops or even larger sundaes. In her semi-autobiographical film Ladybird, Greta Gerwig featured Gunther’s Ice Cream, Sacramento’s equivalent.
Going out for ice cream is a sentimental journey. One that’s tied to childhood and family gatherings. When residents from both areas talk about Fentons or Gunther’s, it’s always with affection.
Nutchapol Phaungjit and his wife, Suphaluk Moontha, were considering opening a boba store before they opened Melt Me Creamery. But when they were living in Sacramento, the couple went to Gunther’s. Phaungjit told me his career-altering reaction to the ice cream parlor was, “Oh my god, this place is so wonderful. It seemed like the place where people came to hang out. They grab a cone and are happy.” That sense of a community coming together inspired the couple to consider making ice cream instead of bubble tea.
With a new plan in mind, the couple bought an ice cream maker to experiment with the process at home. They subsequently secured a lease on MLK, in the same storefront which used to house Ono Bakery and, before that, Secret Scoop. Phaungjit reached out to the owner of Secret Scoop, a Thai gelato shop that closed in 2020, “to get advice about how to turn it back into an ice cream shop,” he said.
Phaungjit and Moontha operate the business themselves, and sleep a few short hours every night while Melt Me launches. Since opening last month, they’ve been selling out of one or two flavors a day. “Our kitchen is small,” Phaungjit said. “We do small batches.” After they make the base, the ice cream is refrigerated overnight. The next day they churn it before freezing it for up to five hours. Then it’s ready to serve.
“Even when you’re done with the day and the last customer walks out of the store, you can’t just clean the ice cream machine and go home,” he said. “We have to start making ice cream after the doors close for the next five or six hours—otherwise, we’d have nothing to sell.”
Moontha thought that 16 flavors was a reasonable starting point for the whole menu. Practically speaking, they’re keeping 12 flavors in the store, which includes a monthly flavor rotated in. Korean Corn Coffee Latte was July’s, and customers are still asking for it. I tried August’s flavor, which just happened to be my favorite: Coffee with Chocolate Chips.
Ice cream is also popular in Thailand. Phaungjit attributes that to the hot climate, which he described as “summer all year.” He added that it’s completely different from what we eat in the United States. “The flavors in Thailand are mostly made from fruit. Our menu is mostly Asian-inspired flavors,” he said. Although the flavor that’s put Melt Me on the social media map is their Cheddar Cheese with Walnut Pralines.
Moontha came up with the idea for the cheese ice cream. She first tried the flavor in her hometown, Chiang Mai. But it wasn’t easy to duplicate the recipe. Each brand of cheddar cheese contains different ingredients, and that affects the flavor and the texture. Moontha is happy with the version they’ve come up with, even if it doesn’t taste exactly like the one she remembers from home.
Pinkberry is really strawberry but they changed the name because, as Phaungjit explained, “we really put a lot of strawberry in it until the color changes to a darker pink.” For now Melt Me isn’t making pandan as its own unique flavor, but the couple does infuse it into the Mango Sticky Rice base. It’s one of two non-dairy vegan options made with coconut and/or oat milk. The other is Thailand’s most popular ice cream, Bangkok Summer Scoop, which combines coconut milk, jackfruit, palm seeds and macapuno.
Melt Me Creamery, 1918 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley. Open Mon-Thu, 3–9pm; Fri-Sun, noon to 9pm. 510.936.6456. IG: @meltme.creamery.
