By Emily G. Peters
We know you just made your resolution to get in shape in 2019, but we’ve already got your cheat day ready at The Pond Ice cream in Arcadia.
Barely a year old, The Pond is all about soft serve with an instagram-worthy swish. It started when coffee shop owner Nancy Lien pivoted from beans to creams to explore flavors from her travels across the Pacific—AKA “the pond.”
“To Nancy, there’s no age to ice cream. She wanted to have a product that could be readily available to anyone at any time,” said The Pond marketing manager Brian Zheng. Open late (the boutique closes most nights at 10 p.m.), Lien focused on satisfying ice cream cravings no matter what time they occurred with Asian-oriented flavors like matcha, milk tea and edible charcoal waffle cones. Accessibility was a necessity, too.
“When developing the menu, Nancy didn’t want to exclude people who might be lactose intolerant, so she incorporated a dairy-free alternative for those who can’t digest milk,” said Zheng.
Ice cream flavors at The Pond shift monthly, with a few standards constantly in the mix. So far the options are somewhat limited, but change keeps it interesting.
“One of our most popular ice creams is the Cocoa Bay; it’s coconut based but tastes more like chocolate,” said Zheng, whose personal favorite is the milk tea. “Nancy definitely wants to expand the menu and has many recipes in mind that she plans on releasing next year. With luck, visitors will find something new to try each time they come in.”
Where The Pond adds variety is the toppings, from condensed milk to Froot Loops and more (we recommend adding Rice Crispies for more crunch without too much sweetness). Every cone or cup is topped with a jaunty Goldfish cracker for obvious reasons. Classic ice cream scoops in favorite flavors like chocolate and vanilla are available, but soft serve is where The Pond shines.
“We made the choice to go with soft serve because itcomplements our aesthetic the best,” explained Zheng. “It’s smooth, not too sweet, and gives the customer some creativity to pick out their own toppings to bring out different elements: crunchy, creamy, salty, refreshing.”
So the next time you’ve hit a goal at the gym, celebrate with a dip in The Pond—no one there will judge you.
The Pond Ice Cream is located at 55 E. Duarte Road #103 in Arcadia. For more information, contact The Pond team at thepond.business.site | (626) 869-8669 and follow along on Instagram and Facebook @thepondicecream.
