This is a really good week for Berkeley ice cream fans. Yesterday, we found out the former Ici Ice Cream shop in Elmwood will become a new Berkeley outpost for Humphry Slocombe, and today, we found out another ice cream business is taking over the second Ici location (2079 University Ave.) in downtown Berkeley.
According to Eater, San Francisco’s Milkbomb Ice Cream will make its first foray into the East Bay with this second location in Berkeley. The original Milkbomb was opened in 2017 in Potrero Hill by owners Jan-Michael Manuel and Marion Valenzuela. The business offers a wide array of ice cream flavors, but is best known for its over-the-top ice cream donut sandwiches that can be loaded with a variety of sauces, sprinkles and other toppings. For the donut averse, Milkbomb also serves scoops in milkshakes, cups, or cones, which come in flavors like red velvet, lavender, birthday cake, green tea and charcoal.
Milkbomb has not yet announced an opening date, but it will be joining another ice cream donut sandwich business expanding into the East Bay. I Scream Donuts plans to open the first week of March in Temescal. While you wait for those two to open, you can head to Castro Valley’s Milk and Cookie Bar for donut ice cream sandwiches, or closer to home, there’s Vegan Donut Gelato, just east of Lake Merritt, which serves a dairy and egg-free gelato donut sandwich and Sweet Belly in Uptown Oakland, which serves ice cream topped with mini donuts.
