It’s the most perfect hot summer afternoon in Minneapolis. Crema Café's doors are propped open so I know they are ready to scoop their delicious ice creams and sorbets. Since May they have been open every day of the week. Growing up only three blocks away from Crema, going for dessert was the best treat any kid could imagine. In fact the entire neighborhood seems to be addicted to Sonny’s Ice Cream. Every night the café is filled with Lyndale neighborhood residents eating their favorite flavors. My dad for example can barely go a day without their chocolate sorbet. My mother is a fan of any flavor that includes wine such as the black berry cabernet, pear pinot grigio, or raspberry zinfandel. This afternoon a boy no older than fourteen came into the café wanting to take home a pint of his favorite flavor, chocolate covered strawberries. When he didn’t see any behind the glass case a look of panic crossed his face. Melissa, the barista, made an emergency call to the ice cream kitchen located behind the café. Within five minutes one of Crema’s owners and son of Sonny, Ron Siron, appeared with his arms full of ice cream pints fresh from production.

The side panel of Sonny’s pints tells the story of why their ice cream is so special:

Ice Cream just isn’t made like this anymore. Some say we’re crazy, but we prefer to call ourselves fanatically passionate. Our cream comes from small family farmers who follow strict sustainable-farming practices and humanely raise happy cows. We do things like marinate our cherries in fine red wine and peel our bananas when they’re perfectly ripe. In fact, many of our flavors take three days to prepare. We make each batch the old-fashioned way-slowly, a tiny amount at a time, and even hand-number every single pint. No massive factory here…simply four people in a small chef’s kitchen who truly love making ice cream and sorbet.

After Ron places the fresh pints in the cooler case I ask him what flavors I should expect in the fall. Everything they serve is seasonal and almost all of it is sourced from local growers and companies. Pumpkin ice cream and cucumber sorbet are on the fall line up. Next week they are featuring sorbet made from white currants hand picked forty five miles from the Twin Cities. Sonny’s offers one standing ice cream, their signature flavor, Crema. Crema is made by soaking coffee beans in the cream for a taste that is subtle, strong and smooth. Beginning in March of this year Sonny’s began using Peace Coffee for their Crema Ice Cream and for their brewed coffee and espresso drinks. The switch to Peace Coffee is part of a larger effort at Sonny’s and the café to go completely organic in all aspects of their operation. They are now Minnesota’s only certified organic ice cream and all the milk they purchase is from small Minnesota farmers.

Not only are the business practices at Sonny’s incredible but their café is a work of art. The interior features rotating artwork by local artists. A gorgeous marble top counter with stools creates an ideal location to read the paper while drinking a foamy cappuccino. An Italian style alleyway outside the café evokes a romantic walk in Venice complete with colorful flowers and candles on every table. Ornate metal work by a local artist, Lisa Elias, adorns the inside and outside of the café. A Japanese garden on the side of the café was a three year project. Finished, large carefully placed rocks rest near a bamboo water fountain. It is both mesmerizing and meditative to watch. Everything here is done with lots of care. You feel it right when you walk in. That’s why people keep coming back. Yeah, the ice cream, sorbets, cakes and coffees are superb but the ambience and the people working at Sonny’s are what makes it even more special. Many of the folks serving ice cream have worked at Crema for years. Melissa, tells me that working with ethical people in such a peaceful place has kept her working there. She says, "It’s almost infectious, how proud people are to work here." Clearly customers are equally as passionate about eating Sonny’s ice cream, as the employees are about working there. Any given night of the week during the summer a line wraps out the door of the café and the sidewalk tables in front are filled with contented ice cream eaters. 

One of the main attractions amongst the crowd of customers is Sonny Siron. Sonny started it all, making small batch ice cream over fifty years ago. These days he does less of the ice cream production, so he has more time to meet and greet customers. People come to see Sonny as much as they do to eat his ice cream. For many customers he is like a second grandpa. The café feels like an extension of his home and everyone is welcome to stop by for dessert and coffee. Visit Crema at 3401 Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis.

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