By Kristina on July 13, 2017 in Edible East Bay
For a different kind of ice cream goodness, head down to the lower part of Solano in Albany to Mr. Dewie’s, a cheery ice cream parlor with red tables and chairs out front. A second shop is now open at the Public Market in Emeryville, in a shipping container inside the market. Shop owners and brothers Ari and Andrew Cohen, a friendly and outgoing pair, grew up in North Berkeley. They were regular customers of both McCallum’s and Ortman’s, two local ice cream purveyors some readers might remember. In an email, Ari reminisced, “We used to play at Thousand Oaks school and go to Ortman’s for slushies. At McCallums, we’d go to birthday parties and order the ‘sink,’ which was, as you can imagine, as big as a sink and filled with every conceivable flavor and topping under the sun. It was pretty cool, and pretty gross at the same time!” While in high school, Ari worked at Bott’s, an old ice cream store in the Elmwood district, owned by the fellow who currently owns Fentons ice cream.
All that experience served them well, and the brothers have developed a big following for their vegan, non-dairy cashew milk ice cream made from organic ingredients in flavors like Chocolate Orange Chip, Tumeric Spice, Green Tea, and their most popular flavor, Caramel Almond. Most items (including cones) are gluten-free. (And if you’re curious about the name, “Mr. Dewie” was a character Ari played in a music video made with his brother Andrew many years ago.)
Ari (left) and Andrew Cohen serve up Mr. Dewie’s vegan, non-dairy cashew milk ice cream on Solano Avenue in Albany. Photo courtesy of Mr. Dewie’s.
For more local ice cream lore, read our article Sweet, Cold, and Unforgettable Pleasure.
