Ice Cream News
Artisan ice creamery wheels out of Austin food truck park for good
There's a break in the soft-serve cosmos, as ice cream kings Cow Tipping Creamery have shut down their truck at 2512 Rio Grande St.
Cow Tipping is set to move to a permanent space at 4715 S. Lamar Blvd., where they'll open a stand inside Cane Rosso, the Dallas-based Neapolitan pizza chain making its Austin debut in the old St. Philip space, which closed in 2015.
But the closure of their truck comes as a bit of a surprise. Owners Corey and Tim Sorensen initially anticipated keeping the food truck going simultaneously with the new bricks-and-mortar spot. But they confirmed that they would instead pull out the food truck altogether, which is run by their son. "We're looking at other things to do with the truck," says spokesman Jeff Amador.
The Sorensens first launched their ice cream truck in 2012 off Highway 620, before moving to the Rio Rancho food court in early 2013. They quickly won a following for the creativity and quality of their goods, from their distinctive soft-serve in rotating flavors like green tea and red velvet, to their signature "stackers," ice cream sundaes topped with house-made sauces in flavors like brown sugar hot fudge.
Amador previously lived in Austin and was a big Cow Tipping fan. He urged his boss Jay Jerrier to check them out, and that led to the idea of opening a Cane Rosso in Austin.
Since Jerrier founded Cane Rosso in 2011, the restaurant has taken Dallas by storm — earning acclaim for its VPN-certified pizza and high-quality, locally sourced toppings. When Cane Rosso opens in Austin, it will join Pieous in Dripping Springs, the only other VPN-certified pizzeria in Austin.
"We fell in love with what Cow Tipping does," Jerrier says. "We thought pizza and ice cream would be good together, so we talked about partnering, maybe open in Dallas and Houston, and decided it made sense for us to join together."
They opened the first Cow Tipping Creamery stand in March 2016 in Dallas, inside Good 2 Go Taco, a popular taqueria. They've had great success in a town that doesn't have much in the way of ice cream.
But the space there is limited, and the Sorensens look forward to the Austin brick-and-mortar location affording the opportunity to expand their menu. In addition to a walk-up window with counter and outdoor seating, they'll have a take-away freezer of ice cream cakes and other treats.
Cow Tipping Creamery will debut its new shop on Thursday, June 30. The target date for the opening of Cane Rosso is sometime later this summer; meanwhile, the first Cane Rosso in Houston just opened in the Heights.
