With summer in full swing in Puget Sound and no sign of it letting up, a new ice cream joint has popped up in downtown Bellevue.
Quyen Dang opened FogRose in Soma North Tower in the heart of Bellevue earlier this year where her employees serve up ice cream flash-frozen with liquid nitrogen. Standard ice cream must be made, frozen and shipped, but with liquid nitrogen customers can pick their ingredients and have a cone or bowl made-to-order in front of them. Since the ice cream is constantly churned, it makes for smoother ice cream since ice crystals are broken down in the process.
“We don’t have to add preservatives for shelf life,” Dang said.
Liquid nitrogen has a temperature of minus 321 degrees and freezes ingredients on contact. Customers can choose between three bases for their ice cream, which include cream, custard and chocolate. From there, they pick a flavor ranging from olive oil to vanilla and quinoa before adding toppings. Quyen said their menu changes monthly to keep things interesting.
Customers can choose how they want their ice cream and watch as it is created in front of them. On one end of the small kitchen is a wall lined with jars holding a variety of ingredients. The store shares a market space with a poke restaurant and has a spacious shared lobby.
If everything goes according to plan, Quyen is hoping to open another location in the south tower. She envisions it as a desert-focused restaurant with custom cocktails.
Before opening FogRose, Quyen spent 11 years working as a civil engineer in both California and Washington. She moved to Puget Sound around seven years ago and fell in love with the area. After taking a year off from working to travel, she decided to start FogRose.
“I always wanted to do some kind of a small business but I didn’t know what,” she said.
She looks forward to serving up ice cream to Bellevue in a new way.
“I’m excited for the area in general, because I feel like in the last two years there has been a lot of new businesses coming into the area,” she said.
FogRose is located at 278 106th Ave. NE in the Soma Tower.