COMMUNITY
Los Ranchos creamery competes for America's Best Ice Cream
Cottonwood Creamery & Cookies is representing New Mexico in a national bracket-style tournament
This bracket looks a whole lot sweeter than the one from the World Cup.
鈥淪ince we got nominated, we're like, great, let's run with it,鈥� said Paul Meyer, owner of Cottonwood Creamery & Cookies alongside his wife, Irma Ruiz.
鈥淲e are not saying that we know we are the best homemade ice cream shop in America, but we can put a smile on to everyone鈥檚 face that enters our little shop.鈥� Meyer said.
Meyer and Irma were recently notified by The 64 online platform that their store had been selected to participate in an online bracket for the title of America鈥檚 Best Ice Cream.
The bracket is designed like a sports one: 64 ice cream stores are placed against each other and then proceed to the elimination round, depending on voting.
鈥淚 think it sounds kind of fun. It's like, let's get different brackets and then they dwindle down and then go to the final four,鈥� Meyer said.
The 64 is an online platform that hosts bracket-style tournaments across various industries in the country. Some of their latest tournaments include America鈥檚 Best Donuts, Hamburgers and Wellness Podcast.
鈥淯ltimately, it鈥檇 be great if the rest of the U.S. saw some of our culinary skills,鈥� Meyer said.
Meyer and Ruiz focus on having New Mexican-themed flavors, including Hatch green chile, praline pecans, biscochitos and sopapillas.
They rotate their flavors seasonally. In January, they had peanut butter and bacon ice cream for Elvis鈥� birthday.
鈥淲e鈥檙e telling a story with each ice cream. There鈥檚 a creative element every time,鈥� Meyer said.
Meyer, who co-wrote a book with his brother, finds storytelling to be an important part of the business. Whether it鈥檚 through the paintings and characters on the store鈥檚 wall or the flavors they sell.
Pat Silvers, who stopped in for a treat Friday evening with some friends, said she鈥檚 never had the same flavor twice at the store because there鈥檚 always something new to try.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so original,鈥� Silvers said. 鈥淰ery unusual combinations of flavors that you would not think to do but work really well.鈥�
The Journal had a taste of the Hatch green chile with vanilla ice cream and found it to be oddly good and tasty.
Cottonwood Creamery鈥檚 current opponent is Island Cream Co. in Lahaina, Hawaii. They鈥檙e currently on round of 32. Voting for the round ends Monday evening.
You can vote for Cottonwood Creamery鈥檚 & Cookies at til Aug. 3.
Karmina Conde is a news reporter for the Journal. You can reach her at kconderuiz@abqjournal.com
