Here’s the scoop: This might be the coolest thing I’ve done in Phoenix

An ice cream pop-up!!!!

Bryan Suarez

May 26, 2025

Ice cream pop up with Novel Ice Cream
Location TBD— we will be pulling the Ice Cream Truck up to an undisclosed location. Stayed tuned for details.
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I love ice cream. Always have. Always will.

Ice cream has been my constant companion through every season of this chaotic life. Good days- when the world feels manageable and the future seems bright. Bad days- when you're standing in your kitchen at 2 AM, eating directly from the container because bowls feel like too much effort and optimism. Ice Cream cones shared with someone you love reminded you why you fell for them in the first place. The ritual of it. The democracy of frozen cream and sugar. It was meant for us.

For the past couple months, I've been working on something quietly with Shawn from Novel. Just the two of us with an idea trying to make something happen in this heat-soaked desert we call home.

Shawn's got the kind of real passion you can't fake—the obsession that takes Novel from one shop to three, adds a truck not for Instagram clout but because the work demands it. His ice cream speaks a language that doesn't need translation. Some of the best you'll find anywhere, and that's not Phoenix pride talking. That's truth you can taste.

We didn't want to do another food pop-up. The city's drowning in pop-ups. We wanted something different. Something that acknowledged the coming heat—that brutal Phoenix summer that separates the committed from the tourists. Let's eat ice cream, we said. Let's hang out. Let's make a little mess and remember what simple pleasure feels like.

We’re dropping two flavors:

HORCHATA COLD BREW

Bold, rich, familiar—like your favorite agua fresca grew up and got serious. Cold brew cuts through the sweetness with purpose. This is comfort with caffeine, tradition with urgency.

OVER-RIPE BANANA, PRETZEL & CHOCOLATE

Pure nostalgia distilled into something you can hold. The flavor of after-school snacks when time moved differently. Soft light from the TV- the crunch of pretzels against sweet banana and chocolate flakes binding it all together like memory itself. Comfort you can scoop, childhood you can taste.

KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED

We’re still finalizing the date and location- likely this Saturday or Sunday but I wanted you to know first. Before it becomes just another thing happening in Phoenix that you might hear about secondhand while doomscrolling before bed.

If you're around, come through. Bring whoever you want. Pull up to the Novel Ice Cream Truck where we'll have scoops and pints of relief waiting.

This is my chance to bring something I love to Phoenix, and maybe, if we're lucky, to cities across the US. To connect over something as simple and essential as ice cream. To scratch that itch I always talk about—the one that says food should hit your heart before it hits your stomach.