San Francisco · ice cream
The Ice Cream Bar
Not a nostalgia theme but a working reconstruction: the owner read period soda-fountain manuals from the 1800s through Prohibition and rebuilt the recipes and the equipment from them, in a shop that makes its dairy, produce and fountain syrups in house rather than buying any of it in.
What we know
- A full 1930s-style soda fountain rebuilt around vintage equipment, using locally sourced dairy and produce, with everything made in house, per the business's own site
- Recipes drawn from Prohibition-era and even 1800s soda-fountain manuals, researched directly by owner Juliet Pries and confirmed in her own words to a named student reporter at opening
- Over 75 house-made tinctures and fountain syrups, from usual flavors to sassafras and candy cap mushroom
- Malts and milkshakes made with milk, egg yolks and ice rather than pre-made ice cream, a deliberate departure from the standard shake recipe
- Named in the Financial Times' August 2022 global ice-cream feature as a preserved example of historic American soda-fountain craft
- Status
- open
- Address
- 815 Cole St, San Francisco, CA 94117
- Maker
- Juliet Pries, owner; Russell Davis, consulting mixologist on the soda-fountain program
- Opened
- 2012
- Website
- www.theicecreambarsf.com/
- Last checked
- 2026-08-21
Something wrong here? Tell us.