At Sugar J’s, ice cream is handmade and flavors rotate every few weeks, but nostalgia is always on the menu. Business owners John Sobolewski and Jason Biga opened Sugar J’s in Corvallis three years ago and now have a second location in Albany at 214 Second Ave. Inside Sugar J’s on the first day of its grand opening, Friday, Aug.
23, customers lined up to try flavors using metal teaspoons and employees filled waffle cones with ice cream with names like “Cookie Monster” and “Fluffer Nutter.” A large mural of an astronaut holding an ice cream cone floats above the seating area, while another mural pop art pieces stands at the door in bright purples, pinks and greens. Biga curates the space thoughtfully.
Nathan Burns points out several of the current ice cream flavors, like Cookie Monster, Peach Balsamic and Madagascar Vanilla. Burns likes to dream up different flavors to switch up the menu and keep things fresh. The paint colors he chose have fun names, like "grape soda," while the benches and woodwork are made of walnut because the warm tones and texture remind him of chocolate ice cream, Biga said.
“We just wanted to bring something we love to Albany,” Biga said. Sobolewski first entertained the idea of opening a second location in Albany after seeing some changes the city was making downtown, he said. The sidewalks were widened and plans were in place for the waterfront project , the city’s multimillion-dollar project to connect downtown to the river, provide park improvements and better accessibility.
“Albany’s downtown scene might be eclipsing Corvallis,” Sobolewski said. Sobolewski is a co-owner of TacoVino, a restaurant in Corvallis as well, he said. In the last year he started taking the trip across the bridge to eat more in Albany, he said.
A special cone tool helps shape the fresh crisp waffles into a fresh baked waffle cone ready to hold Sugar J's custom ice cream flavors. When the city invests in itself, it signals that it is investing in the businesses and people who live in the town, he said. Overall, he feels that the city has a reputation that is friendly to small businesses, and downtown boasts some stable restaurants.
His goal is to bring “something sweet” to downtown Albany. “Ice cream is special, it’s nostalgic,” Sobolewski said. “Opening an ice cream shop is a dream I always had.
” Just about anyone you ask will probably have some sort of nostalgic connection to ice cream in their childhood, Sobolewski said. For him, he has vivid memories of eating ice cream with his grandfather. When head ice cream maker Nathan Burns is coming up with new ideas for ice cream flavors he often comes back to this question: What was your favorite thing to eat as a kid? Sugar J's offers a variety of homemade ice creams, including this giant scoop of Peach Balsamic for the adventurous.
But it also features its own versions of favorites, such as Cookie Dough, for those looking for the classics. One ice cream flavor he developed was named “After-school Snackies” and was based on his favorite snack from his childhood: PB&J crackers. The flavor was a saltine ice cream with raspberry jam, peanut butter and butter brickle, a type of crunchy, buttery browned toffee.
The name idea came from his son who likes to use the word “snacky;” a lot of the names of flavors are inspired by his son, Burns said. Another flavor he developed is called “Saturday Morning Cartoons." With a cereal milk flavored ice cream and Lucky Charms marshmallows, the flavor encapsulates that feeling of waking up early to eat breakfast and watch cartoons as a child, he said.
Sometimes Burns will get an idea from trying new foods. Staff have a group chat where they bounce ideas, he said. Other times the name will come precede the flavor.
And “sometimes it will just strike me in the middle of the night,” he said. Some flavors are constants: chocolate, vanilla, cookie. Some flavors are so coveted, staff get emails and comments demanding favorited items will be back on the menu, Burns said with a laugh.
Sugar J's has opened a new location in downtown Albany, spreading the love, vibes and creative ice cream flavors. One of the most popular flavors is "Thiccc Mint," an ice cream using the popular Girl Scout cookies. Other flavors use honeycomb, caramel, cinnamon, jam and teas, like earl gray and chamomile.
The operators hope at some point to have different flavors rotating at each location, Burns said. “The creativity is almost endless,” he said. More Albany Shayla Escudero graduated University of Southern California with a Master of Science in Journalism.
She covers Albany city hall and Linn County. She is passionate about telling people forward stories and shining a light on injustices. She can be reached at Shayla.
[email protected] With our weekly newsletter packed with the latest in everything food. Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
.
