Ice Cream Shop Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous Taking Shape in Dogpatch

John Birdsall

Ian Flores earned his pastry chops under Wolfgang Puck's Sherry Yard.

​Ian Flores watches as a workman screws down a metal door threshold to the corner storefront in Dogpatch. "The ice cream machines arrive Wednesday," says Flores, who sounds relieved. Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous, the ice cream shop he and wife partner Annabelle Topacio expect to open on or about May 1, is suddenly taking shape. Flores and Topacio will make all the ice creams, confections, and even a few baked sweets in the boxy, loft-like space, a former deli across Third Street from Hard Knox Café.

Flores and Topacio are both pastry chefs. In Southern California, they worked for Wolfgang Puck ― Flores for Puck executive pastry chef Sherry Yard (he worked at Spago Beverly Hills, and was opening pastry chef at Spago Maui and at CUT). After moving north, Topacio was a baker for Brick Maiden Breads in Pt. Reyes Station and Firebrand in Oakland. And while the 10 to 12 ice cream flavors they plan to offer daily at Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous will surely reflect restaurant technique, they'll be as little-kid accessible as Flores can make them.

"We're going for traditional American flavors," Flores says. "All the flavors you loved as a kid but without the shit."

John Birdsall

The corner shop once housed a deli.

​That means mint chip, cookies and cream, even rocky road, made with Marcona almonds and house-made marshmallows. "Outside of Ghirardelli, where can you get a good banana split in this town?" says Flores, who admits he's partial to flavors like coffee and caramel, salt and nuts. Sauces will include hot fudge, pineapple ― Flores reckons about 90 percent of the ingredients will be organic.

"I don't want to say we'll be what Ben & Jerry's was 10 years ago," he says, trailing off. Meanwhile, Flores says, the cone-making machine is on its way from Florence.

Opening later this spring:
Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous 699 22nd St. (at Third St.)