I bet if we were to ask Happy Half Hour listeners what their favorite local ice cream is, the majority might vote in favor of Stella Jean’s. This is an assumption based on anecdotal evidence, collected from years of merely mentioning the brand and receiving exuberant feedback 100 percent of the time.
I’ve never met anyone who felt “so-so” about local craft scoop shop Stella Jean’s and its mostly salty other half, Pop Pie Co. HHH host Troy and I decided to have its founders and owners, Steven Torres and chef Gan Suebsarakham onto the podcast to find out what makes their treats so special (spoiler alert: in part, it’s the dairy).
Pop Pie Co. was founded by Torres and Suebsarakham in 2016 when the two decided to reinvent comfort food in their way, which started with sweet and savory pies. They opened Stella Jean’s in 2018, and since then, they have expanded to 11 locations within and outside of San Diego, opening scoop and pie shops and forming what’s now called the Sweet & Savory Collective.
The culinary brains of the operation lies with Suebsarakham, who is originally from Thailand and holds an MBA from National University and a culinary degree from Grossmont College. The MBA was a curious accident—while renewing his visa to live in the United States, the government said culinary school didn’t rank. They did accept an MBA, and thankfully National University also accepted Suebsarakham, so his degree is now more of a happy technicality that allowed him to get back to work here, he says.
The business side is run by Torres, who is from Calexico. He holds degrees in accounting and business administration, and a certificate of supply chain management from Central Washington University. After school, he entered into banking and finance, remaining in Seattle for a decade, then San Antonio before moving back home to San Diego, where he met Suebsarakham not long after and local culinary history was changed.
The duo brought a third guest, Jonathan Wilder of Chino’s Scott Brothers Dairy, the high-quality creamery that powers most, if not all, of your favorite artisanal ice cream brands in California and throughout the country. The brand specializes in private label and custom ice cream manufacturing, and is also the largest private label manufacturer of frozen yogurt and “Hispanic-style sour cream,” as they call it, in the country. You likely know it as “crema.”
The milkfat ratio is key here, and Wilder explains how and why, while detailing the high quality of the milk used in all of Sweet & Savory’s dairy-laden products. (A quick aside: Though the brands are known for their high-quality ice creams and pies, they also specialize in vegan versions of everything they make. The vegan pot pies have a vegan wash instead of egg and Stella Jeans utilizes different kinds of plant milks for its non-dairy ice creams, of which they always have several in stock.)
We also talk the food news: Fishermen’s Market of North County is now open Sundays in the Joe’s Crab Shack parking lot in Oceanside; the 21-acre Fox Point Farms, which has a farm, brewery, restaurant, and apartment-style living, is now open in Encinitas; 858 Burger is officially open in La Jolla in the old Classic Burger spot; and CH’s Leila Middle Eastern Restaurant is now open on 30th Street near University
