Move over, all you mom and pop ice cream shops, CRMD (Creamed) is incoming. Owned by husband and wife team Kristina Duong and Benjamin Stoyka, CRMD is bringing an LA attitude to the ice cream business. It’ll open in the old PM Gallery space in the Short North on July 20.
Though they’re Ohio natives, Duong and Stoyka just returned from a seven-year stay in LA, where they made connections within the food industry and came across the idea to bring some of the west coast to the midwest. Their ice cream shop CRMD, with irreverent branding, bold theme, and youthful ambiance, aims to bring in the younger crowds barhopping on the Short North’s north end every night.
“I feel like a lot of Ohio ice cream shops are kind of mom and pop shops. Like we went to one, and they were playing talk radio. We were just like, why don’t we do something that reflects us?” says Duong. “We play throwback hip hop music, our theme and decorations are very out there. We wanted to aim it more toward millennials than families.”
Originally from Cleveland, the pair initially set out to open CRMD up there, but found the food scene wasn’t quite ready for it. Upon their first visit to Columbus, the Short North stood out with its diversity in food and people — “It was perfect,” says Duong.
The project started in October of last year. Transforming the old gallery became its own challenge, as the couple began hurdling the obstacles that come with renovating a historical building. Still zoned as a retail space, CRMD doesn’t have much seating, but a window bench offers a few spots.
The menu is simple, featuring roughly 16 flavors of ice cream and sorbet, including unique ones like Nilla Brownie Bites, Salted Choco Pretzel, Matcha, Choco Marsh Swirl, Viet Coffee, and Pomegranate Blueberry, among others. Guests can get up to three scoops, with one complimentary topping, in a bowl, a cone or a puffle.
A Beijing staple — “They eat them like french fries,” says Duong — a puffle functions like a fluffy cone. Rather than using the traditional Chinese recipe, though (for fear of scaring off sheltered midwesterners), CRMD employs a Belgian waffle recipe.
Customers can get one scoop for $4.50, two for $6, and three for $7.
Further appealing to the imbibing masses, CRMD will operate daily from 12 p.m. to 2 a.m.
“I noticed living in LA, everything is open until 7 a.m. or 24 hours. Coming here, it’s 3 in the morning and I’m hungry, and you’ve got Taco Bell, White Castle or McDonalds if you’re lucky,” says Duong. “With BrewDog all the other bars in the area, they’re going to be drunk, they’re going to be hungry.”
CRMD is located at 1190 N. High St.
For more information, visit their website.