Sarah Senensieb, the owner of Sweet Cute Ice Cream, says that ice cream is her entire personality. “I spent most of my life hunting down the best ice cream shops and store-bought pints that California has to offer, until one day I realized that if I loved it so much, I should be making it myself,” Senensieb says. “What started out as a hobby quickly turned into a daily passion – I was spending all my time dreaming up what flavors I’d make next. And thus Sweet Cute was born. Each batch at Sweet Cute is scratch-made with love by an ice cream fanatic that knows what makes good ice cream and aspires to help the community find that perfect scoop they’ve always been searching for.”
That online bio betrays a rare passion for her work. The fact that Senensieb describes ice cream as her “entire personality,” rather than her greatest love or something similar, is telling. She lives for this stuff, and it shows when perusing the menu.
The Sweet Cute approach to creating ice cream is part art, part science. On one hand, we can imagine Senensieb in a lab experimenting with flavors like Rick Sanchez (of Rick & Morty). On the other, she’s creating with dairy and sweets like a pop-culture artist of the Warhol variety. Whatever, it all works.
On that menu, there are “forever flavors,” which are always available (unless they run out), and “side pieces” which are in rotation. Between the two, there are flavors such as pistachio chocolate chip, M&M Flurry, peanut butter salted ganache, a couple of vegan options, some sorbets, and seasonal fun like Matzah toffee bark (for Passover) and Halloween candy crunch.
The storefront on Venice Boulevard is small but welcoming. There’s an old school ice cream parlor-style hole in the wall, while all of the magic happens inside. Senensieb served us (without knowing that we were there to review), and she couldn’t have been more helpful, and clearly in love with her work.
We tried two flavors, starting with the caramel brownie sundae: “House-made fudge brownies pieces in our sweet cream base with a salty caramel swirl.”
The key point here is that the brownies are house-made. Rich and chewy, and so chocolatey. The sweet cream ice cream (not vanilla) allows the brownies to shine, and it’s all bound together by the salty caramel.
We also had the strawberry lemonade sorbet: “A refreshing blend of fresh strawberries and lemons for the perfect non-dairy treat.”
Tangy and especially refreshing on the hot day that we were there, this too was an incredible treat. Passion apparently pays off.
Sweet Cute is located at 9626 Venice Blvd., Culver City 90232. Visit sweetcuteicecream.com.