FEATURED VENDOR: COOLHAUS
COOLHAUS is a triple entendre:
[1] Bauhaus, an influential modernist design movement of the 1920′s and 30′s.
[2] Rem Koolhaas, the famous Dutch Architect and Theorist who challenged the mantra “Form follows function”
[3] “Cool house,” isn’t that what you’re eating – an ice cream sandwich deconstructed into a cookie roof and floor slab with ice cream walls?
Meet the team behind Coolhaus, the go-to stop for amazing, fresh Ice Cream Sandwiches.
Natasha Case and Freya Estreller started baking cookies and making ice cream in Freya’s mom’s kitchen in the Fall of 2008. Having majored in Architecture and double minored in City & Regional Planning and Italian Studies, Natasha combined two loves into one passion…the ice cream sandwich. She and Freya named their flavor combinations after architects and architectural movements they were inspired by and started experimenting with recipes and testing them on friends. It seemed like a fun art project with “farchitecture” in mind ie food + architecture.
One day it occurred to Freya and Natasha that an ice cream truck would be a perfect way to disseminate their ice cream sandwiches (and architecture dialogue) around the city of LA. The truck would be a nod to the past tradition of the Good Humor man selling ice cream novelties around neighborhoods, but with a modern twist – not to mention the long-withstanding popularity of taco trucks around LA and the rapidly growing infatuation with “gourmet” food trucks. The timing seemed perfect, now all Freya and Natasha needed was a truck!
They found a postal truck on Craigslist and were able to afford it with money they had saved from their other jobs. They prepared the truck and their product for their launch at Coachella Valley Music Festival in April of 2009 where the product was very well received – and when they came back to LA, they had generated a strong buzz and following.
Today, they have a fleet of 4 trucks in LA, 2 trucks and 1 cart in NY, 2 trucks in Austin, 2 trucks in Miami, a newly launched storefront in Culver City, CA and even have their ice cream sandwiches at Southern California Whole Foods Markets. They hope to continue to expand to other cities nationally, and maybe even globally (doesn’t hurt to dream, right?)!
Stay tuned as City Farm will deliver more great news, videos, recipes and info from the incredible team at Coolhaus.
You can visit the Coolhaus truck at The Autry, Yamashiro and SouthbBay Pavilion.
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