The popular chain of ice cream sandwich shops, CREAM, opened their Cupertino location on May 9, cutting the commute in half for students forced to travel to Palo Alto or San Jose to satisfy their sweet tooth. A nearby booth included complimentary temporary tattoos and balloons.
Popular cookie flavors included red velvet, snickerdoodle and turtle and ice cream flavors ranged from vanilla to banana walnut fudge to toasted almonds. The new location gave away free sandwiches from its opening at noon to its closing at 10:00 p.m.
Miguel, Michael and Vanessa — Employees at CREAM in Downtown San Jose
Michael: We’re here to help out for the grand opening, to be scoopers. [My favorite cookie/ice cream combo is] snickerdoodle and pistachio.
Miguel: Banana walnut fudge with white chocolate macadamia nut.
Vanessa: Chocolate chip cookie dough with chocolate chip cookies.
Miguel: Lame.
Michael: Boring.
Juniors Maddy Marten and Emma Pickett
EP: CREAM is basically bae. Now I don’t have to drive to Palo Alto. And if it’s free, it’s for me. All other places, the variety is not so good. CREAM’s main thing is the sandwich, so it’s perfect.
MM: I’ve never been to CREAM before, this is my first time. I got the double chocolate chip cookie with strawberry cheesecake ice cream and I really like it.
WiLD 94.9 DJ’d the event with Selena, host of the JV Show
S: They asked me to come out with WiLD 94.9 and talk to everyone and pump up the crowd. I’ve been torturing myself over wanting ice cream and I finally got some. Other than that, I’ve just been talking to the crowd. The best thing about [working at WiLD 94.9] is doing stuff like this and getting to meet people who listen to WiLD 94.9, because we don’t get to do that every day, going to work. We’re in a studio by ourselves, so it’s cool being out in the Bay Area.
Cupertino HS sophomore Mo and brother Rami Abudamous
Mo: My parents own [the San Jose CREAM]. CREAM is unique: we make it with love, the music is always on point and the customers love us. All we do is make the sandwiches and make sure everyone leaves with a smile. I love it — I’m with my family, I get to work.
Rami: I got the job because my dad is the owner. I really like the sandwiches, they’re really good. This is really fun, I [expected] this many people. A lot of my friends at school are like, “When’s it going to open? When’s it going to open?” Everyone has been really excited for it.
Senior Jeremy Kan and junior Felicia Hou
JK: [CREAM] is the same [as other ice cream places]. It’s just cookies and ice cream.
FH: I just wanted to go because it was free. He only wanted to go because I wanted to go. I work at Icebox. I feel like it’ll lose customers because of CREAM, but Icebox is special because it has macarons, which is something different.
Hoda, tattoo helper
H: I’m putting small tattoos on people. I know the owners, we’re family friends. I’ve never been to CREAM, but I’m excited.
Seniors Lavanya Rajpal and Ann Fu
LR: Second semester seniors don’t care about AP tests…so we [came here.] I’ve never been to any CREAM location. I might come here again before I leave [Cupertino]. We actually thought there’d be a longer line. I got chocolate chip cookies with cookie dough ice cream.
AF: So did I. We’re the same person!
LR: It’s very sticky and messy, but very delicious, melty and fun. On a scale from 1 to 10, my excitement about this location is a 6, because I’m leaving soon… The music is loud, but some of it is pretty good. I went to the grand opening in San Jose, and they didn’t have any music or anything like this.
Photos by Vanessa Qin and Sharon Tung
