WILLIAMSBURG — There’s a new ice cream spot in town and it’s inside a gas station.
El Sabor Michocano opened in September 2020 in the Bodega Rio Bravo, located at 904 Capitol Landing Road.
Dustin Kilgore, who co-owns the bodega and ice cream shop with his husband, Pedro Ramos, decided to open the bodega and gas station in July 2019. The ice cream shop followed that fall.
The shop sells homemade Mexican ice cream and other “sweet treats.” Mexican ice cream is noted to be different from its American counterpart because it doesn’t use heavy cream, which gives it a lighter texture.
The pair are not new to the restaurant world; they are the former owners of El Saborson restaurant.
Kilgore said that he sold restaurant and a leased shop, Tu Tienda, this past March.
They were actually planning to sell the restaurant sometime in 2020 but when COVID-19 hit, the pandemic delayed their plans.
“It was too much for me and my husband,” Kilgore said. “We wanted to slow stuff [down].”
Kilgore said that, between two bodegas and the restaurant, they have been in business for 15 years.
Now, they will focus their efforts on just one bodega.
“We don’t want to spread ourselves too thin, so we condensed everything,” Kilgore said.
Kilgore and Ramos’s decision to sell the restaurant and Tu Tienda bodega seemed to come out of nowhere for shocked fans, but opening up an ice cream shop was always part of their business plan.
“Well that was part of the plan,” Kilgore said, adding they had sold ice cream bars before. “We were going to do it eventually.”
The shop will also offer treats like banana splits, milkshakes and smoothies.
“We have a patio out there [outside of the bodega] with picnic tables where they can eat,” Kilgore added.
Kilgore said that there have been some requests and questions from previous customers asking for pupusas and other menu items from El Sabroson. He wants them to know that they are planning on selling pupusas sometime this fall or winter.
“We’re going to bring in some of the same food,” Kilgore said. “We’re going to be expanding the menu and bringing some of the Latino favorites over the the new location this fall.”
Customers can expect other street snacks in the future like elote locos, piña locas and fruta con chili.
The shop will also sell American style tacos, burritos, burrito bowls and “American sandwiches” like ham, turkey and roast beef.
The ice cream shop is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
You can follow El Sabor Michocano on Facebook and Instagram.
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