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This is just across the city-limits line, which is usually the line for our coverage, but we and many other West Seattleites do business in White Center too — so when this just turned up in our inbox, trumpeting the forthcoming opening of Full Tilt Ice Cream at 9629 16th SW (map), we thought you might be interested — read the business owners’ full news release ahead; they also have a MySpace site (more details there on vegan offerings):
Full Tilt: Ice Cream, Pinball and Fun Coming Back to White Center
The only thing White Center entrepreneurs Ann Magyar and Justin Cline like more than ice cream is the neighborhood they live in. They originally moved here for the affordable housing, but soon discovered the area was richly diverse in both people and food. The one thing they missed after coming here was ice cream. And pinball. So, after doing a little research and some trial–and-error experiments, they decided to open their own place–and Full Tilt Ice Cream and Pinball was born.
They rented a storefront on 16th Ave SW that was once a Dilettante Chocolate store and set about renovating it into an ice cream parlor. The space is big enough to house both a kitchen, where they will make all the ice cream fresh from local and organic ingredients, and a front counter, where the ice cream will be served.
After setting up shop, the two discovered they still had plenty of space to fill. “Pinball–that was Ann’s idea,” Cline says. ” We have lots of friends who moved here for the same reason we did: the affordable housing, But there is no place for them to just hang out and play pinball or listen to music.” So in addition to selling fresh, homemade ice cream, the couple decided to install 12 pinball machines at the shop, and will feature music and art produced by local artists as well .
This won’t be your run-of-the-mill ice cream either. With flavors like Mexican Chocolate (dark chocolate with cinnamon, cardamom and a little chili powder), Ume (a purple sweet potato), Salted Caramel, Mango Chili, and Sweet Bean (sweetened red beans), Full Tilt Ice Cream and Pinball Parlor is sure to stand out from the crowd.
“We wanted to honor the diversity of the area,” Cline noted, “so we plan to offer flavors from as many cultures as we can. We also will have dairy-free ice cream for people who are either allergic to dairy or are vegan. It’s not just to appease the neighbors though; part of the reason we live here is the food. I can not think of another place in the Seattle area where you can get Vietnamese, Cambodian, Mexican, African food–all on the same block. There’s a lot of flavor here already, and we wanted to add to that.”
Full Tilt will bring something completely new to the area with paletas, a kind of Mexican popsicle.
“I grew up in Southern California,” Cline says, “and there were these guys pushing carts through the neighborhoods, selling paletas. You can buy them up here, too, but they are not very fresh, and they don’t taste like the real thing. No one is making fresh paletas in the Seattle area, so we decided we should do that.”
Full Tilt’s palette of paletas will be as diverse as their ice cream: Cucumber Chili, Walnut, Strawberry, Mango, Blackberry, and Corn, as well as many others.
Cline and Magyar plan to host birthday parties and after-game parties for sports teams at the ice cream parlor too, as well as art events and poetry open mics.
Far from being just another ice cream parlor, Full Tilt promises to become a new anchor for a revitalized White Center downtown and a new destination for Seattle at large.
They’re planning a grand-opening celebration on June 20th.
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