Full Tilt Ice Cream pre-opening updates: Flavors, hours, more

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They’re less than 48 hours from their grand opening, but Justin Cline and Ann Magyar made time to talk with WSB this afternoon as they continued getting their much-buzzed-about White Center shop Full Tilt Ice Cream (original WSB report here) in ship shape — appropriate, since Justin’s a boat-builder. They just got the news hours earlier that inspectors cleared them to open Friday; pinball machines were scheduled to arrive any moment. The machines didn’t show up while we were there but we do have the scoop on some of what they’re expecting, plus the flavors they’re planning to open with. We even got to see the first boxes of paletas (mango chili and blackberry cinnamon) in the freezer (photo above)! More ahead:

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That’s Justin and Ann — both have careers that enable them to “take the summer off” (she’s a high-school teacher) and therefore the ability to launch this enterprise, which they reveal came together fairly quickly — the idea didn’t really crystallize till late April! The space used to be a Dilettante Chocolates outlet, so it was already set up for food service, and they didn’t have to make too many modifications. It’s bigger than it looks from the sidewalk outside along 16th SW — this is just a peek at the north side, inside, where the pinball machines and arcade games will be set up just past the ice-cream case:

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OK, OK, enough suspense. WHAT games, you ask? They’re coming from Space Age Amusement, which they say promised games including KISS and Medieval Madness, and eventually Doctor Who (which Ann is particularly looking forward to), as well as table-style classic arcade games – Ms. Pac-Man and Centipede were mentioned.

Now, about the flavors. (By the way, they’re the only paleta-makers in Western Washington, save a company down in Vancouver.) Besides the mango chili and blackberry cinnamon peletas, they plan to start with ice cream in these flavors: chocolate, vanilla, Mexican chocolate, mango chili, mint chocolate chip, strawberry, blackberry dark chocolate chip, butter pecan, Thai tea, hazelnut, birthday cake (not like Cold Stone, Justin says, “it’ll have real cake and frosting IN the ice cream”) and two vegan flavors — mango sorbet and coconut coffee. Paletas will be $1.50; ice cream starts at $2.25 a scoop. They’ll offer sundaes, too, and Justin plans to custom-make toppings on a big stove they’ve added to the kitchen/storage area in the back of the shop.

When we arrived this afternoon, they were putting together tables and chairs; a passerby stuck her head in and yelled, “New business?” “Yeah,” Justin and Ann yelled back, “opening Friday!” “We’ll be back, then,” the lady promised, and moved on. They’re clearly having a blast putting together the new business; when Justin goes into nearby McLendon’s, he ays, the staff says, “Hey, the ice cream man’s here!”

They’re planning to keep Full Tilt Ice Cream (MySpace site here) open “noon till late” on Fridays and Saturdays, noon-8 Tuesdays-Thursdays and Sundays, closed on Mondays. Grand-opening fun starts at noon Friday, with band The Blankets scheduled to perform that day. And Ann — who says some of her White Center High School students want to work at the shop — says there’s a freebie for kids — if they bring in a report card with no F’s and at least one A, they get free ice cream; that offer’s in effect till the end of July (but just one per person). Full Tilt’s address is 9629 16th SW (map).

16 Replies to "Full Tilt Ice Cream pre-opening updates: Flavors, hours, more"

  • J.See June 18, 2008 (7:08 pm)

    OH MY GOSH! That sounds AMAZING. I want the birthday cake ice cream! And the blackberry dark chocolate chip! And Ms. Pac-man!

  • welcome!!! June 18, 2008 (7:52 pm)

    Wohooo!! Centipede & good ice scream sounds like a great combination.

    Welcome & Good Luck!

  • Karen June 18, 2008 (8:26 pm)

    Centipede!! And the birthday Cake ice cream.

  • add June 18, 2008 (8:27 pm)

    What a great story – good luck with the shop! We’ll be in with the report cards … :) And of course will purchase lots, too.

  • Toddinwestwood June 18, 2008 (8:50 pm)

    Ohh mideval madness. I remember something about Troll Multi ball. Its been a while. Elivra Two was one of our favs. “Stop the Spider!”

    Other favs:

    1. Gilligan’s Island
    2. Bride of Pinbot
    3. Whitewater ( the one with the Bigfoot )
    4. Junkyard

  • hc June 18, 2008 (8:53 pm)

    Finally! Paletas! My sore throat wishes they were open right this moment.

    Congratulations, and welcome!

  • JW June 18, 2008 (9:16 pm)

    This is great !

  • somehippie June 18, 2008 (10:12 pm)

    one time, back in nam, I ate this mushroom flavored ice cream. it was all i could do to keep from killing everyone in sight.

    then, I woke up on an isalnd- not unlike vashon island, and it was good.

  • Wendy June 18, 2008 (11:42 pm)

    Wow, first Zippy’s, and now this! We live in the coolest part of the city.

  • Aim June 19, 2008 (7:41 am)

    mmmmmm paletas!!!
    Anyone who has never had a real paleta is in for a serious treat.

  • AJP June 19, 2008 (9:02 am)

    YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY! Hey can we have Centipede flavored paletas? Ewwww! Just kidding! Hasta viernes!

  • Bayou June 19, 2008 (9:02 am)

    That is MUCH larger than it looks like from the street. I’m so excited!

  • Meghan June 19, 2008 (4:11 pm)

    This is SO exciting! It will be SO hard to limit myself to 2 flavors at a time though!!

  • WSMom June 19, 2008 (7:19 pm)

    What exactly is “paletas”??

  • Barbara Wiggins June 19, 2008 (8:01 pm)

    How exciting! We’ll be in for the vegan ice cream and different flavors! Barb

  • WSB June 19, 2008 (8:10 pm)

    I hadn’t heard of them myself till our first story on Full Tilt … even though I spent childhood in Southern California (which is where Full Tilt’s Justin hails from, too, and where he became familiar with them).
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleta

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