Found Treasure: Moonscoops Double Trouble

November 18, 2022 – There are a number of striking—and colorful—elements to Marina’s new Moonscoops Ice Creamery, including maybe the most insane milkshake known to man. 

It’s the neon pink sign that hits first, and presents a good place to start, because it hints at how much creator-owner-operator Lisa Belle Marsh of Carmel Valley thought about the intended experience. 

“I wanted people to feel a visual hug, to think, ‘This feels good,’” she says. “Then follow that with a hug in their mouth!”

Beyond the leafy welcoming wall, attention to detail pops up all over the place—with the mini M&M decorated waffle cones, elaborate angel wings on the wall, homemade brownie cookies Marsh invented herself, and woven Oaxacan mercado bags available for purchase to support the women who create them. 

The overall cute quotient ranks up there.

The menu, meanwhile, builds off of three primary items: organic Straus Family Creamery soft-serve ice cream, a vibrant take on Italian ice they call Moon Ice and a few types of fresh-baked cookies.

Marsh hunted for months before she decided Straus was the gold standard for indulgent soft serve. 

The homemade Italian ice presents a more personal creation. Partly because of her Italian heritage, it had always been a family favorite, but Marsh grew increasingly tired of the rock-hard consistency and various preservatives and syrups in store bought ices. 

“You have to Basic Instinct the thing out to eat it,” she says. “Then you look at the ingredients and it’s a lot of crapola in there. I was thinking, ‘There could be a better way to do this.’”

Armed with her Vitamix, she set out to craft her own softer, purer and fresher version of what they now call Moon Ice. “I could tell right away I could reach a nice texture,” she says. 

The resulting dairy-free treat works like half-Italian ice, half-sorbet, fresh, refreshing and soft enough to scoop. “Super basic with delicious ingredients,” Marsh says.

Moonscoops’ headlining special, and the creation Marsh is most proud of, combines those first two elements: The so-called “Double Trouble” pairs soft serve with Moon Ice in a variety of sizes (prices range from $1.99 for a “baby” to $12.95 for an extra large 22-ouncer to share).

I tried a popular creamsicle combo, which taps into Orange Julius nostalgia with orange ice and vanilla soft serve.

The dish looked and sounded promising enough, but I didn’t expect the Double Trouble to be outright enchanting. 

The creamy ice cream plays beautifully with the bright and fresh fruit flavors while the textures provide a complementary contrast of their own. (The strawberries and cream was also excellent.)

Like many of the best ideas out there, it’s simple and self-apparent. I’ll even go a step further: If loving Trouble is wrong, I don’t want to be right. (It suddenly makes more sense that Moonscoops opened on Valentine’s Day.)

“It’s rich but refreshing,” Marsh says. “The combination really blows your mind.”

After she told me sugar cookies are both a personal obsession and specialty, I had to try an ice cream sandwich starring them, and it didn’t disappoint. 

Local boutique grocers apparently feel similarly, as every single one Marsh tasted on her treats agreed to carry them. Currently, Elroy’s Fine Foods, Jerome’s Carmel Valley Market, Nielsen Brothers Market,  Bruno’s Market & Deli and Grove Market all stock Moonscoops, curating their choice of cookies, ice cream sandwiches, and pints of Moon Ices and Double Troubles (like Root Beer Float and Pear-Vanilla).

Back at the Dunes Retail Center in Marina, other treats baked on site include chocolate chip cookies the size of an appetizer plate. Like the rest of the store’s offerings, they’re all gluten-free.

The shakes, meanwhile, get ambitious. From a list that includes Skittles, Nerds and Unicorn, I went with Reese’s. 

The next thing I knew the cheerful clerk was pasting Reese’s pieces on the outside with peanut butter and piling peanut butter cups, ground Reese’s cups, chocolate and peanut butter drizzles, whipped cream, soft-serve vanilla and organic whole milk within.

It was something to behold. I needed a plate just to successfully transport it home.

I clearly didn’t know what I was getting into, in more ways than one: It cost around $14.

Later, when I mentioned to Marsh it was hard to justify a shake at that sticker price—call it my Vincent Vega moment—she sounded genuinely grateful for the feedback. She added that she had been considering introducing a basic version for less and more clearly announcing how extra special the current shakes are. 

By the time this is published, she already made the switch. 

That kept with a key theme in Moonscoops’ creation story: listening. Marsh didn’t start with an ice cream place in mind. She only had hopes of doing something interesting in a space surrounded by food spots, ready to pounce because her kids are old enough that they don’t need as much mothering. (She and her husband knew the spot would be opening up because they own the Teriyaki Madness franchise next door.) 

She listened to visitors asking for something sweet among the shopping center options. 

She started “shoulder tapping” anyone in the ice cream world—via cold calls, trips across the state and a national conference—and listened some more.  

She also listened to her instincts, prioritizing flavors and items that her kids gravitated toward, and she had tested exhaustively. (The sugar cookie took 10 iterations.)

“My eyes and my heart opened a little bit as I went around my day and my life,” she says, “[Thinking], ‘That’s a great idea!’ ‘That would be really good!’ And I’d write them down.”

And she’s still listening, while borrowing from her past life in wine sales, where tasting clients on every wine she peddled was paramount.  

“It’s important for people to taste things before they buy it, and I want to let people taste everything!” she says. “No one has ever not loved it!  And if they don’t that’s OK too.

“One of the most common comments I get is, ‘Please open one of these where we are,’” Marsh adds. “I’m so grateful that it’s loved.” 

More at Moonscoops’ Instagram page.