Platters of samples made their way around the crowd as a line formed out the door of Uncommon Ice Cream during the shop’s grand opening event, which drew in visitors from near and far.
The shop officially opened Oct. 1, testing the waters before its official grand opening Oct. 26, during which everything was at a 20% discount except pints. The store, located on the corner of Columbus Avenue and Claremont Park, features an array of unique ice cream flavors, ranging from cantaloupe sorbet to almond mocha latte.
Kathryn Lane, co-owner of Uncommon Ice Cream, lives in Fenway and runs the business with her husband, Blair Landry.
“We’ve always cooked a lot together,” Lane said, adding that the pair enjoys “eating fun and interesting things” and that the idea of making unique ice cream flavors “came really naturally” to her and her husband.
The pair thought up ideas for the business when they were “looking for a bit of a change of pace,” Lane said.While she and her husband come from different backgrounds professionally — Landry previously sold beer and Lane worked a corporate job — they now run the ice cream shop full-time.
Landry and Lane came up with the idea on their belated Costa Rican honeymoon in February. Lane said that they consumed a lot of ice cream over the course of their trip.
“Eventually this idea came up, and we ran with it. Really fast,” Lane said. The pair began working on getting the shop running in March.
“The more we talked about it, the more it was very obvious that [opening an ice cream shop] is what we wanted to do,” Lane added.
The Oct. 26 grand opening event sported 12 interesting ice cream flavors, including two vegan sorbets.
Jessica Karasik, a local and nutritional service manager at Victory Programs, found out about the grand opening on Instagram. She met up with friends at the shop to catch up and grab a treat.
“You can get flavors here that you can’t find anywhere else,” Karasik said. She said that the “diverse flavor profile” of the company sold her on coming in.
Karasik sampled several flavors, but her favorite was the basil and balsamic roasted strawberry. She described the shop as “unique” and “fun.”
Christy Plummer, Lane’s sister, agrees.
“It’s been so fun to see people come out with smiles on their faces,” said Plummer, who works as a teacher in Nashville and flew in for Uncommon Ice Cream’s grand opening.
“It’s been so fun to watch them from when they found the place to now,” Plummer said, noting her sister and brother-in-law’s journey in entrepreneurship. “Opening a business is no small thing.”
Plummer’s favorite flavor is gram’s magic bars, a flavor inspired by her and Lane’s grandmother’s “magic bar” cookie recipe. It consists of Graham cracker ice cream with cookies mixed in.
“It’s been chilly,” Plummer said, smiling, “but people eat ice cream all year.”
