The Scoop on Cuso’s Creamery

Santa Barbara’s State Street Welcomes Family-Owned, Locally Sourced Ice Cream Shop

Dylan Mancuso offers up a waffle cone at Cuso's Creamery | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

When the work day ends, most head home and leave behind their coworkers until the following morning. For the Mancuso family, their coworkers are family. Brothers Dylan, Jack, and Nick, along with their father, Domenic Mancuso, are in it for the long run with their new ice cream shop, Cuso’s Creamery.

After their State Street debut with Cuso’s Bikes in 2023, the family decided to continue expanding their business endeavors by opening Cuso’s Creamery right across the street in September 2024. Between those two businesses and their spice company, Cuso Cuts, there is truly never a boring day for the Mancuso family.

A perfect sign for inside Cuso’s | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

For the Mancusos, there are never too many cooks in the kitchen. Each family member contributes something uniquely beneficial to the operation — Jack (@ChefCuso) bringing in business with his combined 10 million subscribers across social media platforms, Dylan offering his inventive palette for new flavors and day-to-day undertakings, Nick helping out behind the scenes maintaining stock and inventory, and Domenic overseeing the proper functioning of the whole operation.

Indulgence meets natural ingredients with their all-natural ice cream shop offering ice cream crafted using ingredients all sourced from within 100 miles of State Street. Each scoop delivers a unique and always-fresh taste experience, blending traditional flavors with unconventional renditions.

With a rotating menu of flavors, you will never be bored of the selection at Cuso’s. They are currently serving up 14 flavors ranging from fruit blends to sweet-savory scoops.

The standouts during my visit were peanut butter s’mores, maple bourbon praline, and salted caramel toffee. The peanut butter s’mores was a tasteful take on a charming campfire tradition, with the addition of the satisfying cracking sensation from the peanut butter cups. The maple bourbon praline taste was reminiscent of autumn spice, with the flair of Chef Cuso’s very own Maple Bourbon Rub. The salted caramel toffee, which is a best-seller, perfectly combines salty flavoring with caramel to produce a balanced sweet and savory bite.

The store is currently also offering mocha brownie fudge, ube cotton candy, double vanilla bean, Amarena cherry chocolate, Simpsons strawberry donut, honey lavender, orange creamsicle, raspberry cheesecake, dark chocolate raspberry, and pistachio tiramisu.

Each menu offering had its own unique flavor profile, with some including chunks of real ingredients that provided for delightful bites. There are often rotating selections, especially for the Simpsons donut shop and specialty cheesecake flavors.

“Salt is the key. Just a pinch and it brings out all the flavor,” said Dylan.

For the pistachio tiramisu flavor, Dylan described dumping eight kilos of pistachios into the mixer to create their homemade pistachio paste. As for the orange creamsicle flavor, the Mancusos get their oranges right from the farmers’ market on State Street and press them in the store.

Cuso’s Creamery co-owner Dylan Mancuso | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Dylan makes the ice cream in the store three days a week, churning out an estimated three to four flavors during each of these batches. If you’re lucky, you may even catch him making a batch in the store during open hours, further demonstrating how every bite of Cuso’s Creamery is fresh.

Family and friends are at the backbone of the business. Domenic describes the family’s trusty process for gauging feedback on their new flavors — testimony from loved ones. After inviting guests over for a barbecue, they make small batches of ice cream in their at-home ice cream maker and serve 10, 11, even sometimes 12 full scoops of their potential flavor combinations.

“Everyone has a right to delicious ice cream,” Dylan emphasized through and through.

In examining the reception of the business in the several months that it has been open, Dylan said, “There is no reason to be upset about ice cream, so I think it’s a positive impact.”

Cuso’s Creamery has had the pleasure of serving tourists and locals alike, catering to the palates of everyone who steps foot in their store.

While it can be difficult to mix family and business, “Everyone still has to go to dinner with each other at the end of the day and talk it out. You can’t really have too big of an argument with family. You gotta get over it,” Dylan said.

The menu at Cuso’s Creamery | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Whether it be working on wheels or churning their homemade ice cream, the Mancuso family truly encapsulates what it is to be a jack-of-all-trades or as Dylan said, “a jack of random trades.” Dylan and Domenic expressed their gratitude for each other as business partners throughout their business endeavors.

Dylan Mancuso, co-owner of Cuso’s Creamery | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

“We come from small businesses. This is what we love to do,” said Domenic.

“This guy turned 65 and never wants to retire,” Dylan joked.

After a solid five months in business, Dylan describes Cuso’s Creamery as having hit its stride. With about 80 Yelp reviews and a 4.9-star rating on Google, Dylan has been able to gauge the positive impact of the business on the Santa Barbara community and beyond.

“Customers enjoy it. I enjoy it. Family and friends are enjoying it. I think we’re gonna be in for a very busy summer,” Dylan said.

The bottom line is, every scoop from Cuso’s Creamery is made with love.

“I think the big thing is, we’re family-run, and you’ll find one of the owners here every single day,” Dylan said. “We’re small, so we’re still really caring and putting in that extra effort just into the one location. I think that’s important for a lot of people.”

Visit Cuso’s Creamery at 620 State Street to sample their delicious, exotic flavor selection for yourself. Hours are 2-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, noon-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon-9 p.m. Sunday. See cusoscreamery.com.