COASTAL • FUGU Ice Cream

from The Osider Magazine July/August 2021

by Montage Visual Communication

VALLEY • Fratelli’s Italian Kitchen

Dining: Coastal

THE OSIDER JULY/AUGUST 2021

FUGU ICE CREAM & TAIYAKI

WORDS: SHELBY ROWE PHOTOS: CHAD MONTANO

How do you like your ice cream? Rolled? Soft serve? Vegan? How about served in a waffle shaped like a fish? Or, covered in your favorite childhood cereal?

At Fugu Ice Cream and Taiyaki on Mission Avenue in downtown Oceanside, you can have your ice cream pretty much anyway you want.

Made fresh on a metal pan set to a freezing minus seventeen degrees, the crew at Fugu delivers the freshest ice cream in Oceanside. Starting with a milk base that’s poured directly onto the pan and combined with whatever toppings your heart desires, you can watch as your order undergoes metamorphosis and turns into a fresh cup of home-made rolled ice cream.

But, ice cream is only half of it. The name includes “taiyaki,” which is a Japanese pastry made of waffle batter and pressed into the shape of a fish called Tai. It’s traditionally filled with red bean paste, but Fugu also offers caramel, chocolate, nutella, and condensed milk fillings. Or, you can get a taiyaki waffle cone and fill it with their line of impressive soft serve flavors. “The concept is Japanese and it all started with street vendors making taiyaki in Japan and Korea. Back in the early 1990s, taiyaki came to the United States and the first one was in New York. Over time, it started hitting the west side and now it’s here in Southern California,” said owner Nain Delgado.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, that’s not all. Nain has ramped up the menu, creating an unlimited amount of combinations.

For vegans, he added three different plantbased milks as bases (meaning, you can pretty much create whatever vegan ice cream you want), plus pineapple and mango vegan soft serve. For the Latin audience, he introduced Gansito and Mazapan ice cream rolls. For Fourth of July, he’s rolling out a new dipped ice cream bar covered in your choice of cereal — fruity pebbles, fruit loops, or Oreo crumbs topped with chocolate drizzle. Oh, and let’s not forget about the coming-soon frappé with caramel drizzle.

While the shop originally started with three owners, Nain took on full ownership during the pandemic and has been making improvements ever since. He leveled up the interior and exposed some beautiful brick that’s been hiding behind old paint for years, added a neon logo sign, introduced a vegan menu and twenty additional toppings, and teamed up with local artists to get murals on the interior and exterior of the shop.

There’s no denying it. Nain is on an unstoppable roll.

“My future for this place is to make it into a franchise. I want to expand throughout San Diego, to Orange County, and all over the coast of California. I want to see my business on the Venice boardwalk,” Nain said.

While tourists bring in business, Nain is aiming to get the local community through his doors. So, come on down and give it a try. Some of Fugu’s best sellers include horchata and taro soft serve, Cookie Monster ice cream roll, and vegan pineapple soft serve.

But, don’t forget— the sky’s the limit at FUGU. You can customize your ice cream however you want, and Nain really summed it up in the best way possible. “You think it, we create it.”