La Michoacana Ice Cream de Mexico - San Fernando

I stopped today after having dinner in the area and was quite surprised at the long line as I approached the store. As I stood in line, the line got longer and longer. I estimated a total of 75 people in line for ice cream. I was told that the line stretches out to the parking lot every night and even longer on weekends. I don't think I've seen a line like this since my visit to Salt & Straw when they first opened in Larchmont Village.
La Michoacana is a chain of ice cream parlors based in Mexico City. The original location where the recipes originated from is from Tocumbo, Michoacán and founded in 1940. There are thousands of these La Michoacana stores all over Mexico, many independently operated. There is one other location for this store here in Southern California in Colton.

The line moved quickly as I chatted with people in line with me.  One person in line very enthusiastically told me how natural tasting this place was compared to places like RaspadosXpress.  The first station was a wide variety of agua frescas I have not seen before. A lady spoke to me in Spanish asking me, "Quieres probar?" Which I immediately said "si!" I tasted the fresas con crema as my sampler. It tasted just like the actual fruit with the cream.

The next station was the paletas.  There were so many to choose from as well and so many exotic flavors. They told me the best sellers were the Oreo and chocolate. I was eyeing the kiwi and cream though. 

The next stage was my ice cream tasting. This place is so overwhelming with a number of flavors I thought -- interesting, I'd like to add -- that a here tasting is a must. I went straight for the Patron ice cream as it was recommended by a gentleman in line. It really tasted like tequila, but I wasn't sure about an entire scoop of it. There's also marzipan and tropical fruit flavors such as mamey. I tasted more of the "milk" ice creams, a little embarrassed with how many I tried. They even had a cheese flavor, just like the Philippines.

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​I had a heavy dessert week, so I decided on the "water" ice cream or sorbet. At first, I wanted the chamoy, then discovered they had cucumber. I went with that instead and topped that scoop with pitaya (dragon fruit).

At the register, I was surprised that 2 huge scoops in a waffle cone were only $4 even. It's so inexpensive compared to other places! Everything is handmade and made on site. There isn't even a tip jar in sight! How refreshing.

Highly recommended!  The best Mexican ice cream I have tasted!  It's only been about one month since they opened and there were almost 100 people in line. The weekends probably double the size of the line. I can't imagine how long the lines will be once more people find out about this place. It will be a lot worse as people outside the SFV find out and make a trip out just to try it.

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