Alma B Cafe Celebrates Grand Opening

Members of the community turned out to celebrate the grand opening of San Marino ice cream and coffee shop Wednesday night.

The forecast brought pouring rain, but members of the San Marino city council, San Marino Chamber of Commerce and even The Daily Show’s Larry Wilmore, whose family is friends with Alma B owner Alma Barraza, came out to mingle and try free servings of ice cream and hors d’oeuvres.

Alma B opened back in January, when San Marino Patch spoke with Barraza, who was still adding some finishing touches to the café at the time.

Larry Wilmore, a former San Marino resident who is jokingly referred to as the “Senior Black Correspondent” on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”, attended the event since his family has known Barraza for years and participates in San Marino community groups together.

“I’m always pushing for these small businesses to do well,” said Wilmore. “I think they have coffee in now which is the good Kona coffee too—the actual coffee they brew there is really good. Sorry, Starbucks.”

Wilmore said he likes “anything with coconut and chocolate or coffee.” His favorite flavors are Cafe Caramelo and Kauai Pie.

“They have real rich ice cream—you gotta work out ahead of time or after—but what are you going to do?” said Wilmore.

The space where Alma B Café currently resides was previously and Barraza said it hasn’t been all smooth sailing since she opened for business.

For starters, one of the freezers broke down the day Barraza opened Alma B's doors and everything inside melted.

“In the beginning it was really hard because Lappert’s (ice cream) is not known by a lot of people,” said Barraza. “They were used to the former ice cream that was there before. I had customers come in and say, 'We’re not coming back unless you bring back the old ice cream'. [But] as they came around and they tasted, I developed a nice clientele … [and] I’ve had people come by and show their support.”

Michael Lappert, who started Lappert’s ice cream with his father in 1983, flew down from San Francisco to attend the Alma B grand opening. Lappert’s favorite flavor is Kauai Pie.

Lappert’s father Walter founded the company in Hawaii and Michael runs Lappert’s ice cream in California.

“Just make it really good,” Lappert said of his ice cream philosophy. “The idea that it should be lowfat—that’s crazy. Have good ice cream; just don’t have a lot of it. Make it really good and don’t buy cheap ice cream; it’s not worth the effort.”

San Marino resident Lisa Loeffler, who visited Alma B for the first time during the grand opening, tried peppermint fudge and said it was “delicious”.

“It’s funny I ordered this because I am not a big peppermint person but that whole fudge swirl thing just grabbed me,” said Loeffler. “Lots of things could definitely draw me back. We’ll bring our grandkids too. I’m not a big ice cream fan but this is very good.”

Lisa’s husband Pete, a board member of the , enjoyed Thatch Roof Sundae, a flavor with vanilla and chocolate ice cream and chocolate-covered almonds.

Barraza said the most popular flavors among adults are Kauai Pie, Kona Coffee, and Thatch Roof Sundae. Kids like cookie dough, mint chip and chocolate chip. Mexican mochas—mochas with a spicy kick—are popular with coffee drinkers.

The Alma B menu is pretty much complete but they will also be serving smoothies and pastries from Garnish Café.