Nitrogen ice cream is now available in Tucson

"That's when our Chill-N story really started," said Gabriel Piñeda.

That story is playing out in a Catalina Foothills shopping plaza, where Piñeda and his friends, Claudio Wingartz and Andres Castañeda, are introducing Tucson to the made-to-order liquid nitrogen ice cream of their youth.

The trio, now in their late 20s, opened the first of three Chill-N Ice Cream shops in January; the second is opening next month in the Cottonwood Plaza on North Oracle and West Ina roads.

Chill-N is the first nitrogen ice cream store in Tucson and one of only a few in the state.

Nitrogen ice cream is flash-frozen at negative 320 degrees; Chill-N uses an automated, computer-controlled nitrogen dispensing system to control the amount of nitrogen. 

Orders start with selecting a base (dairy, including ice cream or yogurt), adding flavor (choices include standard vanilla and chocolate as well as the more exotic ube, salted caramel and dulce de leche). Next are the mix-ins, everything from fresh fruits to candy and cookies, before the dessert is mixed in a blender outfitted with the company's proprietary liquid nitrogen dispenser.

"You're getting your ice cream made to order, so it's very tasty," Piñeda said. "And then the nitrogen makes very small ice crystals, so it makes the ice cream very, very smooth. It gives it a very creamy texture ... and a very tasty ice cream because it has not been sitting in a (freezer) for three days." 

Chill-N Ice Cream started in 2012 in Daniel Golik's Miami garage, where he spent months experimenting with liquid nitrogen to create flash-frozen ice cream. Golik and his mother, Donna, opened the first Chill-N store in 2014.

It didn't take long for the company to start expanding beyond its South Florida base. In 2019, they started franchising; today, there are 13 locations in Florida, and locations in South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Tucson is the first location in the Southwest, where Chill-N hopes to make a big impact, according to company officials. Piñeda and his partners — Wingartz moved to Tucson 18 months ago, while Castañeda is working remotely from Florida — signed on to open a number of locations in the region starting with Tucson and expanding next to the Phoenix area.

"We're actually moving fast," said Piñeda, noting that the trio has a letter of intent for the lease on a third Tucson location that he says could open by year's end. They are also scouting locations in Gilbert.

Piñeda said the idea to bring Chill-N to Tucson came to him not long after he relocated here for a job four years ago. He said he tried local ice cream shops, but he couldn't find anything that compared to what he was used to in Florida.

"I remembered that Chill-N in Miami was extraordinary," said Piñeda, who also runs Sweat House Tucson, a fitness center that he opened with his wife two years ago. "So I reached out to the CEO and he mentioned, yes, we just started doing our franchise program and the Southwest is very attractive to us."

Chill-N Ice Cream, 4776 E. Sunrise Drive in the Sunrise Village center, is open from noon to 10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays and until 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Details at chillnicecream.com.