Visit the wonderful world of Doc Burnstein’s where the fun never ends and creative ice cream flavors are a-plenty
Doc Burnstein’s hand-crafted, super-premium ice cream in San Luis Obispo is one of three award-winning ice cream parlors, lovingly hand made on the Central Coast. Owner Greg Steinberger is a business-savvy, big-hearted, community-oriented man with big plans in his future. For the past 15 years, Steinberger has lovingly built his ice cream business, after attending UC Berkeley for an MBA. “A lot of science goes into it. I love to create a great guest experience,” he says.
Doc Burnstein’s has been serving guests and thousands of visitors for the last 14 years at the downtown SLO location. Prior to it becoming a series of ice cream shops, the building was the city police station and had bars on the back window, used as a holding cell. Nowadays, you’ll see that the outside and inside have had an amazingly, Willy-Wonka-esque transformation featuring a series of cattywampus shelves stacked high to the ceiling, colorfully lit with a whimsical wall of ice cream flavors. The magic is in each little detail.
Steinberger says, “It’s our goal is to make Doc Burnstein’s a nationwide brand, and no matter how big we get, it should enhance the community wherever we are located, and 10% is given back to an important part of the community. We are publicly owned, with 550 shareholders, the youngest of which is just 2 years old.” He continued, “ The purpose of a business is to create customers, and also to benefit the community, serving the needs of the people, we aren’t here just to make a profit.” Doc Burnstein’s has a focus on sustainability and is looking into ways to better the environment. They use all compostable cups and spoons, and hope to one day have all of their electricity made using solar power.
Each Doc Burnstein’s parlor location has a special flavor, unique to the area. For the downtown SLO spot, they serve up Jack and Coke ice cream, which uses real Jack Daniels and a swirl of Coca-Cola, which is a favorite among the Cal Poly students. Doc’s most popular flavor by far has got to be Motor Oil, which features dark chocolate and Kahlua ice cream with fudge swirls, and it’s gluten-free! Every month has special featured flavors, along with Doc’s originals, and the traditional parlor flavors.
Birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations never looked better with one of Doc Burnstein’s cakes as a centerpiece. If you’re looking for a custom ice cream cake that seamlessly merges baked fluffy perfection with dense, cool ice cream, frosted and sprinkled, Doc has several delightful flavors sure to please each guest. Cookies and cream, rainbow sprinkled vanilla birthday cake, triple chocolate, mint chip, and more are all ready to pick up in any of the parlor locations. Cakes come in small or medium sizes, and are easily customizable with your favorite flavor of ice cream. Customize them even further with a sweet and special message written on a cake card or stake. For bigger events such as weddings, order one of their special event cakes which can serve over 500 people!
Doc Burnstein’s is located at 860 Higuera St, downtown San Luis Obispo. Open Sun-Wed from 12:00 – 9:00 p.m. and Thurs-Sat 12:00 – 10:00 p.m. For more information call (805) 548-1986 or visit www.docburnsteins.com.
–Cassandra Frey
