People made many right and wrong decisions during quarantine. Right – spend more time with one’s family, enjoy time outside and integrate more self-help elements into a daily routine. Wrong – gain the quarantine 19, aimlessly look at technology and hoard toilet paper. Many people picked up new hobbies – remember the yeast and flour shortage from the rise in sourdough baking? Regardless, some of these things endured while others fell to the wayside. Who made the best decision is up for contention, but a strong leader could be David Right beginning to play around with a one-quart ice cream machine and a new storefront in RiNo.
Right – another corporate American – received the infamous call at the brink of quarantine that his kitchen table would be his new office. His new scenery offered more than the highly prized office window view, instead, it showed him an outlet to a new hobby. The commute from work to home only lasting a couple of seconds – it offered Right more room in his schedule.
The pandemic manifested uncertainty and hardship – it was easy for Right to regain a sense of happiness through his own past experiences. “Everyone has a happy memory connected to eating ice cream, at least I do,” Right said with a chuckle. The nostalgic sense of summer or celebration requires taking a spoon full of ice cream, holding a cone piled high or breaking into the chocolate shell that realizes the melting ice cream from its lair.
Similar to many baking fanatics, it was Right’s friends and family that reaped the benefits of his experimentation in the kitchen. “It really wasn’t anything that my family expected because no one in my family is from the [food] industry. I just went for it,” explained Right.
Denver is not in short supply of acclaimed ice cream spots. The enormous realistic milk jug in the middle of LoHi is the unmistakable Little Man Ice Cream – with sister locations spanning Denver. The Sweet Action and High Point Creamy storefronts have their own followings. Happy Cones diversifies the crowd with New Zealand Style real fruit ice cream. Ice cream saturates the Denver food scene. Nevertheless, once Right Cream opened to the public, people knew they were in for a new type of treat.
Back in June of 2020, Right released the first of his ever-changing flavors. With a name like Gwen Stefani, this pint was beyond what comes in the freezer section and it was bound to be a superstar that leaves people drooling over it. A vanilla base was hidden by twirls of homemade strawberry jam, candied walnuts with a chewy caramel coating and bananas brûléed with extra brown sugar to keep them sticky. Each topping bursts from the top and captivates followers with one look.
“If I say it’s in my ice cream, I don’t want people digging around to find it. This isn’t cookie dough with one piece hiding at the bottom. No, you’re gonna see it immediately” said Right. Right is not classically trained, he cares about making everything – within reason – from scratch. He’ll be honest, people want Oreos in their cookies and cream, not his version. Instead, the crumbles, brownies, cheesecakes, jams, fudge, caramel etc., it’s all Right.
When removing the lid, it exposes the exuberant edition of the chosen flavor. The swirls of a hostess cupcakes graze the top of one pint, crumbles of funfetti cake erupt out of another and even toasted marshmallow fluffy creates a baked Alaska effect on some in the past.
His limitless flavoring draws on his childhood for inspiration – as well as taking inspiration from the candy, cereal and cookie aisle at the store. Right intertwines the indulgences sneaked into parent’s grocery carts with the upscale touch of crafting it from scratch. Right doesn’t have a favorite because it changes every time he mixes in a new swirl or textural element. He constantly finds news renditions to keep his pints in high demand
His pints have been trending for a while and still require a quick hand and an alarm to catch his pre-order drop on Monday mornings. Instagram facilitates all the orders via a story displaying the menu and DMs being the order form in the shop’s infancy. Customers order on the website Monday at 10 am. On Sunday nights, he releases his prestigious lineup for customers to get an idea of what to order. Then customers can pick up their orders on Saturday after patiently awaiting their pint. There are 4-5 weekly flavors to choose from.
Instagram is Right’s main outlet for updates and his following – now at over 4,000 – hear his next move. His small kitchen wasn’t conducive to feeding the ice cream fiends around Denver, thus the Ramble Hotel – an original fan – made a deal for Right to produce and sell pints there as long as his supply would also go to their restaurant. While that worked for a while, as Right established his ice cream he decided to churn a new idea of going solo.
In the middle of June, a cupcake store on Larimer St. in RiNo revitalized its sweet tooth with Right being its newest tenant. The shop is open on Saturdays for an afternoon sugar rush from 11 a.m to 1 p.m.. Ice cream lovers can also stop in for an after (or easily before) dinner treat from 5 p.m to 9 p.m. He’s still selling on Sundays from 12 p.m to 4 p.m, as well.
Right expanded beyond solely serving pints to include sundaes, sandwiches and frizzies to satisfy bypassers with a cold breeze in the midst of the heat. His outlook for these allows for constant changes – even the morning of when inspiration strikes. One weekend a waffle taco shell holds his scoops or buttermilk biscuits soaks up the melting drips. Frizzies utilize his sorbet for a refreshing version of a float – with Topo Chico providing the bubbles. Sundaes have the same chunks that could be found in pints but are added on top as well. His Fancy Sprinkles cling to a massive dollop of homemade whip cream. It matches the sprinkles covering the purple counter they are served from.
A community has arisen from the micro-artisan food industry. His baking flour comes from Bakery Four’s freshly milled collection. Potential mix-ins come from friends with their own pop-up – the highly anticipated crack pie from Big Door Prize. Right eagerly awaits more collaborations in the future.
Right’s passion and ambition can’t be stored in pints. Now a storefront owner, Right Cream is his full-time job. With more time on his hands, the angles for ice cream are unknown. However, one thing is for sure, with one of his pints in hand, everything will be alright.
