What's the Scoop? Opens South Waterfront Location July 2

After opening her first What's the Scoop? on North Williams Avenue in 2012, owner Jodie Ostrovsky is finally ready to bring her small-batch ice cream to the South Waterfront. What's the Scoop?'s second location—adjacent to a series of high-rise apartment complexes and trendy, yet still-under-the-radar spots like Muselet—soft opens July 2, just in time for the 4th of July, at 0664 SW Gaines Street.

"We make our ice cream in smaller batches, so that lets us have a lot of selection in flavors," says Ostrovsky, so prepare to enter a deep freeze with flavors like Bourbon Toffee, "3D" chocolate, and Brown Butter Almond Brittle. Flavors rotate daily thanks to Ostrovsky's enthusiasm, and for the soft opening, she's serving six flavors daily, with a wider selection rolling out with the grand opening toward the end of July.

What makes What the Scoop?'s ice cream different is its modern approach, which skips the traditional (and time-consuming) approach of churning ice cream, opting instead to use liquid nitrogen. The end result makes for an ice cream that has smaller ice crystals than its slow-churned counterpart, leaving an "extraordinary creaminess" behind.

Prices are pretty standard with most Portland shops (one scoop is $3.75; two cost $5.50; three scoops for $6.50), and you can up the ante with a Hosack sundae for $12. It comes with four scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, and "magic dust," which sounds delicious and potentially illegal. Or grab a bite of the $8.50 Ice Cream Sandwich Experience: two house-made cookies, a scoop of ice cream, and a toasted marshmallow.

The indecisive at heart can also get $7 samplers featuring four smaller scoops of ice cream. Wrap up your sweet tooth nicely with a take-home pint for $8, or for parties, go big with full trays of ice cream at a cool $80.

Starting tomorrow, July 2, What's the Scoop? on the South Waterfront is open Sunday through Thursday, from noon to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from noon to 11 p.m.

—Janelle Albukhari, @jenkhari