East Idaho Eats: Karie Anne’s Frozen Dessert serves gelati to die for

REXBURG — During the hot days of the summer locals swarm the Karie Anne’s Frozen Dessert trailer in Rexburg for treat to cool down.

“It’s amazing!” 12-year-old customer Cassidy Bradley says.

Owner Jessica Mortensen says the concept for gelati — two layers of smooth Italian ice with the middle filled with custard — comes from back East. She says she bought the Karie Anne’s trailer from a Brigham Young University-Idaho student who started the business for school credit.

“He ran his first little trailer around the corner from our house, and we used to go and love the product, and so we thought, ‘When he leaves, let’s offer to buy it and see if he’s interested.’ We loved it so much. It had become a family favorite,” Mortensen says.

Mortensen has been running the dessert trailer for three years. She has kept the original flavors Karie Anne’s was founded on, but still tries to mix things up.

“He had served blue raspberry, peach, mango, pina colada, tiger’s blood. Most of our basic staples that we have right now were all the original flavors, and then we try to incorporate new ones every week,” Mortensen says.

“The mix together is just a marriage of yumminess.”

She says customers love the smooth texture of the Italian ice and the rich texture of the custard.

“Rather than being like a snow cone, our ice isn’t actually shaved — it’s put through a machine, and it spits it out in that smooth fashion. As far as the custard goes, it’s just a smoother texture (than ice cream). It’s very different (and) has its own creaminess to it. The mix together is just a marriage of yumminess,” Mortensen says.

Mortensen says if you’re a first-time Karie Anne’s customer, you could order Italian ice and custard separately, but getting gelati is a must. Karie Anne’s regulars know special combos like the dragon slayer, which has pina colada Italian ice on the the top, tiger’s blood Italian ice on the bottom and a layer of vanilla custard in the middle.

She says customers also order the pina colada or red raspberry Italian ice with their choice of chocolate or vanilla custard.

“The top it tasted like actual raspberry. It tastes delicious,” 10-year-old customer Ben Clawson says.

Mortensen says this year Karie Anne’s is in a larger trailer in Rexburg, and the original trailer is currently in Logan, Utah.

“We’re trying a new outlet to see how well it does. If it can grow like that we’d love to be able to stick it in different places or maybe even allow others the opportunity to put one up and try to run a Karie Anne’s,” Mortensen says.

Karie Anne’s has deals on Mondays by offering a family night special, and on Thursdays a date night special. Karie Anne’s is also sold at select places, like Love At First Bite in Idaho Falls.