Charcoal-tinted vanilla. Vibrant green iced matcha. Soy milk-based vegan chocolate ganache. These are some of the flavors ice cream aficionados are licking—and liking—at Dang in Park Hill, the newest Little Man Ice Cream outpost. It’s all thanks to scoop-shop-empire-building Paul Tamburello, father of Denver’s iconic milk-can shaped Little Man in LoHi, who opened Dang last month. 

While Denverites are well acquainted with the hard-pack ice cream at Tamburello’s six other Front Range locations (Little Man LoHi, Sweet Cooie’s, Constellation, the Little Man Factory, Little Man DIA, and Churn in Fort Collins), Dang is his first soft-serve venture. The hardest part about making the transition from hard pack to soft-serve ice cream? “Learning how to clean a new machine,” jokes Little Man chef Claire Fields.

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The star of the show at Dang isn’t the array of mix-ins found in the ice cream at its sister concepts (think: pie crust, candy bits, Oreos), but rather the eight rotating flavors themselves. After all, soft-serve equipment can’t handle such additions. You can, of course, order a swirl of lilikoi (passion fruit), caramel corn, or Mexican hot chocolate and then customize your treat with almost 30 different topping options, from salted nuts to brownie bites. If your palate craves something extra, try Dang’s signature concoction: the Bomb Cyclone ($5.50/$6.50), a towering cup or cone of two swirled flavors garnished with up to four scoops of toppings.  

Need something to counteract the sweetness overload? That’s where Dang’s french fries ($5), the shop’s only non-ice-cream menu item, come into play. Director of operations Loren Martinez admits that he and his team must have tried close to 20 different fries before landing on the standard-cut potatoes you’ll find at the shop. Order them with ketchup or signature Dang sauce, a tangy Sriracha-ranch base sprinkled with dill and lemon zest. 

Dang is the fourth Tamburello spot to open this year, and it sports the whimsical design he’s known for. Situated in Oneida Park, the retro 80s-pop-culture-inspired building—striped with bold fuchsia, purple, turquoise, and royal blue—is an architectural standout on its own, and once inside, you’ll bop along to a catchy vinyl soundtrack while you wait to place your order.

It’s nice to know that when you’re craving an alternative to the salted caramel ice cream sammies from the original Little Man or scoops of vegan pumpkin chai from Sweet Cooie’s, there’s a dang-good soft-serve alternative just a few miles away.

If you go: DANG is open daily starting at 11 a.m.; 2211 Oneida St., 720-550-8834.