St. Augustine Eats: Cookiebird Ice Cream Bar
Savoring an ice cream cone on a hot day is a form of time travel. It’s a simple moment of joy that makes everyone feel like a kid again. For the owners of Cookiebird Ice Cream Bar, a soft serve ice cream bar nestled in Uptown St. Augustine, that sense of nostalgia is served up along with their twist on a summertime treat. That feeling is underscored by the shop’s art deco accents, from the coral checkerboard walls to the green classic barstools, reminiscent of a retro 1930s soda shop.
“The beautiful thing about soft serve ice cream is you have to go out to enjoy it,” says Kate Alfieri, who owns Cookiebird along with her husband Mike. “It’s not like ice cream that you pick up at the supermarket and eat while you sit on your couch at home. The magic is about the memory, the nostalgia and sharing it with the people you love.”
From milk buns to milkshakes, Cookiebird offers classic small batch, artisanal soft serve ice cream with a variety of colorful cones like matcha, lavender and orange creamsicle. Like an artist, you design your frozen treat with toppings like graham crackers, Biscoff cookies, rainbow sprinkles or dark chocolate curls. Each creation has its own personality, and every customer can be their own Picasso.
The name Cookiebird was the brainchild of the couple's 10-year-old son, Jed. What started out as a project of making homemade ice cream during the pandemic sparked the idea for their first business. Kate, a toy company consultant with a flair for design, and Mike, an artist and former teacher, decided to channel their creativity into learning how to make soft serve ice cream on a professional level, with the intention of creating a simple, curated menu with quality ingredients.
Mike enrolled in ice cream school, a sweet gig for any student, with a commitment to finding the perfect recipe to launch their new pursuit. “Food is my love language. It lights me up to see people enjoying what I made,” Mike says. “I decided to take a mixologist approach to soft serve ice cream, experimenting with different flavors and ingredients. It’s about using your imagination. It reminds me of a blank canvas and throwing paint at it. No one is watching or judging you. It’s about stepping out of your comfort zone, learning something new and having fun along the way.”
The Alfieris greet customers at the counter with a smile. Their ethos: to have fun and bring joy to everyone who walks through the front door. “I talk to my customers about when they were kids and how they used to go for ice cream with their parents or grandparents after school. We wanted to recreate that feeling and those memories here,” says Kate.
There’s a sense of community and love on San Marco Avenue and Cookiebird, a quick stroll from other businesses in the Uptown neighborhood, is in the heart of it. The ice cream bar is a quaint spot where you can sit outside under an Amalfi-style umbrella and enjoy a cone or an Italian inspired milk bun, a sophisticated take on an ice cream sandwich served on a warm brioche with powdered sugar. If you’re looking to beat the heat, snag a seat inside at the bar.
“It’s so nice seeing parents and their kids, whether toddlers or teenagers, enjoying a moment together, without their phones, eating ice cream and focused on spending time together. We get to be part of those special childhood memories and that’s important to us,” says Kate.
