After some delicious eats at Mother Road Market and a short trip to Kendall Whittier Park last Friday night, my family got a hankering for a sweet treat and decided to stop by the Big Dipper Creamery on Brookside in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Big Dipper got its start at Mother Road Market in the Kitchen 66 incubator back in 2018 and expanded to my hometown of Sand Springs in 2021. That location has become a family favorite for date nights and treats for the kiddo. But we had yet to visit the Brookside branch that opened in 2023 and decided to cross it off our list.
The Brookside Big Dipper Creamery was pretty close to its Sand Springs sister in terms of decoration and atmosphere but it had one thing Sand Springs doesn’t – patio seating! Inside, the parlor was a little bit darker and slightly less inviting than its Sand Springs counterpart, but still spacious with lots of room to stick around and spend some time playing the numerous board games they provide.
The Flavors Keep Rotating at Big Dipper Creamery
The flavors were of the same inventive and unique variety that we’ve come to expect and many were quite familiar. Charity and I both went with double-scoop waffle cones. I got the Coffee Roads – a coffee flavored ice cream with chunks of chocolate cookie dough – and something blueberry lemon which was surprisingly delicious.
Big Dipper is quite experimental with their flavor concoctions but even the weirdest-sounding combinations always come out excellent. Some of their oddities include Honeycomb Lavender, Raspberry Habanero, and Mango Tajin. Of course they have more traditional decadent favorites like Ultimate Cookies and Cream and Pony Boy – vanilla ice cream with swirls of chocolate sauce and brownies – as well.
Half the fun of Big Dipper is that the case is never quite the same twice. There’s a core of forever flavors that stick around – Madagascar vanilla bean, dark chocolate, banana pudding, and cold brew espresso – but every month brings a fresh batch of new creations to try. That means you can swing by a few times and keep landing on something you’ve never had before.
However you order it, the cone is part of the draw too. Big Dipper makes their waffle cones fresh in-house every single day. If you want the classic crisp version, that’s the traditional waffle cone, and they’ve got plain cake cones as well. But the one to try is the bubble cone — a soft, fresh-cooked waffle, more like a hot breakfast waffle than a hard crunchy cone, folded inside a big paper cone to hold it all together before they pile on your scoops.
How Big Dipper Creamery Got Its Start
The Big Dipper story starts a long way from Brookside. Founders Sami and Brian Cooper were living in Portland when Sami took a job at a local ice cream shop in 2012 and got her first taste of what small-batch, locally made ice cream could be. The couple spent the next several years teaching English in Vietnam and Morocco, where the busy local markets and unfamiliar ingredients gave Sami a deeper feel for pairing flavors with the seasons.
By 2017 they were back in Tulsa. Sami was teaching kindergarten, but the ice cream idea never left her, so she bought a used three-quart batch freezer and started churning small batches in a spare bedroom. That hobby quickly outgrew the house and moved into a rental kitchen, then into the Kitchen 66 incubator, where Sami ran an ice cream cart at the farmers market and local events. The shops you can walk into today grew straight out of that cart.
Visiting Big Dipper Creamery on Brookside
The Brookside shop sits at 3633 South Peoria Avenue, right in the thick of the district’s strip of shops and restaurants. It’s open Sunday through Thursday from noon to 9:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from noon to 10 p.m., and you can reach the parlor at 918-845-5804.
Beyond cones and cups, Big Dipper also makes ice cream cakes and handles catering, and you can place an order online for pickup.
Altogether, Big Dipper is a great addition to the historic Brookside neighborhood and its long tradition of walkability, great shopping, dining, dessert, and general date night fun.
Frequently Asked Questions About Big Dipper Creamery
Where is Big Dipper Creamery on Brookside located?
The Brookside parlor is at 3633 South Peoria Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
What are the Brookside hours?
It’s open Sunday through Thursday from noon to 9:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from noon to 10 p.m.
Does Big Dipper Creamery have other locations?
Yes. Along with Brookside, Big Dipper has shops at Mother Road Market on South Lewis, in Sand Springs, and in South Tulsa on South Sheridan.
Does Big Dipper Creamery make ice cream cakes?
Yes, the creamery makes ice cream cakes and offers catering, and you can place orders online for pickup.
