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    Rolled Ice Cream Arrives

    NYC's hottest dessert trend has arrived in H-Town: Are you ready for rolled ice cream?

    Eric Sandler
    Mar 2, 2016 | 11:38 am

    The dessert trend that swept New York City in 2015 has arrived in Houston. Known as rolled ice cream, the Thai confection is so precious-looking it demands to be posted to Instagram immediately. Just ask the almost 300 people who “liked” this article’s lead image within a couple hours of its being posted on the CultureMap account Tuesday night.

    Class 502, an ice cream and tea shop in Chinatown’s Dun Huang Plaza (a few doors down from popular ramen shop Tiger Den), just began serving the dessert. With its school theme decor that includes a blackboard menu and tables shaped like desks, the cafe gives off a bit of a Bernie’s Burger Bus vibe with a Japanese twist. Currently, five flavors are available at a cost of $5.99.

    The procedure is simple. Flavored cream and toppings are poured onto a frozen stainless steel plate. The toppings are then diced, combined with the cream, and spread into a thin, flat layer that’s scraped with a spatula into rolls.

    Next, an employee picks the rolls up with tongs, places them into a paper cup, and finishes the dish by adding toppings (fruit, candy, cookies) and a drizzle of sauce. Diners can watch the approximately three-minute-long process, which adds a bit of a theatrical element to the experience.

    My friends and I sampled three flavors. We agreed that the my intensely-flavored coffee ice cream was the night’s big winner, followed by cookies and cream. The strawberry flavor tasted a little too artificial, even though it had strawberries chopped in. Overall, the ice cream's texture and creaminess probably rank a notch below high-quality, locally made options like Cloud 10 and Fat Cat Creamery, but it might be just the thing to put out the fire after a proper Chinatown crawfish feast.

    Really, the only downside is how long it takes to prepare. Even on a Tuesday night, the wait ran about 15 minutes. Although the employees moved relatively quickly to complete each order, Class 502 only has two of the metal plates. Expect wait times to spike as more people decide rolled ice cream is the next experience they have to share on social media.

    Toppings and sauce finish the dish.

    Class 502 rolling ice cream
    Photo by Eric Sandler
    Toppings and sauce finish the dish.
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    Aga's on the move

    Cherished Houston Indo-Pak restaurant opens to-go only location in Katy

    Eric Sandler
    Jun 19, 2026 | 9:01 am
    Aga's to go Katy exterior
    Courtesy of Aga's
    Aga's To Go opens Wednesday, June 24.

    Goat chops, curries, and naan are coming to Katy. Aga’s Restaurant & Catering, the cherished Indo-Pak restaurant that’s a staple of Houston’s South Asian community, will open its first new location in 25 years on Wednesday, June 24.

    Called Aga’s To Go, the new restaurant will be located at The Shoppes at Grand Crossing (102 W. Grand Parkway S., Suite 100). As it names implies, the restaurant is a to-go only facility that’s designed for both takeout and delivery via third party apps. While diners won’t be able to eat at the restaurant, they will be able to enjoy Aga’s cuisine at home in a more convenient than by traveling to the original location in Southwest Houston.

    The new restaurant will serve about 100 of the original location’s most popular offerings — all in compliance with the standards of zabiha halal. Customers can look forward to ordering kababs, boti, biryani, curries, freshly baked breads, and, of course, the signature goat chops.

    “This new location is a direct response to the growth of our business and the tremendous support we’ve received from customers throughout Katy and west Houston,” Zain Maredia, Aga’s head of growth and strategy, said in a statement. “Many of our guests make a considerable drive to enjoy Aga’s, and we’re excited to bring our food closer to them while creating new opportunities for our team and our company. Katy has been one of our strongest customer bases for years, making it a natural next step as we continue to grow.”

    Aga’s has plans for additional to-go only locations, according to press materials. Long term, the restaurant has its eyes on full service locations in other Texas cities such as Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, CEO Shaukat Maredia tells the Houston Chronicle.

    The Maredia family purchased Aga’s in 2010. Since then, they’ve grown the restaurant’s location at 11842 Wilcrest Dr. into a more than 16,000-square-foot behemoth that serves hundreds of diners every day. Along the way, Aga’s has earned wide acclaim, including multiple nominations for Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year in the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, a no. 1 rating in the Houston Chronicle’s list of the city’s top 100 restaurants, and a spot on the New York Times’ list of The 26 Best Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2024.

    Writing for CultureMap in 2023, Burger Bodega owner Abbas Dhanani hailed Aga’s as “the best Pakistani restaurant not just in Houston, but in the nation.” His top recommendations include the goat chops, chicken shinwari karahi, butter chicken handi, and white kabab karahi

    All that attention has drawn considerable interest from other media, including this deep drive from YouTube superstar Mark Wiens that’s racked up more than 1.7 million views.



    The restaurant funds college scholarships for high school seniors. This year, 25 students, including some from Katy, received a total of $100,000.

    “We’re incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received over the years,” Maredia said. “Houston has embraced our food, our family, and our story. Food has a unique way of bringing people together, and we’re excited to continue sharing that experience with even more guests through our new Katy location.”

    Aga's to go Katy exterior

    Courtesy of Aga's

    Aga's To Go opens Wednesday, June 24.

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