*WEB CONTINUATION: This article originally appeared in Volume 105 Issue 4 of our news magazine, Amplifier.

Ome Calli is a family-owned and operated business that started 30 years ago in Michoacan, Mexico, and moved to Mexico City, Mexico. The owner, Castro Moreno, brought the business to Tualatin with his wife. The Tualatin location is now closed and has been moved to Beaverton. 

Moreno sold the business to the Diaz brothers, one of them being Armando Diaz. The Diaz brothers shared an apartment and discussed owning a business together. That is when Moreno stepped in and offered them their dream by owning an Ice Cream shop.

“The owners chose the name Ome Calli because I believe they wanted to represent Mexico more on the indigenous side like the Mayans and Aztecs, to show more of our roots,” Diaz said.

Ome Calli promotes their business and is traditional and Aztec-inspired, setting it apart from other Mexican ice cream shops. ‘Ome calli’ means ‘second home’ in Nahuatl, an indigenous and common language among native citizens of Mexico. 

As Ome Calli originates from Mexico, Moreno was inspired to create their ice cream as close as they can to the style of Mexico. 

“In Mexico, they sell it more often in a popsicle form, and we offer that too, but we brought it by making it into ice cream, still with all the natural ingredients used in Mexico,” Diaz said.

Diaz compares and contrasts the ways they create ice cream. Allowing him to recall the days he grew up with ice cream in his small town in Mexico. 

“El lavanda por una razón me recuerda aun más a mexico, lo siento muy fresco, me recuerda del rancho de donde yo soy, a un señor que vendía helados y cuando abría su carrito de paletas tenía esa aroma.”

“For some reason, lavender and lime reminds me more of Mexico, to me it feels fresh, it reminds me of the place I grew up in and when the ice cream man would open his cart of popsicles, that fresh lime aroma,” Diaz said. (Translated into English from Spanish) 

Ome Calli has gained attention over the years with the new business owners, the Diaz brothers. Their unique flavors and vibrant colors attracted many customers, allowing them to be featured on USA Today 10 Best. 

“Not all businesses have different demographics like us,” Diaz said. “We get all ages and people from different countries like Japan, Russia, Spain, you know, all over the world.”

Ome Calli has many flavors that cannot be found in your typical ice cream shop. Ranging from “Queso Fresco,” a traditional Mexican cheese, to Mexican Chocolate with Chipotle.

“We have unique flavors because Castro liked to experiment a lot with his flavors of ice cream,” Diaz said. (Translated from Spanish to English) 

Castro’s passion for trying something new created a common ground between the curiosity of his flavors and the curiosity of the customers. Customers often find connections with this ice cream shop through fruits. 

“We realize we have the same flavors in different countries just with different names,” Diaz said.

 Many fruits that seem foreign to the United States are commonly found in other warm countries like Mexico. For example, Mamey and Guayaba, a tropical apricot and Guava. Ome Calli creates smiles with their ice creams and connections, living up to their name of “second home.”