The Northgate Mall in San Rafael is an ideal training ground for Guide Dogs for the Blind. It’s the type of public, indoor location a service dog must learn to navigate while working. It’s also mostly empty. When I returned to my car after holding the door open for a stately golden retriever and its handler, mine was one of maybe 10 vehicles in the parking lot. Three of them belonged to Guide Dogs for the Blind.
There are still tenants — among them a Macy’s, a judo academy and a Shirtique, which is, of course, a boutique that sells shirts — in the mall, which is undergoing a controversial redevelopment. But the food court is an eerie wasteland. By the murder-y bathroom, with its flickering fluorescent lights, there are drinking fountains that are “temporarily closed” and an extremely out-of-service payphone. Behind the counters of the abandoned food court stalls are stock images of pepperoni pizza, a smiling brunette huffing a cappuccino with her eyes closed, and what appears to be the worst burrito you will ever eat. “FIND YOUR FAVORITE SNACKS,” reads a sign. Where? Where are they hiding?
There is only one remaining tenant in the Northgate Mall food court, and, implausibly, it serves some of the best ice cream in Marin County. Daily Recess offers a rotating selection of ten gelati and sorbetti, spun on site and scooped out of stainless steel carapine. Owners and Kentwood residents Brian Bowen and Kristi Gauslow — a chef and pastry chef, respectively, who worked at the Restaurant at Meadowood and Traci Des Jardins’ restaurants — scour the farmers market, tailoring their flavors to the season and their whims. Honeydew sorbet is perked up by mint, like a thoughtfully composed fruit salad. Strawberry gelato gets tang from buttermilk. A key lime gelato tastes more like cheesecake than pie thanks to a touch of earthy Laura Chenel goat cheese, and the Nutella is so milky that it’s almost a dusty pink, like a color out of a Kylie Lip Kit.
Daily Recess sells milkshakes and gelato by the pint, but the best move is to get a couple of scoops in a waffle cone ($8 for a double scoop, $1.50 for a cone). Shoveled straight from the carapina with a flat spade, the texture of the gelato is superlative, fluffy and soft. The buttery, ever-so-thin homemade cones are terrific too. They anchor an excellent riff on Choco Tacos ($9), shellacked with a sheer coating of milk chocolate and coconut oil to keep them crispy, then filled with triple vanilla gelato, more chocolate, and sprinkles or peanuts.
When Gauslow and Bowen signed their lease in 2024, Northgate Mall was busy. There was a movie theater, a farmer’s market on Thursdays, and — the proof of life of any American mall — a Sbarro’s. But as demolition and construction progressed, tenants started leaving. By September 2025, Daily Recess was the last man standing in the food court. (Compare this to the thriving shopping center that houses Silbermann’s, the ice cream parlor that celebrated its 60th birthday this year, a mere half mile away.) Daily Recess still sees some foot traffic from families visiting the arcade or the indoor playground with bouncy castles, but Gauslow estimates that 65% of its business is from regulars who schlep to the mall specifically for gelato…