‘I’m craving a Screamer,” Maxine tells me.

“What’s that?”

“Soft ice-cream with cream soda,” she says.

“Oh, you mean a float?”

“Sort of, except this is better than any ice-cream you’ve ever had,” she says.

“Where do you get that?”

“There’s only one place—Danny’s at Francis and Garden City.”

Then I remembered. Years ago, a friend, Heather, was the first to tell me I should try Danny’s pizza. Alas, I didn’t then, but I do eventually listen, and so I went to meet Danny on a Sunday afternoon.

Danny’s Market and Pizza is a non-descript corner store. Drive by and you’d think it was just a convenience store, but stop and enter and you walk into a clean, bright, welcoming space.

“People drive two hours or more to get this $2 drink,” Danny Khataw says as he makes me a small Screamer with Orange Crush. As I take a sip (it tastes like a Creamsicle), I can see why Maxine and her friends frequent this place.

Behind me, a woman orders four Screamers with cream soda.

“Ah,” says Danny. “So there’s no fighting.”

While Urmilla Kumar waits for her Screamers, she says that when she was pregnant 10 years ago, she used to come in every day for one.

Today, she lives in Edmonton, and whenever she’s in Richmond, she comes to Danny’s. The woman behind her says that she lives a few houses away and spends about $200 a month on Screamers.

So what makes the Screamers and the pizza so popular?

“The ice-cream and the pizza dough are secret family recipes,” says Danny.

In fact, there was no pizza being served that day. It was Sunday. The woman who makes the pizza takes a day off. And no, Danny can’t train anyone to make the dough like she does. Same with the ice-cream.

The building, Danny tells me, is 42 years old, same age as he is. He took over Danny’s Market (the store has always been named Danny’s) 11 years ago and has been arriving at the store at 6:30 a.m., seven days a week, ever since.

As a kid, he made is own floats and it became a passion. Educated at a private school, an MBA grad, and an employee of six years with Kraft, Danny decided to create something of his own in retail.

With the help of his father-in-law, Raza Ladak, who had spent 26 years working for 7-Eleven, he built Danny’s. So passionate were Danny and his wife Naazmin that when they inquired about making their own clear plastic cups and told that they would need to come up with $100,000 because they were too small an outfit, they did just that—by selling their townhouse. That’s how much belief they had in their dream.

The community has embraced them. Even members of the RCMP and firefighters are faithful customers. Students from the three neighbourhood schools line up. They graduate, marry and bring in their children.

As one woman says, “This is the best known, well known secret.” And indeed it is—there are 1,500 Screamer fans on Facebook. Danny says that when employees at Dairy Queen and McDonald’s get off work, they come to see him.

Danny believes that quality is No. 1 and that the price has to be right. “I want to sell 50 pizzas a day, not two.” The chalkboard lists the specials, including three slices of pizza and a small Screamer for $6.99.

On weekends, the afternoons are the busiest. Even with three people working, there’s still a line up. Danny will go through 85 litres of ice-cream in one day. (Screamers are available in 10 flavours, including Coke, Almond Roca, root beer, blue raspberry, cappuccino.)

He also sells homemade samosas, sausage rolls, breadsticks, chicken wings, calzones, taquitos, sandwiches (such as boccocino baguette, Brie cheese baguette, chicken baguette—chicken marinated in his wife’s special sauce and then barbecued). In September, he will introduce breakfast.

Danny’s will be closed for two weeks this summer, from Aug. 12 to 27. Last year, when Danny asked his son what he wanted for his eighth birthday, his son said, “Time with you.” So Danny took the first holiday he’s taken since opening the store. This year, they are off to Orlando. “So double up on Screamers beforehand,” Danny tells a customer. “And please wait for me to open again.”

Danny’s Market and Pizza: 9040 Francis Road; 604-274-3610

Arlene Kroeker writes about food every Thursday in The Richmond Review. She may be reached at akroeker@aol.com.