A new gelato shop has setting up shop in Upper Montclair and officially opened its doors. il laboratorio del gelato is a New York-based gelato shop that specializes in, you guessed it, creamy gelato available in an array of flavors. The new Montclair shop, located at 598 Valley Road, officially opened on Friday, May 28th at 12PM. Read on to learn what to expect at the gelato shop new to Montclair.
A Passion for Italian Dessert Born in NY
(Photo credit: il laboratorio del gelato)
According to the website, il laboratorio del gelato was the answer to Jon Snyder’s lifelong passion for the Italian dessert. With a simple mission of bringing incredible gelato to the world’s greatest city, the shop was born.
“From the age of nine, Jon spent every summer working at his grandparents Antoinette and James Ceriales’ Carvel Ice Cream Shop in Cortlandt Manor, NY. At 18, he discovered gelato in NY’s Greenwich Village and then during a first trip to Italy, and never looked back.”
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Jon was obsessed with bringing the unique Italian method to a 1984 Manhattan, and he postponed college to start his own business — the Ciao Bella Gelato Company. He, along with his cousins Laura and Christine built that into a small sustainable business over the course of 5 years, then sold it to someone who would take it to the national stage, according to the company’s website.
In August 2002, Jon opened il laboratorio del gelato’s first location in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and later opened a second location in Greenwich Village. Now, the popular gelato spot is entering the New Jersey market in hopes to share its top-notch ice cream with Montclair locals.
What To Expect
(Photo credit: @icecreamlab)
il laboratorio del gelato follows the original artisanal Italian method of gelato-making in order to create exceptional gelato and sorbet which includes dense texture, superior consistency, and pure flavors.
The shop sources ingredients locally to ensure its freshness and create the ice cream from scratch. From zesting lemons to roasting its own pistachios and almonds to extracting flavor from coffee beans, il laboratorio del gelato creates each flavor authentically and by hand.
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There are tons of flavors to choose from – they’re broken down by categories. In the cheese/savory section, there is brown butter, cheddar cheese, cheesecake, cream cheese, mascarpone, olive oil, and ricotta.
(Photo credit: @icecreamlab)
There are 15 flavors of chocolate that include, dark, milk chocolate, mocha, coffee, vanilla chocolate chip, and more.
The fruit-flavored section of the menu features forty flavors including apple, apricot, blood orange, blackberry swirl, and fig.
There’s also a nut section, a spice section, a spirits section (yes, as in beer + liquor), a sweet section, a tangy section, and a vegetable/herbal section. Gelato and sorbet cakes are also available for purchase.
To stay in the loop on the latest happenings, follow the official Instagram account for il laboratorio del gelato.
