New Gelato Shop Opens On Long Island

SAYVILLE, NY — A Long Island gelato shop is celebrating its grand opening this weekend.

Sayville's Dolce Scoop Gelato, a boutique ice cream shop serving traditional gelato made with imported Italian ingredients, is hosting a grand opening celebration on Saturday, May 31, at 6 p.m. Scoopie, the store mascot, will be there at 3 p.m. and giveaways will be offered throughout the day.

The shop, which opened for business last October, offers gelato ice cream in cups and a variety of flavored gourmet cones, like salted blue corn.

They also serve as gelato brioche sandwiches—think cannolis filled with gelato—and a variety of imported Italian cookies, sodas and treats, including espresso affogato (a scoop of gelato with a hot shot of espresso), and cioccolato affogato (an espresso affogato with a chocolate twist).

The gelato shop also changes up its flavor offerings each week, with unique flavors like gingerbread and pumpkin spice, espresso and hot chocolate.

Opening a gelato shop was the natural evolution for local business owner Donna Herting, who owns TiggyWinks Boutique.

"I own the business next door. When the space became vacant, I wanted to do something small-town oriented to keep Main Street thriving," Herting told Patch. "The idea of a small ice cream shop came to mind. But with some options already in town, I thought, 'let's make it artisanal with different seasonal flavors, not a pre-frozen factory-produced product.'"

Herting said that since the "space is tiny," there's no room to make the gelato in-house.

"So, I researched—as in ate lots of gelato—until I found the best authentic gelato made with whole milk and natural imported ingredients from Italy," Herting explained. "Our gelato is made fresh weekly. We get a fresh-made delivery every Wednesday with flavors always changing."

When Herting's new venture first opened its doors, the winter weather inspired her to be open for business on weekends only.

"Now that the weather has begun to warm up, we have regular hours," she said.

The shop is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from noon to 9 p.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m. They are closed on Mondays.

Dolce Gelato Sayville is located at 110 Main Street. Follow them on Instagram @dolcescoopsayville