A new gelateria from a husband-and-wife team with deep roots in New York’s fine-dining scene has opened in Bronxville.
Gelateria Sorella, which quietly debuted June 25 and celebrates its grand reveal June 27, is the creation of Misha Mariani and Priscilla Scaff-Mariani, who met working at The Modern (she was a pastry cook; he did savory.) Between them, they’ve spent over 40 years in some of Manhattan’s most acclaimed restaurants — think Daniel Boulud’s Épicerie and Balthazar Bakery for her, including as the executive pastry chef at the two-Michelin-starred Gabriel Kreuther; The Marea, Lincoln Ristorante and The William Vale for him, with the most recent as food & beverage director.)
Their attention to detail, commitment to quality ingredients and hospitality-first mindset is evident both in the design of the shop (meant to evoke both the wonder of childhood and the vibe of an Italian café) as well as in the products themselves (gelato is king but there’s also sorbet and baked goods including a killer gluten-free chocolate chip cookie and a vegan coffee cake.)
What makes the gelato special at Gelateria Sorella
This being a gelateria, gelato is the star of the show, displayed front and center in a vibrant array of colors. Handcrafted in small batches, each flavor is based on Priscilla’s meticulously developed recipes, reflecting a careful balance of artistry and precision.
The lineup features 18 flavors — 14 gelatos and four sorbets — ranging from timeless classics to inventive twists on familiar favorites.
Options include chocolate, pistachio, stracciatella, negroni, campfire, crazy coconut, Caffé Bianco, milk and cookies (with gluten-free cookies) and a protein-packed vanilla, available in cups or cones (choose from “pinto,” “medio” or “grande”) as well as insulated biodegradable boxes for pints and quarts (aka “pintos” or “quartos”) to go.
For the Mariani’s, everything is done with intention. And that means their gelato is about more than technique. Respect for ingredients, the farmers who produce them, and the community they serve, informs much of what they do. They’re especially proud to source their dairy from Battenkill Valley Creamery, an upstate farm that’s been in the same family since 1902.
The couple, parents to two young daughters (more about them in a minute), are also big believers in cooking with the seasons, meaning customers can expect flavors to shift throughout the year based on what’s freshest and at its best. Priscilla is excited to experiment using the tools she’s honed from her more than 20 years in pastry kitchens. “If I want to make a jam or add different textures and applications to something classic in order to get unique flavors, I can,” she said. “So, there’s room if I want, for example, to do a hibiscus and raspberry or a prickly pear.”
She can even play around with something as traditional as chocolate, as their current offering is made with 70% Valrhona chocolate, but another day could use 66% or another number to slightly alter the flavor. The couple have already come up with 50 flavors and look forward to unveiling them gradually, using the gelateria as a canvas for both tradition and experimentation.
Customers can expect eight staples staying the same — chocolate, pistachio and coffee will be some of them — but the rest are up for grabs. Another menu standby is Beni’s Batch, a cotton candy flavor created to honor their 8-year-old daughter Beni, who was born with two holes in her heart (she had open heart surgery a few years ago and is now OK.)
A portion of proceeds for the gelato, which remains all natural to accommodate the Mariani’s ethos (meaning the cotton candy taste is very subtle), goes to Harboring Hearts, a non-profit that provides emergency housing, transportation, food, and emotional support programming to cardiac surgery and transplant patients and their families.
Another signature item is the fronnoli, a cannoli shell filled with cannoli gelato.
And, because the couple always want to have something that appeals to everyone, customers can expect a vegan baked good (right now it’s coffee cake) as well as something gluten-free (that aforementioned super addictive chocolate chip cookie). For those with no dietary needs, they’re also selling Palmiers, crisp, buttery French pastries.
Why open a gelateria?
With all this talent and experience, why open a gelateria? For Priscilla, who grew up in Southern California (Misha is from Tuckahoe), it’s a longtime dream. “I always wanted to have an ice cream truck and park it on the beach and whatever came out of the machine is what I sold because there’s nothing like fresh out of the machine.”
That’s partly where their inspiration came from though it also came from their daughters, their four and eight beta-tasters. The shop, in fact, is named for them — sorella translates to sister in Italian — with caricatures of their faces on the store’s website, t-shirts and totes.
After years of “grinding for so long” in the restaurant industry, the Marianis wanted to be deliberate about their next move. Above all, they wanted to create something joyful. That intention guided the design process, which Misha explained was meant to evoke the feeling of stepping into a European café.
The space leans vintage: deep cherry-red walls, pink striping and a black-and-white checkered floor that nods to the childhood kitchen of Misha’s youth.
Retro lighting and old-school diner-style napkin dispensers, reimagined in pink to match the palette, add to the nostalgic feel as do red and pink striped benches outside the shop (there are six seats inside). The goal, he said, was to layer in textures and visual cues that evoke the sensation of walking into a candy shop.
Perhaps the most whimsical detail is the pair of oversized ice cream cone handles on the front door, which immediately signal a sense of fun.
It’s all a long way from the days when Misha worked as a savory cook at The Modern while Priscilla did pastry. Back then, he said, he’d go “chitchat with her and eat her ice cream out of the freezer.”
“So I guess you could say we’ve come full circle.”
If you go
Address: 5 Pondfield Road, Bronxville, 914-202-7727, gelateriasorella.com.
Hours: Noon to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday; to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Good to know: There will always be vegan and gluten-free pastry options. There’s also merchandise such as t-shirts, totes and baseball caps that read “Don’t be a melt.”
Grand opening: Opens 1 p.m. June 27 (until 10 p.m.) The first 100 people will get a free tote.
Watch for: Coffee and espresso to come. The shop currently sells natural Italian sodas.
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Jeanne Muchnick covers food and dining. Click here for her most recent articles and follow her latest dining adventures on Instagram @jeannemuchnick or via the lohudfood newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Artisanal gelato shop opens in Bronxville. Get the scoop
Reporting by Jeanne Muchnick, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeanne Muchnick, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
