The 'Cheers' of Chatham

A quaint little ice cream shop sits on Main Street, just across the street from The Library of Chathams. It's called .

To hear Manager Mike Lloyd tell it, "it's amazing how many people don't know there is an ice cream shop in Chatham." The location has been selling ice cream since 1980, and some long-time Chatham residents know that it originally started as Do Me A Flavor, and then became Nuzzi's.

Gabriella's was officially opened on Memorial Day in 2001 by owner Gabriella Ferrara. She started the business as an investment; she wanted to have a place to work when she retires. She is currently a postmaster in Liberty Corner and was a Madison resident when the store opened.

About six months after the shop opened, Lloyd started managing the shop and has been there ever since. A retired Air Force veteran, he came into Gabriella's as a customer and recognized the need for help. He had wanted to open an ice cream shop out in California where he still has family, but cannot currently travel because of an autoimmune disorder that prevents him from using any form of mass transit.

Lloyd, however, has big plans for the future.

"I'm working on opening Gabriella's West in Huntington Beach, California some day. My cousins are out there waiting for me," he says in a jovial manner. This is on his list of things to do when he is able to fly again.

Gabriella's carries homemade ice cream that is purchased from a private dairy out in Western New Jersey.

"They make things specifically for us," explains Lloyd as he describes the reason for proprietary ingredients. About once a week, he will go to the dairy and pick up the buckets of fresh ice cream, and then will continue on to Dingman's Dairy, where the ingredients for the soft serve ice cream are purchased.

Gabriellas has over 20 flavors of ice cream, three different flavors of softserve ice cream and three choices of a product called Only 8, which is frozen yogurt.

"I educate the customers so that they feel comfortable about what they are eating," Lloyd says.

There are plenty of choices at the shop. "Wow, it's so hard to decide," said customer Mark Anton of North Salem, N.Y.  He ended up choosing a pistacio ice cream in a waffle cone.

One of the most popular items people come in for are the homemade gourmet stuffed cupcakes. They have been featured in Fox 5, Channel 7 Eyewitness News, and WPIX 11 as being "the best cupcakes around." They will be featured on "Oprah" in May.

There are three different sizes; mini, regular and muffin sized. "I haven't gone for the muffin sized one yet," Lloyd explains, since, as he says, the regular sized cakes are even larger than a typical "regular" sized cupcake. The cupcakes are purchased from Petite Café in Nutley.

Other items include homemade ice cream cakes, which are custom decorated by hand, Italian ices, cappuccino and expresso, and a large selection of individually wrapped ice cream and ice pops. 

"Gabriella likes to think of this place as the 'Cheers' of Chatham," says Lloyd.