Bob Fryer has wanted his own small business since he was a boy selling baseball cards out of his parents’ garage in Central New York. After college, he and a high school buddy started a landscaping business but, eventually, he got swept up in the world of corporate finance until last year, when he left that world for good. Immediately, he and his wife, Teresa, began to look around for a small business they could take over. It is Long Island’s good fortune that La Carraia Gelateria in East Meadow was for sale. The Fryers took it over in October and opened Cheeks & Bean Gelato Co. the following month.
“We looked at a laundromat, we looked at a taco place,” recalled Teresa. “But when we saw this place, it seemed like fate.”
In fact, the Fryers had been making gelato in their Bethpage home since the pandemic, using their Kitchen Aid mixer’s freezer bowl attachment. And they really got into it. By 2022, Teresa was taking classes at GTI Designs, the Ronkonkoma firm that manufactures gelato displays (among other things) and also offers professional seminars. (Two years later, Bob took the same course.)
Teresa and Bob Fryer are the owners of at Cheeks & Bean Gelato Co. in East Meadow. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
In East Meadow, the couple threw themselves into the new venture not only with enthusiasm but with rigor, eschewing the more common “cold-process” method where the gelato starts with a pre-pasteurized base. They use a “hot process,” bringing in milk and cream from the Hudson Valley and incrementally adding their own sweeteners and emulsifiers until the mixture reaches 180 degrees. For the flavors, they rely largely on PreGel, a supplier based in Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Bob’s mathematical background comes in handy as he is constantly fiddling with formulas and proportions. It was a great day when he discovered that he could use a Sharpie to write directly on the white-tiled walls of the kitchen which, thus, exhibits a certain “Beautiful Mind” decorative scheme. Not only are the Fryers sticklers for production, they pay close attention to how the product is stored. Gelato, with less fat and less whipped-in air (“overrun” in ice-cream parlance) should be served at a higher temperature to highlight its flavors and creamy texture. They’ve learned, by trial and error, that different flavors are at their peak at different temperatures and so one display freezer is set at 6.9 degrees, the other at 12.2.
A selection of gelato at Cheeks & Bean Gelato Co. In East Meadow. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Their gelato strikes a balance between traditional Italian flavors and more cutting-edge American ones. The intense pistachio is made with a puree of Sicilian nuts (and no filler almonds), and there’s a lighter version softened by white chocolate. Classics such as vanilla, chocolate, hazelnut, gianduja (hazelnut-chocolate), blueberry vanilla, stracciatella (chocolate chip) and lemon sorbetto are all terrific, as are more newfangled rainbow cookie, mint chocolate cookie, “princess cake” (a more refined, almond-forward take on birthday cake) and “Amalfi sunset,” flavored with vanilla, lemon and almond wafers. Cups and cones range from $5 to $9.50, pints are $13.50, quarts are $20. There are also crepes, cookie sandwiches, “nachos,” and more. Coffees are from Mongo’s in Syosset, teas from Clipper Ship in Smithtown.
Bob estimates he is at the store about 14 hours most days, while Teresa still works full time in market research and part time “as an Uber driver for our daughters.” It’s the daughters who lent their nicknames to the venture: Abigail, 15, is “Cheeks” (originally “Sweet Cheeks”) and Eleanor, 10, is “Bean” (originally “Ellie Bean”).
Cheeks & Bean Gelato Co., 2326 Hempstead Tpke., East Meadow, 516-725-3658, cheeksandbean.com. Open every day from noon to 9 p.m. through Labor Day.
Erica Marcus, a passionate but skeptical omnivore, has been reporting and opining on the Long Island food scene since 1998.
Dining and Cooking