Laura Glesby file photo
Ice cream aplenty -- and alcohol verboten -- at Elena's on Orange.
A bustling East Rock ice cream shop won’t be offering wine on tap anytime soon — now that a legal agreement has reversed a prior approval permitting the storefront to sell booze in addition to soft serve.
That’s the latest with Elena’s on Orange, an ice cream shop that opened last November at 831 Orange St. and that’s owned by East Rock Community Management Team Chair Elena Grewal.
Back in April 2022, John and Mary Lou DiPaola, Elena’s nextdoor neighbors and the owners of restaurant Caffe Bravo just down the block, filed a zoning-focused appeal in state Superior Court. That appeal contested a variance granted by the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) in March 2022 to allow for the sale of beer and wine on site at the East Rock ice creamery.
The formal complaint followed public back and forth in front of the zoning body last year as some East Rock residents spoke in favor of Grewal’s project pitch to bring ice cream, coffee, beer and wine to a community gathering space at the corner of Orange and Canner. Others worried about how a fresh flow of spirits would affect their neighborhood.
The DiPaolas argued in an appeal filed on April 19 of last year that the Board of Zoning Appeals was wrong to grant Grewal zoning relief because she did not offer evidence that she faced a hardship if she could not sell alcohol at the shop. In order to receive a variance, as opposed to other forms of zoning relief like special exceptions, applicants are expected to prove that abiding by the standard zoning regulations would cause unnecessary challenges for themselves or, in this case, their business.
That yearlong legal contest has now come to an end because, on May 11, the DiPaolas moved to withdraw their appeal after reaching a settlement with Grewal. Read the settlement in full here. The settlement upholds one variance passed by the BZA allowing for seating of up to 20 patrons inside the shop where six would typically be permitted. It also explicitly bars both alcohol sales and outdoor music on site.
Neither party could explain why music had been eliminated from the list of permitted uses on Orange Street during recent interviews with the Independent. Grewal never applied for special permissions to host concerts or gigs while John DiPaola said he was indifferent to the issue of whether Grewal played music outside the shop. Rather, he said, his concern was about mixing alcohol and ice cream without food served on site to buffer any drinks downed by customers.
Nora Grace-Flood photo
“It’s nothing personal,” DiPaola told the Independent last week during a brief interview during off-hours at Caffe Bravo.
He said his opposition to Grewal’s proposal to serve alcohol at an ice cream shop was not fueled by an anti-competitive attitude due to his personal status as a nearby business owner, but by community concern as a resident who has lived at 827 Orange St. for four decades.
“It’s a beautiful neighborhood and we wanna keep it that way,” DiPaola said. “There’s room for everybody here — all kinds of business and all kinds of people. But alcohol and no food? Just ice cream? We didn’t think it was a good combination.”
He noted the proximity of Wilbur Cross High School to the ice cream shop and worried that youth would find ways to abuse alcohol served on scene.
In the meantime, DiPaola said that Elena’s growing business, which sees people packed on the Orange Street patio nearly every day for cups and cones of dairy and non-dairy cream, has been a positive addition to the area.
“So far, so good,” he said. “I sit on my porch and enjoy seeing all the people and kids.”
Laura Glesby file photo
Grewal outside the now-bustling shop back in January of last year when it was a vacant storefront.
Grewal, meanwhile, agreed that “the lawsuit was settled amicably and I’m excited for how things are going.”
“The reception has been incredibly positive. We’re bringing some joy to the East Rock community and beyond.”
The shop has been successful while serving just two flavors: chocolate, which is oat milk-based, and vanilla. Over the past few months, Grewal has been experimenting by offering weekend specials, like strawberry or alphonso mango.
Asked whether some classic liqueur-laced flavors like rum raisin might soon make it into the mix, Grewal said “We’re not giving anything away — we’re gonna keep on testing and see what tastes cool.”
"There's room for everybody here" . . . as long as they don't try to compete with incumbent businesses with a local monopoly.