A small, artisan frozen dessert shop from Brooklyn has made its Texas debut: Called Uncle Louie G's Italian Ice & Ice Cream, it's now open at 7522 Campbell Rd. #115 in Dallas, where it's scooping up Italian ice, ice cream, and related frozen desserts with a real authentic East Coast vibe.
Uncle Louie G's was founded by namesake Louie G. decades ago, then expanded by family members in the 2000s. It's now owned by Melissa and Ernie Aiello, and has 10 locations in the New York-New Jersey-Staten Island area. It's famous for its blue-striped awning, and flavors with tribute names like NYPD Blue, FDNY Cherry, Coney Island Cotton Candy, Holi Cannoli, and Soprano Spumoni.
DFW has always been big on shaved ice, but shaved ice differs from Italian ice both in texture and ingredients. Italian ice is smooth and creamy, like sorbet, and is made by churning ingredients — water, fruit, sugar — just as you churn ice cream. Shaved ice is a block of ice that's shaved, then flavored with syrup.
Italian ice also goes beyond the sugar and flavoring used by many shaved ice vendors; Uncle Louie G's, for example, uses with real fruit.
In addition to Italian ice, Uncle Louie G's also offers a premium ice cream with 14 percent butterfat (Haagen Dazs is 14 to 16 percent).
They have nearly 50 flavors of Italian ice and 34 flavors of ice cream, some with a Northeast slant like Spumoni, Maple Walnut, and Black Razzberry. Stores choose a smaller selection to feature daily.
Italian ice options include novel fruit flavors like banana, cantaloupe, watermelon, and passion fruit; decadent flavors like pistachio, creamsicle, and chocolate peanut-butter cup; and quirky flavors like blue bubble gum, cake batter, chocolate jelly ring, cotton candy, and sweetish fish.
Ice cream flavors range from rocky road to rum raisin to salted caramel to chocolate Nutella to butter pecan.
Milkshakes also have a Northeast vibe, with flavors such as blackout and old-fashioned black and white, featuring chocolate syrup with vanilla ice cream. There are also iced coffee drinks, sundaes, ice cream floats, old fashioned egg cream, and a frozen hot chocolate.
The Campbell Road location is a franchise from Zabi P., who moved to Dallas three years ago.
"We previously lived in Savannah, Georgia, and would go get Italian ice," Zabi says. "When we moved to Dallas, the Texas heat got to us, and we went looking for something sweet, light, and refreshing. But there were no Italian ice places here."
They loved Uncle Louie because of the quality and the fact that the menu offers something for everyone — from avowed ice cream fans to dairy-free.
They're located in a shopping center on the southwest corner of the busy intersection at Campbell and Coit Road, in a former tailor shop next door to Cindi's Deli. The space has 4 to 5 tables inside and an outside patio.
"We looked at many locations but we wanted to be part of a nice neighborhood with residents who would appreciate this kind of gourmet shop," Zabi says. "The university is nearby, the neighborhood is great, and the area does not have anything like it — capturing the essence of classic Italian frozen desserts with a modern twist."
