We All Scream for Joe & Liza's Ice Cream!
Since Sag Harbor’s popular, family-owned restaurant Bay Burger opened its doors about 10 years ago, owner Joe Tremblay’s philosophy has remained the same. “Eat real food. Use high quality ingredients and keep it simple.” This is readily apparent in their handmade bread, their house beef, and their sequencing of seasonal dishes. Just over four years ago, Joe and Liza Tremblay pursued an additional route to sweet success—ice cream!
Joe & Liza’s Ice Cream has quickly become a popular brand around the Hamptons. The secret? It’s all natural, truly premium and made in small batches. Plus the ice cream plant is just a stone’s throw from Bay Burger. The reliable brand now serves over 30 clients including restaurants, farm stands, farmers markets and local groceries. And, of particular interest to devotees, they produce a killer ice cream sandwich!
Why fill your product with nonsense? To Liza, it just didn’t make any sense to do so. “We wanted the ingredients label on the back of the ice cream to be as simple as possible, without gums or fillers, which is why, four years ago, we switched to an all-natural dairy base which is based on our recipe and produced by the Hudson Valley Fresh dairy [cooperative].” For example, Joe & Liza’s vanilla ice cream only contains milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla.
This knowledge of producing a distinctively different and naturally flavorful ice cream didn’t come without some formal training. Liza Tremblay, who mainly manages this side of the family business, studied directly under “The Godfather of Ice Cream” Malcolm Stogo, who invented Cookies and Cream ice cream in 1978. He has created over 4,000 different flavors. Liza returned from her training with Stogo fully prepared and on a mission to start something unique and lasting. The Tremblays were able to find a distributor in Hudson Valley Fresh who agreed to supply their all-natural base that would be the foundation to their force of 50 flavors of ice cream, ice cream sandwiches and sorbets.
Ice cream doesn’t taste better with more ingredients. Keep it simple and you can’t go wrong. Young, motivated and hard working, Joe and Liza have managed to expand an idea into a perpetually inspiring story of creating delicious foods.
Care to try some for yourself? Stop by the Bay Burger restaurant at 1742 Sag Harbor Turnpike, Sag Harbor (just North of Dale & Bette’s organic farm stand)—every Wednesday ice cream comes free with your meal! You can also catch a variety of Joe & Liza’s Ice Cream pints at their newly opened concession at the Amagansett Farmers Market through Halloween (367 Montauk Highway, Amagansett, open Saturday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., amagansettfoodinstitute.org).
Be on the lookout for seasonal ice cream flavors including pumpkin, cinnamon and apple cider donut this fall!
For more info and a complete list of Joe & Liza’s retail outlets, check out joeandlizas.com and bayburger.com.