Nicholas Creamery
When Nicholas Creamery opened in Atlantic Highlands on Memorial Day weekend 2018, Chef Nicholas Harary scooped his house-made ice cream for three-hours straight before he realized there was a cop outside to direct traffic around the long line.
Harary and his wife, Melissa, ran the critically acclaimed Restaurant Nicholas in Middletown for 20 years, where many of his coveted ice cream recipes were perfected. The couple transformed their upscale establishment into Barrel & Roost, a modern farmhouse-themed eatery, last summer. Before the transition, the Hararys partnered with their longtime business director, Jodie Edwards, to launch the Atlantic Highlands creamery, followed by a second shop in Fair Haven in August. A third store opened in Tinton Falls last month (May 2021).
“My kids are getting older, and I wanted to do something fun for them,” Harary explains. “And I’m still making something good that the public can appreciate.”
Indeed, Harary found a more accessible way to share his culinary prowess. He plans to open more creameries in Monmouth and Ocean counties in the next few years.
Nicholas Creamery collaborated with many local food purveyors to create unique flavors. Seed to Sprout in Avon gave rise to Vegan Cookie Dough. Porta, an Asbury Park restaurant known for its house-made ricotta cheese, opened the door for Ricotta Olive Oil. And The Butcher’s Block in Long Branch was picked for Bone Marrow Sour Cherry. (“It’s weird but good,” Harary reassures skeptics.)
The creamery’s best seller is Booskerdoo Coffee Crunch, with cold brew and beans from the Asbury Park—based coffee roaster. Try it in a milkshake. (A 12-ounce shake is $8.)
Featured flavors rotate with the seasons. Edwards says an early summer sensation is Strawberry Shortcake, followed by Jersey Sweet Corn in August. (A kiddie cup costs $4.25, while medium is $5 and a large $5.75.)
Harary says on that fateful first day, after he realized the crowds will come, he called Kelly West, his pastry chef at Restaurant Nicholas, to tell her to start making more ice cream. West now runs the so-called Yum Yum Factory, a commercial kitchen in Tinton Falls where all the ice creams, cakes, sauces and jams are scratch-made for the ice creams shops and restaurant in small batches using all-natural ingredients.
Nicholas Creamery
84 First Ave, Atlantic Highlands, 732.204.2340
586 River Road, Fair Haven, 732.852.2033
1201 Sycamore Ave, Tinton Falls, 856.456.4035
nicholascreamery.com
MORE SCOOPS FROM THE SHORE
Looking for more places to indulge your ice cream cravings this summer? Try one of these house-made ice cream shops at the Jersey Shore: Cookman Creamery in Asbury Park, Cone Zone in Neptune City, Niki Maccanico’s in Belmar and the perennially popular Hoff man’s in Spring Lake Heights, Little Silver, and Point Pleasant. In western Monmouth you can’t go wrong at TK’s Ice Cream in Cream Ridge and the local standard bearer of ice cream establishments since 1952: Jersey Freeze in Freehold.
