Meet the Owner: Kathy Sabatell of Kathy's Gourmet Italian Ices and Ice Cream

Kathy Sabatell is the Willy Wonka of Windsor Terrace. 

To hear her tell it, owning an ice cream shop—specifically, Kathy's Gourmet Italian Ices and Ice Cream—is a piece of cake. 

“It’s a happy place," she said. "There’s no stress involved. You’re selling ices and ice cream—it’s a dream job.”

Sabatell has been in the business for around four years, when she joined her cousin in owning what used to be the Uncle Louie G on Greenwood Avenue, just across the street from Greenwood Playground. 

Sabatell's cousin moved on, but she decided to stick around. Her background is in retail, but she took to the ice cream business like sprinkles on a sundae.

So committed is Sabatell to serving ice cream that this year she plans to keep the shop open through winter, expanding the store's offerings to include more winter-friendly treats like soup and hot-pressed sandwiches. 

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Still, there's never a bad time for ice cream, even when the ground itself is frozen. To Sabatell, the question is not whether to get ice cream or not—it's what flavor to get. 

"I consider it a mood thing," she said when asked to pick a favorite. "Are you down and depressed? You need chocolate fudge brownie. You need chocolate peanut butter or chocolate jelly ring. If you’re hot, if it’s the middle of the summer, you need mango, you need watermelon, you need lemon."

Many Windsor Terrace residents will note that until this year, Kathy's—as well as Johnny's on Prospect Park Southwest—used to be part of the Uncle Louie G umbrella. 

Sabatell, along with John Russo—co-founder of Uncle Louie G—decided to branch off into a separate company in order to secure more creative freedom over the store's recipes. 

"My brownie sundaes are known around the neighborhood because they’re my brownies," she said. "My brownies go into the chocolate fudge brownie ice cream, my rainbow cookies go into my rainbow cookie ice cream. I have control over that."

She said her customers appreciate the difference. 

"It’s more personal. We’re making it for you," she said. "If I’m out of mango today, he [Russo] is out making it right now and it will be fresh here tomorrow morning."

Kathy's Gourmet Italian Ices and Ice Cream is located at 422 Greenwood Avenue.