The North Limestone corridor is welcoming yet another new business that’s sure to extend the area’s growing reputation for unique and boutique offerings. Sorella Gelateria, a craft gelato shop, officially opened its doors at 219 N. Limestone St. on Dec. 4, with a range of small-batch flavors and rotating seasonal selections.
Located in a historic building next door to Lexington Beerworks, Sorella Gelateria is the brainchild of sisters Alma Kajtazovic and Selma Sulejmanagic. (“Sorella” means “sister” in Italian.)
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Sisters Selma Sulejmanagic (left) and Alma Kajtazovic (right) opened Sorella Gelateria in December. Sorella means “sister” in Italian. | Photo by Sara Hughes
Kajtazovic and Sulejmanagic are originally from Bosnia, having moved with their parents to Lexington in November of 1995 when they were 16 and 12, respectively. The move came at the height of the devastating Bosnian War, with the family landing in Kentucky after a church here sponsored them. According to Sulejmanagic, they were the first Bosnian family to relocate here, though the Bosnian community has since grown.
“I didn’t speak any English,” said Sulejmanagic. “We had just gone through refugee camps and whatnot, but we were happy.”
The very first night they spent in Lexington, they had Graeter’s ice cream. They also had pizza and Coca-Cola, things they hadn’t been able to have for two to three years.
“It was the best thing my parents did for me and my sister,” said Sulejmanagic of moving to Lexington. “We didn’t really pick here, but it was just the perfect place for us. We love it now.”
The sisters’ love of sweets, and gelato in particular, began when they were young and growing up in Bosnia and Croatia. Their preference of gelato over ice cream not only stems from its nostalgic value, but also in the way that it’s prepared.
Gelato is churned and frozen at a slower pace than ice cream, making it denser and less airy. Despite having a much lower fat content than ice cream, gelato is often smoother in taste, due in part to having less air and also to the serving temperature, which is generally warmer than that of ice cream.
The mainstay small-batch gelato flavors at Sorella will include chocolate, peanut butter, vanilla, strawberry, hazelnut (Kajtazovic’s favorite), coffee and coconut, among others. Sulejmanagic will also work in four rotating flavors that will act as weekly and daily specials, focusing on seasonal ingredients.
“For example, if it’s peach season, we’re going to do peach sorbet,” said Kajtazovic. In addition to gelato, Sorella will also serve dairy-free sorbet and espresso and cappuccino.
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Photo by Sara Hughes
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Photo by Sara Hughes
The shop is located in a building owned by Mary Ginocchio, who also owns nearby shop Mulberry & Lime. The building was built by her great grandfather in the late 1880s to house his butcher shop, Buchagnini Meat Market. An important factor in their decision to lease this particular storefront was the location – both sisters are fans of the bustling North Limestone neighborhood and like the prospects of being right on a busy street just a short distance from two schools, Transylvania University and Sayre School.
“There are a lot of businesses around me already, north and south,” said Kajtazovic.
Kajtazovic also works as the finance and operations director at LexArts, a job she will continue while Sulejmanagic handles the day-to-day operations at the gelato shop. While definitely a mutual operation, opening a food establishment was a longtime dream for Sulejmanagic. As far as Kajtazovic’s motivations, it’s a little simpler.
“For me personally, it was really just a need and a love of gelato,” said Kajtazovic.
Every time Kajtazovic traveled to a big city like Chicago or Toronto, the gelato options would pique her interest and get her thinking about what Lexington was missing.
“It would just be nice to have more options to walk to places like that downtown,” she added.
Sulejmanagic even did a bit of on-location training for this endeavor. This past February, she traveled to a small town in northern Italy near Venice called Cervignano del Friuli and made gelato every day for a month with a gelato shop owner who privately taught her methods and even recipes that she brought back and is currently tinkering with.
“Our friends live in Italy, and they love that gelato,” said Sulejmanagic. “It’s their favorite in that part of Italy.”
According to her, the trip to Italy is what ultimately confirmed that this is what she wanted to do in the food industry.
Sorella will also be using the same brand of gelato machine Sulejmanagic practiced on in Italy, an Italian company called Carpigiani.
“We’re just excited to be part of the North Limestone neighborhood and to have the opportunity to open our own business in Lexington,” said Kajtazovic. “The community has been super supportive so far. We hope to be able to make good gelato that everybody’s going to love.” ss