You know what's really cool about ice cream? Think about it: It's something we almost always enjoy with loved ones, and on happy occasions. When I think about ice cream, I think about family, and that connection really hit home recently when I visited with the fine folks at Tony's Ice Cream in Gastonia. You see, these people are family, and they've been serving up their delicious ice cream to people in our community since 1915.
Louis Coletta ran the business with his kid brother Robert, who died in December. He now owns Tony's with his children, Melinda Bradley and Tony Coletta. Louis' grandfather, Carmine, immigrated to this country from Italy. He came to Gastonia and started making ice cream, which he sold from a horse-drawn buggy. "He'd go to the Firestone area and walk house to house," Louis told me. "People always said the horse knew the route better than he did."
The business was eventually taken over by Louis' father, Tony, along with his aunt and uncle, Mary and Tony Janetta. Louis remembers selling ice cream with his dad, just as his grandfather had. "He'd go to shift changes at Firestone and wherever else people gathered," he said. "I never went with him to a ball game when he didn't get me a foul ball he'd trade for a cone, and that was always a special treat."
Once called Sunrose Ice Cream and Coletta Ice Cream, the family built the current location in 1947 and changed the name to Tony's Ice Cream, where they serve up way more than ice cream every day. And trust me when I tell you it is all unbelievably delicious.
Generations of families have been served at the charming restaurant. Decorated 1950s-style with bright red booths and lots of stainless steel, it's easy to imagine yourself in a different era as soon as you walk through the door. I've never been in Tony's when it wasn't packed with people, and all kinds of people, too. Whether you're a corporate CEO or a homeless person, you are always welcome at Tony's, and regardless of your income level, you can afford to eat there.
Homemade biscuits and breakfast sandwiches start at about $2, with nothing on the breakfast menu more than $3. A cheeseburger is just $2.75, a BLT is $3, and an order of cheese fries will cost you $2.50. Ice cream cones sporting scoops almost as big as your head are $2.35, and a kiddie cone is $1.87. Every Tuesday, children 10 and under can pop in for a free kiddie cone, provided they're with an adult.
And let's not forget my personal favorite: Tony's hot dogs. "We probably sell more hot dogs than anybody else around," Louis said. Well, of course they do. For a mere $1.60, you can get yourself one of those treasures complete with mustard, onions and the very best hot dog chili I have ever tasted. They make chili every day at Tony's, "but you never sell today's chili today," Louis explained. "The flavors are enhanced when you chill it down and then you sell it tomorrow. Ice cream is the same way."
Louis' attention to detail is admirable, and I'm afraid becoming extinct. Following Carmine's tried and true recipes, Tony's uses only the finest, freshest ingredients in both the restaurant and the little ice cream plant right next door, where some 24 flavors are produced. Treat yourself to a milkshake made with whole milk and the ice cream of your choice. They're enormous (plenty for sharing) and feature an extra scoop of ice cream on top. For $5.50, you can take home a half gallon of everything from butter pecan to cherry cheesecake, all of it made right in downtown Gastonia by a family that is fierce in its commitment to quality.
The day I visited they were making chocolate ice cream, the hands-down favorite flavor of Tony's fans, and I have to agree. If you haven't tried their chocolate ice cream, it's high time you did. It's super creamy, tasty and what Louis describes as "Southern style. It's not real dark like a lot of chocolate ice cream you get," he said. "Ours is sweeter and lighter than any I've tried."
"We could make ice cream a whole lot more cheaply than we do and a lot more quickly than we do but then you're giving up something and we're just not willing to do that," Louis said. "People come here expecting something special and that's what we give them every day," he added.
Maybe the ice cream isn't hand churned any longer and nobody's selling it from a horse-drawn cart. But spend five minutes with this lovely, connected family, and it's obvious the heart and soul of the business is intact.
"We're not doing it the same way, that's for sure," Louis said, "but we're sure doing it with the same spirit."
