{"id":55899,"date":"2025-12-09T07:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T07:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/55899\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T07:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T07:07:09","slug":"leonas-sandwiched-into-garfields-growing-food-scene-pittsburgh-city-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/55899\/","title":{"rendered":"Leona’s sandwiched into Garfield’s growing food scene – Pittsburgh City Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Katie Heldstab and her wife Christa Puskarich, co-owners of Leona\u2019s Ice Cream<\/a>, were designing its Garfield scoop shop, they knew the feeling they were after: warm, sunny, and welcoming year-round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wanted teal,\u201d Heldstab tells Pittsburgh City Paper inside the shop, gesturing to a wall matching one of Leona\u2019s signature colors, featured on the packaging of its famously lactose-free pints<\/a>. \u201cI knew I wanted some kind of checker[ed] floor and a warm [wood]. I wanted it to be comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another \u201cice cream wall,\u201d designed by artist Kim Fox of Worker Bird<\/a>, displays cones pieced together from snippets of Heldstab\u2019s and Puskarich\u2019s own photo collection, incorporating dress patterns, a blanket at their home, and snapshots of berries picked up from Triple B Farms<\/a> for Leona\u2019s fall flavors.<\/p>\n

Facing Penn Avenue, a colorful scalloped awning on the shop\u2019s window (painted in anticipation of a three-dimensional sign) evokes an old ice cream parlor or a soda fountain, with a sidewalk sign inviting passersby to \u201cCome on in! It\u2019s always ice cream season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s neighborhood Sesame Street vibes. I love it so much,\u201d Heldstab says.<\/p>\n

\"\"Katie Heldstab and Christa Puskarich celebrate the soft opening of Leona\u2019s Scoop Shop in Garfield Credit: Leona’s Ice Cream<\/p>\n

Leona\u2019s evolution into a standalone brick-and-mortar shop, opened Nov. 12, has been 12 years in the making.<\/p>\n

After Heldstab, who has a lactose-free diet, and Puskarich received a home ice cream maker as a wedding gift, they launched Leona\u2019s in 2013. The business quickly garnered praise for its giant, artisanal ice cream sandwiches known for needing two hands to eat \u2014 winning, among other accolades, Best LGBTQ-owned Business<\/a> in City Paper\u2018s 2020 Best of PGH Readers\u2019 Poll. Producing all ingredients in-house out of its longtime sustainable kitchen and garden in Wilkinsburg<\/a>, Leona\u2019s has sold its lactose-free sandwiches, ice cream scoops, and packaged pints wholesale for more than decade, touting gourmet flavors like Lavender & Honeycomb and Black Sesame on Salted Tahini Chocolate Chunk.<\/p>\n

Their first foray into brick-and-mortar came in 2023, when the ice cream maker opened a scoop shop for a year-long stint inside Lawrence Hall.<\/p>\n

Selling a seasonal product like ice cream, \u201cwe [were] hoping to kind of level that bell curve into more of a light hill,\u201d Heldstab says. \u201cAnd it did flatten \u2026 We learned basically how to run a scoop shop. We got an entire year of data.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, we learned that if we opened up a Leona\u2019s Scoop Shop, people would be excited to come visit us,\u201d the shop told CP<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Katie Heldstab, co-owner of Leona\u2019s Ice Cream, points out the custom wallpaper in their new scoop shop. Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n

For the community-focused ice cream maker, it also created an opportunity to see customers year-round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would go months without hearing from anyone who actually ate our ice cream,\u201d Heldstab recalls, \u201cwhich is kind of a lonely place to be when you make something that is [supposed to] directly give joy to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Setting up shop in Garfield, Leona\u2019s wasted no time reaching out, and, only weeks after securing space on a busy block of Penn Avenue in May, it began to hold pop-ups during the neighborhood\u2019s monthly Unblurred: First Friday gallery crawls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ordered [a] freezer, kept it in the construction site \u2026 filled it with ice cream for the night, sold \u2026 and unplugged it,\u201d Heldstab says. \u201cSo we\u2019ve been kind of been teasing [the shop] in the neighborhood for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since opening the scoop shop, the neighborhood \u2014 which, to Heldstab\u2019s knowledge, has not seen a standalone ice cream spot for decades \u2014 has responded enthusiastically, with residents stopping in to welcome the newcomer on the block.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Garfield] is super walkable. So every third person is like, \u2018Oh, I live six houses that way,\u2019\u201d Heldstab tells CP. \u201cOr, \u2018I can see the back of the shop from my porch.\u2019 Everyone is really lovely and local.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Pints of assorted ice cream at Leona\u2019s new scoop shop in Garfield Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n

The new Leona\u2019s location also joins something of a foodie corridor along Penn Avenue, opening on a stretch that now includes neighborhood staples such as People\u2019s Indian<\/a>, along with Spak Brothers pizza<\/a> and Soju<\/a>, and newbies like Third Space Bakery<\/a> and The Open Road<\/a>\u2019s non-alcoholic bottle shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI desperately hope that we can be a dessert hub for the food here,\u201d Heldstab says. \u201cObviously, places have their own desserts, but as part of a stroll down [Penn Ave.] patronizing different places, we\u2019re kind of right in the middle, which I love, and I hope that it does draw people.\u201d<\/p>\n

A particularly good pairing, Heldstab believes, might be a plant-based dinner at Apteka<\/a>, followed by Leona\u2019s selection of dairy-free desserts. (The Leona\u2019s team has been dreaming up the perfect day in the neighborhood<\/a>, which could include a stop at Workshop PGH or a walk to Allegheny Cemetery\u2019s beloved Titty Sphinx.)<\/p>\n

In addition a foodie hub, \u201cwe\u2019re also secretly not-so-secretly trying to make it the gayborhood<\/a>,\u201d Heldstab says, adding to Garfield\u2019s growing LGBTQ scene that includes the recently opened Mary\u2019s<\/a> bar, Two Frays (whom Leona\u2019s frequently partners with), Kindred Spirit Tattoo, and the Mr. Roboto Project. <\/p>\n

Heldstab says she\u2019s especially excited for the soon-to-be-launched The Soft Spot<\/a>, a late-night sapphic cafe opening down the block, with programming planned for LGBTQ people of all ages.<\/p>\n

\"\"Katie Heldstab, co-owner of Leona\u2019s Ice Cream in Garfield Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n

As for the new Leona\u2019s ice cream lineup \u2014 where to begin? Beyond its signature sandwiches, scoops, and pints, the new shop offers floats made with locally-sourced Reb Ribbon soda, \u201cKrispwiches,\u201d a square gluten-friendly sandwich option modeled after a Rice Krispies Treat, and \u201cDippies,\u201d a chocolate-covered treat \u00e0 la the Dairy Queen Dilly Bar.<\/p>\n

Scoops will be nine rotating flavors. When CP visited, these include a revamped, coconut-based vegan cookies and cream, a coffee flavor, and a maple nut offering. Guests can order scoops in two sizes \u2014 a golf ball-sized \u201cmini\u201d (\u201cI don\u2019t want to call it \u2018kids\u2019 because adults want minis, too,\u201d Heldstab says) and a tennis ball-sized regular, with a new option for a six-scoop ice cream flight.<\/p>\n

Another novel element to the scoop shop, Heldstab tells CP, is that extra baked goods from Leona\u2019s kitchen will no longer be consigned to a \u201ccookie graveyard.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201c[When] we make too much of something, and previously we couldn\u2019t use it, now we can package it up and bring it here,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe\u2019ll have bags \u2026 a couple bucks, you can grab cookies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its first weeks, the shop has stayed occupied kicking around new concepts like hot chocolate with marshmallow fluff, build-your-own ice cream sandwiches, and ice cream cakes for maximum millennial nostalgia. Look out for a louder, more official opening party around Valentine\u2019s Day, says Heldstab (which might include the return of last year\u2019s Ice Cream bonbons paired with Two Frays honey beer).<\/p>\n

Rather than being daunted by a winter opening, the time has allowed Leona\u2019s to ramp up for a busy summer season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s freezing outside, but it\u2019s really toasty and cozy in here,\u201d Heldstab says. \u201cThat was the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article appears in The Big Winter Issue: Winter Guide\/People of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED\t