Prince released Purple Rain, Walter Mondale ran for president, and the Coen brothers’ first film, Blood Simple, hit theaters: 1984 was a very big year for Minnesota. Less noted on a national level, it was also a banner year for Twin Cities ice cream aficionados—that’s the year both Minneapolis-based Sebastian Joe’s and St. Paul’s Grand Ole Creamery were founded, which means both are celebrating their 40th anniversaries this year.
Michael and Timothy Pellizzer started Sebastian Joe’s with their late brother Todd. According to Michael, in the early 1980s there weren’t any ice cream shops in the Twin Cities that crafted their own ice cream.
“The idea to open Sebastian Joe’s came from a trip my brother Tim and I took to Boston in 1982—we were introduced to Steve’s Ice Cream, which had a line out the door,” he says. “I took my background in the food service industry, and Tim, Todd, and I began teaching ourselves how to make ice cream.”
Armed with a single small ice cream maker from a Labell’s catalog and a chest freezer in their home kitchen, the brothers opened up an ice cream shop in the Riverplace complex along the Mississippi; that fall, they moved to 1007 Franklin Avenue in Lowry Hill.
The Sebastian Joe’s moniker is an homage to the Pellizzer brothers’ grandfather Sebastiano, an Italian immigrant. You may have spotted his image on Sebastian Joe’s website or shop wall—he’s the bespectacled man wearing a suit and a fedora.
“He always wanted to assimilate to American culture, and the story goes, he was looking for a job and when his boss asked, ‘What's your name?’ he said, ‘Sebastiano, but you can call me Joe,’” explains Sebastian Joe’s managing partner Nic Groth.
Sebastian Joe’s footprint has expanded considerably over the years. The Linden Hills shop was added in 1987, and a Kingfield Social location debuted in May of this year. That Kingfield shop adjoins the Sebastian Joe’s manufacturing facility, which opened in 1993 and supports a robust wholesale business—their ice cream graces restaurant menus around town from Sea Salt Eatery to Parkway Pizza, and they recently partnered with Chef Jorge Guzman to create a choco taco for Chilango.
One of the first things you’ll notice when you walk into Sebastian Joe’s is the impressive flavor rotation, displayed on rows of chalkboard signs behind the counter. Currently, there are about 150 ice cream and 50 sorbet flavors in the lineup. “Sometimes a flavor goes by the wayside because it's not very popular, and instead of burying it like Ben and Jerry's does, if you come into the shop and you want black walnut, we'll do everything we can to get that produced. If you want a quart, we try really hard to make that happen for you,” Groth says.
Sebastian Joe’s offers several offbeat flavors—Loco Coco, a strawberry ice cream with cayenne-coated toasted coconut, and the roasted garlic almond chip spring to mind—but the top sellers have remained remarkably consistent over the years. According to Groth, vanilla has always been the most popular flavor. Other “signature” flavors (which are available daily) include salty caramel, chocolate, raspberry chocolate chip, and Oreo. “We still think we put more Oreos in our Oreo ice cream than anyone else!” Groth says.
Sebastian Joe’s most unique signature flavor is Pavarotti, a caramel, banana, and vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips—and it is, indeed, named after the acclaimed Italian tenor.
“Luciano Pavarotti had a concert at Northrup Auditorium. My brother Todd, being an opera fan, said ‘Let’s send a couple quarts of caramel banana chocolate chip,’” says Timothy. “The next day, Pavarotti showed up at the Franklin location and sang an aria and asked for more ice cream! Todd said, ‘We need to change the name to Pavarotti.’”
Another signature flavor with a story is the Flavor Formerly Known as Nicollet Avenue Pothole, which was launched in 2010 without the “formerly.”
“R. T. Rybak was the mayor at the time, and Nicollet Avenue had been taken off of the city's budget to get repaired,” Groth says. The Kingfield Neighborhood Association approached Mike with the idea of creating a “protest activism ice cream” to get Nicollet Avenue back on the budget. “That was kind of the first time that Sebastian Joe’s stepped into an activism role in the community,” Groth says.
The flavor’s ingredients—chocolate ice cream with fudge, chocolate truffles, Heath bar, and sea salt—were intended to evoke a road, with fudge as a stand-in for tar, truffles and Health bar for the gravel, and sea salt to represent the salt dumped on Minnesota’s roads in the wintertime. The ice cream achieved its goal of drawing attention to the maintenance issues and Nicollet Avenue was repaired, but people loved the ice cream so much that it stuck around, with a slightly modified official name.
And then there’s Henry By The Lake, a collaboration with the WCCO radio host of the same name. The seasonal flavor was launched in 2022 to benefit charitable causes and combines a caramel base with coconut, chocolate chips, and Henry Lake’s signature T-Rex Cookie, which features chocolate chips, coconut, and Bailey’s Irish Cream. This year, all proceeds benefit the TB1Fund, which supports patients and families at the M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital; M Health Fairview Pediatrics; and the Rebound Club, which gives kids dealing with life-threatening illnesses memorable experiences with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“I think that we're in a position where Joe’s has been around for long enough that we feel comfortable,” Groth says. “We're thankful for the position that we're in, and that we have an opportunity to do more community work and be more involved in the future…We don't have any plans right now other than Henry by the Lake, but I think that it's something that we can do more of as time goes on.”
When Sebastian Joe’s and the Grand Ole Creamery (whom we contacted but weren’t able to coordinate an interview with—happy anniversary GOC!) opened in 1984, housemade premium ice cream was unusual. Today, the Twin Cities are blessed with an abundance of craft scoop shops, including Milkjam Creamery, Bebe Zito, Sonny’s Ice Cream Cafe, and Dream Creamery.
“As new competition comes into the Twin Cities, I think we all do a good job of seeing it less as a challenge and more as an opportunity to push out new flavors and continue to make the best ice cream that we can,” Groth says.
He notes that Sebastian Joe’s continues to add new flavors (last year, they created a tart hibiscus flavor) and they’ve also emphasized ice cream novelties like Joe’s Brrr Bar. Kingfield Social offers a new treat called the Scoop ‘n Swirl, which lets customers design their own unique soft serve by combining hard scooped ice cream with cookies, fruit, candy, and other mix-ins.
“[The Scoop ‘n Swirl] gives kids the chance to tell us what they want in their ice cream,” Groth says, noting that the neighborhood’s kids inspired them to open the store. “I think it shows what Joe's has been able to do to keep us around.”
Some things haven’t changed over the past 40 years. The raspberry chocolate chip flavor is still loaded with fresh raspberries, just like it was when the recipe was created in 1985. Timothy says that retaining employees has helped maintain Sebastian Joe’s quality and consistency.
Many of Sebastian Joe’s original customers have returned to the shop over the years, sometimes bringing their children or grandchildren to try their first scoop of raspberry chocolate chip or Oreo.
“I know of three or four kids that have been named Sebastian after our ice cream store,” says Michael. “A first date at Sebastian Joe’s led to a marriage and kids!” And it’s been powerful to watch the stores become focal points for the neighborhoods they’re located in.
“Generally speaking, the fun thing about ice cream is it makes people happy,” Groth says. “It seems like, from talking with Mike and Tim, no matter how difficult the economy is, people seem to save money for ice cream. And I think that’s something really special about the industry that we're in. It keeps me humble and reminds me that what we're doing here is less about us and more about the community.”
“We really appreciate the neighborhood support,” Timothy adds. “We truly are a neighborhood scoop shop and because we count on them for our business, we do everything we can to support the neighborhoods.”
