I n our small and dense state, we don’t have to travel very far to get all the goods and services we need. But that’s not always the case for the things we want.
When it comes to craft ice cream, father and son Dinesh and Shahan Kukreja are closing the distance. Their year-old shop, Micro Creamery of Connecticut, located in Woodbridge just a cone’s throw from the New Haven border, curates and rotates a selection of Connecticut craft ice creams. Current sources include Wallingford’s Praline’s, Prospect’s The Big Dipper and Salem’s Salem Valley Farms, with an emphasis on quality and creativity.
“Nothing we do is really regular, even within our classics…,” Shahan says. “Why have Oreo when you could have Double Oreo?” He scans their menu specials for examples of twists on classics and just plain twists, from sundaes layered like parfaits in milkshake cups to ice cream nachos with crumbled cone “chips.” A signature of the menu is their flight option ($11.50), offering four scoops of your choice in an homage to the microbreweries that inspired the concept.
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After a while hemming and hawing over my own flight selections (a common occurrence at Micro Creamery, Shahan assures me), I landed on Blueberry Cheesecake, with ripples of tart fruit and pie crust; Funfetti Birthday Cake, a sugar bomb (in the best way) loaded with rainbow sprinkles; Pralines and Cream, an elevated take on a butter pecan (my go-to flavor) with full roasted nuts; and the bestselling Graham Jam, a delightful menagerie of chopped up graham crackers and airy, flaky chocolate-dipped honeycombs from The Big Dipper.
As well as being one of Shahan’s favorites, Graham Jam is one of the many flavors I got to sample beforehand, as Micro Creamery encourages taste-testing. They aim to have something for everyone, offering several vegan ice creams as well as dairy-free smoothies and sorbets. They even offer sugar-free alternatives, sweetened with all-natural monkfruit. At any given time, they have dozens of flavors in the case and offer additional options, including from other suppliers, as pre-packaged pints or custom-made ice cream pies.
“Our goal is that all of our customers leave here with a big smile,” Shahan tells me at a kid’s table decked out with crayons and board games as his dad serves waffle cones to another father-son pair. “The level of community [we’ve found here] honestly makes us emotional, especially here in the Amity area. Our regulars come for date nights, family outings… We want to have not only the best ice cream but the best family spot. We get to see the locals grow with us.”
That may seem like lofty thinking for a business that just celebrated its one-year anniversary, but the Kukrejas’ own family dynamic puts it into perspective. Dinesh has worked in food service ever since he immigrated to America from India with his wife over 30 years ago. Their son, Shahan, inspired by his parents’ hard work and his dad’s skills in restaurant management, transitioned away from medical administration in 2022, and the family affair of Micro Creamery was born. He recruited his mom, Nanzeen, and sister, Arzeena, for their financial and marketing acumen, while he and his dad tackle the customer-facing roles. “Every idea goes in the groupchat first,” Shahan laughs. Happy to let his son do most of the talking, Dinesh pops in to add that “family is the reason we’re doing good.”
Micro Creamery celebrated its one-year anniversary on August 11, with buy-one-get-one waffle cones. In the future, they hope to begin producing their own ice cream in-house, as well as expanding to new locations—including a just-opened outpost in the Connecticut Post Mall—across the state and northeast.
For now, the Kukrejas seem unconcerned about the fast-approaching end of summer. “We’re open 362 [days of the year],” Shahan says. “We’re reaching out to a certain group of people: ice cream lovers. And they’ll tell you that [ice cream] is not just a summer thing, it’s an all-year thing.”
Micro Creamery of Connecticut
1652 Litchfield Tpke, Woodbridge (map)
(203) 298-0770
www.microcreameryofct.com
Written by Miki Cornwell. Images by @microcreameryofct.
