Chillato comes to Venice


On April 20 Jason Guffy and Joseph Nejman officially opened the doors of JJ Chill, located at the corner of Windward and Pacific and began to serve their freshly prepared dessert delicacies to the people of Venice.


Back in June of 2000 Joseph Nejman, a Philly native, and Jason Guffy, a So Cal resident, first met in Leveret House as roommates attending Harvard Summer School. Jason Guffy had decided to take a brake from a demanding surfing career in Orange County for a unique opportunity to study Marine Biology at Harvard.

Joseph, after spending his freshman year playing lacrosse at Notre Dame, transferred to Harvard in pursuit of a more focused academic career with a Concentration in Anthropology. Both young men, ambitious and adventurous, instantly became best of friends. The dynamic combination of Joseph’s intense east coast work ethic blending with Jason’s easy going California attitude is as unique as their Chillato, a dessert consisting of Granita (gourmet Italian Water Ice homemade with fresh fruit and Natural Juice) sandwiched by a bottom and top layer of premium Frozen Custard (soft ice cream made with fresh cream, non-fat milk and eggs).

The following summer, on his way to Australia to spend a semester doing field research in Aboriginal communities, Joseph stopped to spend time with Jason in his native land. Spending three months every summer living at the South Jersey shore, Joseph had a deep and growing interest in surfing and the SoCal beach lifestyle. As the sun set on a glassy Pacific Ocean, Jason and Joseph sat at the edge of the world not discussing biology nor anthropology, but how great a lemon-mango “Granita” would taste. The smooth velvety texture and refreshingly sweat taste of Granita was the only sensible choice to satisfy the thirst of a salty sanded surfer’s mouth. Sadly, the only thing lacking for Joseph in California was the absence of his favorite summer time treat… Granita.

Joseph had grown up enjoying the classic lemon Granita (known in Philadelphia and New Jersey as Italian Water Ice) made by his Grandfather from just a bag of California lemons, sugar and a block of ice. Joseph now uses that same basic family recipe for over twenty flavors of Granita that he makes fresh every morning at JJ Chill with fresh fruit.

JJ Chill also offers the JJ Smoothie, any combination of Granita Flavors with either their dairy (made with fresh cream and eggs) or non-dairy (organic soy milk) vanilla /chocolate blends.

Posted: Tue - June 1, 2004 at 07:58 PM          

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