Tucked into historic Mill Building No. 1 in Newmarket, NH Angelo’s Amore scoops ice cream made of fresh ingredients with minimal additives. Marc opened the shop in May of 2020 amidst the pandemic, but has done well operating out of a window at the back of the shop, keeping patrons socially distanced and outdoors. We headed down the steps to sit by the Lamprey River and tuck into our dairy dessert. Never just a fair weather ice cream fan, the October day was overcast and threatened rain. But like the Postal Service “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” stays my quest for that perfect lick of balanced flavor, sugar, and ice.

Marc’s love of ice cream mirrors mine – we both share a passion grown from childhood memories. Like his father Angelo (this shop’s namesake) I too am opinionated and often persnickety about my ice cream. Bolstered by friends and family’s encouragement to turn his passion into a business, he wants to create a space where “strangers become fast friends over a bowl of ice cream”. Many of his flavors are gluten free, you can ask at the window for a list. He is still tinkering with dairy free recipes, and hopes to add those flavors to the docket soon. The waffle cones are homemade. HOMEMADE WAFFLE CONES. *insert drool emoji*

The flavor list for a small, newly opened scoop shop was decent and consisted of many standard flavors mixed with unusual ones, such as Merengada, Banana Chip, Pumpkin Spice. Marc’s favorite creation is Merengada, a lemon and cinnamon ice cream, which we tasted. I was impressed by the lemon coming through without the artificial tang sometimes encountered in other ice creams. K echoed those sentiments on the fruit flavors in her peach ice cream and Raspberry Chocolate Chip.

B got a Pumpkin Spice frappe and felt the pumpkin flavor was not overpowering and that the texture and taste of the graham cracker crumble was unique and enjoyable. Dad picked 2 scoops: Almond Joy and Ginger. He described the Almond Joy as a sweet vanilla ice cream with chunks of Almond Joy, but he was looking for more of a coconut element to round out the flavor. The Ginger came off a bit sweet and not as zingy as he was expecting. At least you know where my persnickety taste buds come from!

I took the Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Salted Caramel flavors for a spin in a homemade, chocolate dipped waffle cone with fall sprinkles. Yes, I’ll take ALL the fall colors please! Through my research, I’ve discovered that the majority of chocolate ice cream has a milk chocolate taste. This flavor was no exception and it contained small milk chocolate chips. On a scale of 1 to dark chocolate, 1 being very milk chocolatey and dark chocolate being.. well, dark.. I’d park this ice cream at a 4. Being a dark chocolate fan, I like my chocolate level dialed to 11. If you love milk chocolate ice cream, this is the flavor for you! The Salted Caramel had a rich, bold flavor and was strewn with mini chocolate covered salted caramel candies. The cone was great! Very crisp, and had a waffely flavor of its own that stood apart from the ice cream, instead of just being a vessel to get the ice cream in mah bellahy!