Fans Descend for Opening Day at Ample Hills Creamery

The long-awaited  finally opened today at noon. ()

It's the first in Brooklyn, possibly in NYC  a process that requires in-store pasteurization. 

Owners Brian Smith and his wife Jackie Cuscuna said it felt surreal to finally have the store open after more than half-a-year of preparation.

"It's been like my space and now it's everyone's space. I like the transfer from public to private," he said.

At first customers filled the shop a few at a time, but after 3 p.m. they came in waves. But even with the crowds, the first afternoon went off without a hitch, despite the fact that only one employee had any previous retail experience at all.

Because the shop may be the first in Brooklyn to make the ice cream truly from scratch on the premisis, it has garnered a great deal of interest, with foodies eagerly anticipating its opening.

But has the ice cream been over-hyped? Customers who showed up on opening day didn't seem to think so.

"It's really good," said Kelli Anderson, a 30-year-old graphic designer from Williamsburg, of her chocolate and peanut butter scoop. "There's like chunks of peanut butter in it. It's tasty."

"It's delicious and the cone, the cone is really good," said Gina Soileau, who came with her children Eva, 2, and Jasper, 6 months (who had his first taste of ice cream today).

Katherine Lerner, a 27-year-old opera singer, has a particular penchant for "fancy" ice cream, and moved to Prospect Heights on April 19, the same day Ample Hills was originally set to open. Due to the "auspicious" coincidence, she developed a great interest in the shop, and has been eagerly awaiting its opening.

"It was kind of surreal walking through the door. I know it sounds silly, it's just ice cream," she said.

And her scoop of salted cracked caramel? "It's really good. I like unusual ice cream and it's really salty. I can tast the burnt caramel and there are chunks of caramel. I'm really happy," she said.

The opening was delayed from mid-April due to a delay in equipment delivery, and from  before the doors opened. 

And 24 flavors there were, along with the homemade ice cream cones and salted caramel and hot fudge toppings.

The most popular flavor (and Prospect Heights Patch's favorite) was salted crack caramel (salted caramel ice cream with chocolate-covered butter crackers).  

Jessamyn Lee, who is nine months pregnant, came with her 3-year-old daughter from Clinton Hill.

"We were so excited about all the flavors and all the natural stuff we've been reading about," she said. "I feel like they are filling a really large ice cream void in North Brooklyn"

"And what preganant woman doesn't need ice cream?" she added. 

Ample Hills Creamery, 623 Vanderbilt Avenue at St. Marks, is open Sun-Thurs. noon to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday noon to 11 p.m. Phone number not yet available.