Daisy’s is dippin’ again. The red and yellow sign heralds hours (12-7, closed on Tuesdays) and black and white umbrellas offer shade to the picnic tables. Kids and adults make fast work of ice cream cones before the drips hit the ground, and banana splits are delivered to waiting cars (sometimes it’s easier to eat in air-conditioning).
After being closed for several years after its longtime owner died, the ice cream shop at the corner of Fleet Ave. and E. 57th St. in Slavic Village is open for business just in time for summer. The shop rejoins Fleet Ave. as the street navigates a mix of thriving businesses and empty storefronts.
Continuing a legacy
There are many memories housed at this corner. Daisy and Ray Pudelski opened the ice cream shop in 1977. It was a gathering spot for the neighborhood. For almost 40 years, the Pudelskis served kids, and then those kids brought their kids.
In 2018, Anthony Trzaska took over the operation of Daisy’s and teamed up with Walter Hyde to continue the ice cream tradition. Trzaska, who describes himself as a Slavic Village evangelist and grew up in the neighborhood, has continued to invest time and money in the community.
“I always find a way to work in spreading the good word of Slavic Village,” he says. “I’m proud of the rich history here and try to honor that and my grandfather’s legacy in this neighborhood as I work however I can to be a part of its future. There’s plenty of room for more people doing good things in this neighborhood, and I’d like to help them, too.”
Walter’s untimely death in 2021 left a hole in the community. Daisy’s shuttered its doors. After Walter’s death, Trzaska wasn’t sure what would come next except that Daisy’s had to continue as a community anchor. What form that would take was the question.
Ice cream in front, partners in the back
In spring of 2022, Trzaska bumped into LT Magnotto, a friend from high school. Magnotto, owner of Guardian Cold Brew and the Tremont gourmet fast-casual joint Martha on the Fly, knew Trzaska was active in Slavic Village and wanted to see what he had going on. The two met and walked up and down Fleet Avenue. Walking into Daisy’s, Magnotto instantly saw the potential and fell in love with it. Magnotto bought the building in November 2022.
While the sign out front says Daisy’s, there’s more going on inside than just ice cream. The building now houses the commercial kitchen for Guardian Cold Brew and Amira Baked AF. Amira Fahmy, owner of Amira Baked AF, is a baker of throwback snacks – basically, all the yummy things we found in our lunch boxes as kids. Her twist is that they are all high-quality ingredients.
Fahmy began in 2018 with no thought of being an entrepreneur or a baker. This was really something of a side hustle to her day job at Phoenix Coffee running their culinary operations program. “It got to a point in my career where I felt like I wasn’t making a difference anymore,” she said, reflecting on the beginning of her business. “So I was about to be 30, and I was like, ‘You know what, (if) I don’t do something now. I’m never gonna do it.’” With memories of her mother and grandmother and holiday baking, Fahmy taught herself to bake. Now, she loves it.
Bringing Daisy’s back
Magnotto describes Daisy’s as something of a small business hub. He has moved all of the brewing production and distribution for Guardian Cold Brew to the back room of the ice cream shop. Yet it was really after buying the building and working to get the commercial kitchen ready that he began talking to more and more people in Slavic Village and realized what he’d just bought. He discovered how much the ice cream shop meant to the community and knew he had to bring Daisy’s back.
“I really wanted to meet some other people that I could share this space with and kind of give back a little bit …because I don’t need all this space,” said Magnotto. He remembers the graciousness of those who shared kitchen space with him when he started Martha on the Fly. Now, he’s able to give some of that positivity back.
And that is where Brittany Bissell and Christopher Hoke come into the picture. Hoke is good friends with Magnotto and knew he was interested in getting the ice cream store going again. And Hoke knows Bissell who was looking for a new challenge. Bissell has a background in restaurant management, coming most recently from the mountains of western North Carolina. For her, “selling ice cream and hot dogs in Slavic Village is a real treat,” she said. Hoke also has restaurants in his blood; his great grandfather started the (now closed) John’s Diner at W. 53rd and Detroit.
Almost before the ink was dry on the lease, Bissell and Hoke had the keys to the building and started getting ready. They have received grant money from Slavic Village Development community development corporation to fix up the outside. When people walking by realized something was going on, they engaged Bissell and Hoke in conversation, the new owners said. “Hey, when are y’all going to be open again?” passersby would ask, or they’d comment, “I’m so happy you guys are here.”
Stories are also shared when folks place their orders – stories from 20 years ago about the place and why it’s important to them. “It is more than just ice cream,” Bissell says.
But ice cream is the draw. Bissell remembered Toft’s ice cream out of Sandusky, Ohio, from her growing-up days, and she wanted to bring that to the village. And while Toft’s is present in schools and food banks and convenience stores, Daisy’s is the only one scooping for them on this side of the city. The ice cream receives high praise from the kids holding their ice cream cones. When asked, “What is so good about ice cream?” one child responded, “The coldness and it just tastes good!”
Along with ice cream, Hoke and Bissell offer a limited hot food menu at Daisy’s. The star is the Polish Boi, basically a “kitchen sink of a sandwich.” In the research and development phase, they ate at least 15, and in the pursuit of finding an adequate one, they “made a stellar one,” Bissell said.
For now, they’re keeping it to a manageable menu because they want everything they do to be top-notch. They’re considering other additions including a stroopwafel sundae, a homemade concoction which consists of ice cream from Toft’s and a stroopwafel, a Dutch wafer cookie from Amira Baked AF. Other menu ideas are popping between the two as well. LT’s Guardian Cold Brew is the basis for both a float and a milkshake. The three businesses under the one roof are finding ways to collaborate and help each other grow.
And the community’s reaction? Magnotto captures it best: “Slavic Village is showing up and is supporting this small business that is Daisy’s.”
Editor’s note: In a previous version of the story, Guardian Cold Brew was erroneously referred to as Guardian Home Brew.
Visit Daisy’s at 5416 Fleet Ave., Cleveland. Hours are 12-7 every day except Tuesday, when Daisy’s is closed.
Sharon Core was a participant in The Land’s community journalism program.
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