• Courtesy
• Shannon Bates of Enna and Alec Long, former owner of Chill Vermont Gelato

A Montpelier cone has been passed. Shannon Bates, chef-owner of the globally inspired deli Enna at 14 State Street, will add gelato during new daily afternoon and early evening hours starting on May 6. Bates bought some of the equipment from Chill Vermont Gelato, which operated a few storefronts away at 32 State Street from 2012 until last summer.

Both businesses were severely damaged by July's flooding. While Enna reopened on November 6, Chill Vermont Gelato owner Alec Long decided against reopening the spot, which he bought in 2022 from its original owners.

"Chill sustained serious damage and after considering options I decided that it made sense to pass the torch," Long wrote in an email. As he and Bates worked together on a fall fundraiser for the Capital City's restaurant sector, they discussed her purchase of the gelato equipment that was untouched by the flood.

"I knew that Enna would make a great new home for gelato in Montpelier," Long said.

Bates, a Woodbury native and Culinary Institute of America graduate, opened Enna in July 2021. The deli serves a weekday, counter-service lunch menu of sandwiches, salads and curry. "I had the space and the perfect venue to add gelato," Bates said.

The chef said she is looking forward to experimenting with "fun, exciting flavors" while keeping some Chill favorites, such as pistachio, rosewater and mango. She dreams of combining locally grown basil with lemon and deploying curry spices such as cardamom and cinnamon.

• File: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
• Dairy Creme in 2020

In other Montpelier ice cream news, the Dairy Creme at 320 State Street is for sale for $650,000, packaged with its off-season counterpart, a wood pellet business. The landmark creemee stand traces its roots back to the 1940s, when the structure was an A&W in Middlesex. That building was moved in the late 1950s to make way for Interstate 89. The equipment came from a Dairy Queen on Montpelier's River Street.

Cliff and Laurie Dodge, who are 66 and 62, respectively, have owned the Dairy Creme since 1997 and plan to retire. They said they will run the stand until they find a buyer and will open this Saturday, May 4.