ciao bella

Does anyone have much info about this place? I passed by it the other night and it was the first time I've ever seen it open in the year that I've been living in the area. It looked pretty good, but a search of the site yielded few results.
I'm referring to the Ice Cream/Gelato place on Flatbush just north of Burrito Bar - anyone?

National chain of franchised upscale gelato and sorbet shops. Started in Lillte Italy in NYC in 1983 - then opened a shop in SF - and then gradually went national. River Cafe serves their product.

The original Ciao Bella founder, Jon Snyder, came back to NYC and opened Il Laboratorio del Gelato on Orchard on the LES - the BEST place in the city for gelato!

The people who run this shop are very nice and they made me a strawberry champagne smoothie that was AMAZING!!
They are only open half of the year. But I think this is the fourth year they have been there.
Stop by, say hello.

I love their grapefruit campari sorbet!

I went to Ciao Bella in Grand Central. Whatever you do, do not order it in a cup. My friend got 2 scoops on a cone for less $ than my one tiny scoop in a cup. What a ripoff! (It was delicious, though)

I don't think this place is officially affiliated with Ciao Bella, though they do sell the ice cream. Here's a recent Chowhound thread:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/304989