Inside the former Bavarian Meats space at Pike Place Market, cases stacked with wurst have been replaced by white tile and the cool gleam of a stainless steel countertop. Set into its surface are 12 flavors of what looks to be ice cream. Each one is enclosed in its own clear plastic bubble top; inside a paddle rotates hypnotically, keeping each batch of marionberry or coconut ube frozen to just the right consistency. The effect is part Jetsons car, part slushie machine.

Alex Apostolopoulos is still deciding what to call the frozen scoops he serves at this new Hellenika Cultured Creamery. The product is cultured, so technically it qualifies as frozen yogurt. But that term gives some people bad '90s flashbacks. In terms of fat content, “It’s closer to gelato,” he says. The texture is akin to soft serve—“not super frozen, not super ice cream.” He's not aware of anybody else using this process; he's leaning toward describing his wares as "cultured gelato."

Whatever the terminology, Seattle’s newest frozen treat is dense and decadent, with that cultured dairy tang that transforms a scoop from an everyday sweet to something more complex. Hellenika quietly opened its doors in July. The company doesn’t yet have a website or an Instagram. But it does have one hell of a backstory.

Apostolopoulos was one of the four founders of Ellenos Yogurt. He and his father, Con, moved here from Brisbane to start the company with Seattleites Bob and Yvonne Klein. When Yvonne was an Air Canada flight attendant, she enjoyed an amazing local yogurt on her stopovers in Australia—so much so that she and Bob eventually made a transoceanic cold call to meet the owners of the (very clearly named) Greek Yoghurt Company.

Ellenos launched in 2013 and quickly became a Seattle phenom. Fans waited in line for a walkaround cup, scooped from a counter at Pike Place Market. Yogurt bars swept into QFC locations; prepackaged cups swept into Whole Foods stores nationwide, even onto Alaska Airlines flights.

In 2018, a private equity firm invested $18 million in Ellenos. Two years later, the founder of Kind Snacks invested another $18 million in the fast-growing company. The Pike Place Market yogurt counter closed in 2022. But while Hellenika Cultured Creamery shares a Hellenic color scheme and a few flavors with Ellenos, it’s an entirely separate project. As of last year, says Alex, none of Ellenos’s four founders are still involved with the yogurt company.

Hellenika is his way to apply the family’s knowledge base in cultured dairy in a new direction that doesn’t run afoul of non-compete agreements. Alex’s younger brother, Pete, worked at Ellenos then studied food science at Washington State University. Now he runs the laboratory-like kitchen in the back of Hellenika. Customers at the scoop counter can watch through glass windows as Pete and his crew pasteurize whole milk from Edaleen Dairy in Lynden, or make inclusions like granola or pie crust crumbles. Sister Connie Apostolopoulos is also a partner, and oversaw design from her home in Australia.

For the last six months, the siblings have been building out the space, says Alex, using “All of my savings and maxed-out credit cards.” The kitchen pasteurizes milk, then adds culture and gelato base. The result goes into those individual swishing batch freezers set into the counter—“we make it, then it freezes right in front of you.” After opening quietly, Alex and Pete have tinkered with the base and the flavors based on customer feedback.

Thus far, coconut ube is a popular flavor. So is a london fog, made with Pike Place Market neighbor MarketSpice (Alex is eager to collaborate with other local producers). Flavors like lemon curd and marionberry will look familiar to Ellenos fans. “I know those flavors so well,” says Alex. When you’ve gone so many rounds with these ingredients that you know marionberries will have more seeds at the end of their season, or how the color of the eggs you’re using changes the brightness of lemon curd, it seems silly to waste that knowledge.

None of Ellenos’s other founders are officially involved (though Bob Klein and Con Apostolopoulos did help paint). Alex originally hoped to serve actual Ellenos yogurt alongside his cultured gelato, but that plan ran afoul of Pike Place Market’s very specific guidelines. Pete plans to produce yogurt-based salad dressings and drinks here, too. Right now, a flavor made with wildflower honey and macadamia nut benefits the Hawai'i Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund.

Hellenika uses a culture that's more subtle than what you find in traditional yogurt. That means the tang is less intense and flavors can be more nuanced. A scoop is great for walking around; the shop also sells a four-flavor sampler. But locals can buy packed pints to take home (they get blasted frozen briefly to stay cold on the journey) or even bring in their own containers—consider it the froyo version of a growler fill.

Alex and Pete still retain their Australian accents, but after moving here from across the world, the brothers quickly grasped the magic of Pike Place Market. “This is our family store,” says Alex. Ellenos was an undisputed favorite within its crowded walkways, but Hellenika might hew closer to the landmark’s actual vision: Customers can view a product being made onsite, and actually meet the people who produce it. Not to mention a new way to carry a family specialty on to the next generation.