GELATERIA, NORTH END

Yesterday I created a lovely blog entry for all of you. I worked on it, added little links and promptly closed my browser window while the post was still loading. Then I got mad. And here I am, back trying to recreate the post that I came up with yesterday. So here it goes (and with pictures, too! You should all be so proud.) and though it might not be as great as the original one, at least I bothered to retype it at all.

On Sunday morning we had brunch at the Pearl and afterwards, Tom and I decided to take a walk to the North End. I wanted to get some of my favorite almond macaroon cookies from Modern Pastry and I also wanted to check out a new gelato shop that I'd heard about, Gelateria.

Our first stop was Modern. I hadn't been in there in quite some time (I go to the North End about once a year cause I hate taking the T and there's never any parking in that area.) I was quite surprised to find that Modern had made some improvements to their space. They didn't remodel or expand, they just reorganized the space and now it seems much bigger and cleaner. The refrigerated cases which used to be up in the front taking up a to of room had been moved behind the counter. And it looks like they cleaned, making it a much nicer shopping experience. I picked up a dozen cookies (enough for me and some for Leah) and then we moved on to Gelateria.

Ok, here's a pic of the exterior. You might remember that his space used to be a little market. But now it's a gelato shop with seating inside.
And now for my little rant. I love gelato and I'm very very picky about it. When I'm in Italy, I eat gelato 1-2 times a day. Minimum. Regardless of weather. And yes, you could have a valid claim that I am picky about many foods. But I'm especially picky about things that I would consume on a daily basis when I was studying abroad. So I only drink cappuccinos when I'm in Italy, or from this one cafe in LA, I buy cans of Fanta when I'm in Europe and bring them back with me and if I am in Italy, I always bring back olive oil, balsalmic vinegar and dried porcinis.

With that said, I've had gelato at one place in the U.S. that makes gelato just like the stuff you have in Italy. And that's at Capogiro in Philly. (which unfortunately did not exist during the 4 years that I actually lived in Philly). This place has artisanally made gelatos and they are amazing. I've started reading a new blog called Ed Levine Eats and it's funny, cause he just wrote about Capogiro, too. The place is not cheap, though. It costs $5 for their smallest cup and apparently, it's $10 a pint. It is worth every penny though, (and is certainly less than a plane ticket to Italy) and I'm hoping to get some if I swing down to Philly during Thanksgiving. Il laboratorio del gelato in NYC also makes some nice stuff, but it's a hike to get there. (I did see Frances McDormand buy gelato the one time i went, tho).

But back to Gelateria. When we walked in, I was suprised to find the place pretty empty. It was a warm Sunday afternoon (about 80F out) so I'd expect more people would want gelato. When i peered into the gelato cases I was a little disappointed. The articles I'd read about Gelateria promised 50 flavors made fresh daily. There weren't 50 flavors. Maybe 30. In addition, you could tell that some of the gelatos were very melty. Gelatos are supposed to be served at a slightly higher temp than ice cream, but it isn't supposed to be gloopy. And lastly, look at the colors in the pic below! They're basically uniform and kinda bland. Those gelatos should be bright and vibrant. And one thing I love about the gelatos in Italy is that they are always decorated with whatever happens to be inside the gelato. (like strawberry gelato would have a bunch of fresh strawberries on top- refer back to the Capogiro website for pics).

I ended up picking two flavors. Bacio and passion fruit. The bacio (chocolate with hazelnuts) was actually pretty good. But the passion fruit was much too sweet and not passion fruity enough. Plus, it was super melty. I finished up the bacio and tossed the rest.
Tom ordered the lime and pear. I gotta say that I did enjoy the lime. It had a nice flavor and was clearly the winner out of all the ones we tried. Gelateria might brag that they imported their gelato machine all the way from Italy, but that's pretty useless when the person making the gelato has never had true Italian gelato. They should've taken the money and flown the chef to Italy to learn how to make gelato. I actually think the gelato at Cafe Graffiti across the street (which they also make in house, but have a much smaller selection of flavors) were better than the ones at Gelateria. So for true Italian gelato in the U.S., look up Capogiro and skip Gelateria.