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August 2006
Updated December 2006

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Desserts

The Joy of Gelato

Capogiro Gelato & Il Laboratorio Del Gelato

CAPSULE REPORT: Gelato, Italian-style ice cream, is growing in leaps and bounds in popularity. We featured a recent article about gelato, highlighting some of the country’s top gelato artisans. Here, we return to explore two of them in depth: Philadelphia’s Capogiro Gelato and New York City’s Il Laboratorio del Gelato.

Sometimes people go racing out to places we have recommended—restaurants, bakeries, ice cream shops—and come back saying they just didn’t get what we were raving about. It was O.K., but not the bomb. This opens up an age-old question of what any reviewer’s taste viewpoint is versus your own—whether in food, wine, music, literature or fill-in-the-blank. While reviewers should educate you, no one can tell you what to like. Over time, you learn which writers’ tastes match yours and stick with them, as you learn to trust the opinions of various friends and acquaintances.

However, certain foods can be very subject to what we call the bell curve syndrome. Unlike the generally accepted attributes of a great steak or Burgundy, recipes and foods themselves vary in their appeal—do you like flavor-forward dishes or subtle flavorings? Do you like star anise or complex layerings of spices? Simple dishes or complex constructions? Straightforward and classic presentations or architectural or coy ones? Mix up all these options at a good restaurant, and the dishes follow a bell curve, based on your interests and expectations. Two are might be out-of-this-world, four might be good, and might impress you as nothing special.

That’s how it is in the world of great artisanal gelato. When dedicated artisans make over 100 flavors by hand,* what you end up selecting is going to fall somewhere on the bell curve. If you only try one or two flavors, the likelihood is more that it’s going to be “good” than “out-of-this-world.” A food writer, on the other hand, will have tried many more flavors, so has more of a perspective on the situation. And, to loop back, that’s why some readers go to a place we recommend, try one or two flavors and aren’t overwhelmed—when we’ve tried 20 flavors and have “heard the music.”

*Don’t expect all 100 at once: flavors are seasonal, and there may be 30 freshly-made on the day you’re in the shop

About Great Gelato

Nothing will ever be anything less than very good at a great gelateria, because the ingredients are so fresh and seasonal, and everything is made by hand. If you’re looking for a transformational experience, you may not find it in the vanilla and chocolate—which, incidentally, are the most popular flavors at Il Laboratorio del Gelato (“The Gelato Laboratory,” in Italian)—not that they won’t be good. What will be eye-opening are the flavors you don’t often find elsewhere, the essence of what gelato is all about—the intensity of flavor from fresh fruits, nuts and other products. There, you will find truth.

The truth is, that if you lived within walking distance of a wonderful gelateria artigianale, you would do as the Italians do: the main event of the evening is not finishing dinner and flicking on the TV (or the PC), but going for a passeggiata (stroll) and a gelato. Then, you’d be able to work your way through all the flavors—even Stephanie Reitano’s 300-plus—rather quickly, especially since few American food-lovers ever stop at one scoop, one flavor.

Feel free to call first and ask what they think are their most memorable flavors of the moment—and match them to your preferences. You may increase your chances of hitting the top of the curve. But no matter what you get, it will be a wonderful gelato adventure, as authentic as if you walked into Giolitti in Rome—and at your doorstep tomorrow morning.

Why These Gelatos Are Different

Neither brand has the uniform “greater density” you read that gelato is supposed to have over ice cream. Some flavors do: Capogiro’s Cioccolato Scuro, bitter chocolate, is a dense wonder, reflecting the amount of cocoa and chocolate in the recipe; while their Nocciola (hazelnut) has a more regular ice cream consistency. The sorbetti are light and ethereal in consistency—far less dense than Sharon’s Sorbet, Häagen-Dazs or other brands. Il Laboratorio del Gelato’s gelatos were as if spun by fairies, rather than packed dense by Clark Kent. When we asked Jon Snyder of Il Laboratorio why his gelato was not “textbook dense,” he posited that typically, the machines in Italy tend to churn the product at a slower speed, thereby lessening the air intake. Also, Italians traditionally use recipes with more milk and less cream that take on less air and thus produce a more dense product (milk doesn’t whip up like cream does). But whatever the textures, the flavors we tried offered some wondrous tasting experiences, making Il Laboratorio Del Gelato and Capogiro seem, as one of our editors is fond of saying, like a different species entirely.

Il Laboratorio Del Gelato

Jon Snyder of Il Laboratorio del Gelato was a pioneer in the modern artisanal gelato movement. His first venture, Ciao Bella Gelato, was founded way back in 1984. After selling it five years later, attending graduate school and working on Wall Street, he returned to his first love. His “laboratory” is a tiny storefront on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, right across the street from the New York Tenement Museum. There’s no room for even one table—the front space holds just an upholstered bench in the front window that can fit two adults, which faces the combination freezer case and counter that holds perhaps twenty quarts of precious gelato and sorbetto. In the back, you can see two artisans making the next batches: when we’re there, they’re peeling and puréeing mangos. Two hand trucks of fresh strawberries arrive on their way to becoming strawberry gelato, filling the small space with the fragrance of ripe strawberries.

Say “Ciao!” to Crème Fraîche, Espresso, Pistachio and Raspberry.

After the fruit is puréed and mixed with milk, it is placed in a 10-quart drum, from which 5 quarts of gelato emerge. It’s a lot of handwork for so little gelato: with the expensive ingredients, the labor and the cost of rent, you wonder why a pint doesn’t cost more than it does.

What We’ll Never Forget

• Honey Lavender. After one taste, we were ready to clear our freezer and lay in a stock for the winter ahead, as these flavors are seasonal. The Honey Lavender isn’t made the easy way, from dried buds, but from the fresh lavender petals of summer, which are ground into a paste and mixed with buckwheat honey, the darkest and least sweet of the generally available honeys. Such a heavenly flavor, we will be forced to start making our own Honey Lavender if Il Laboratorio runs out.
• Crème Fraîche. We adore creme fraîche, the dairy product; and we adore how Il Laboratorio has transforms into a frozen dessert. Unexpectedly flavorful, given the subtleness of crème fraîche, we hid the rest of the pint in the freezer to uncover later when we need a special surprise.
• Raspberry. Perhaps the best raspberry frozen dessert we can imagine, Il Laboratorio del Gelato honors the raspberry by capturing its natural tartness without adding noticeable sugar to bring it to a level of sweetness. It tastes like frozen raspberries. Brilliant.

Traditional Flavors We Love

The two top-sellers at Il Laboratorio del Gelato are Dark Chocolate and Vanilla. When we remonstrated that New Yorkers were too tame in their tastes, we were reminded by another editor that, “One’s first job is to get the basics right.” Maybe, but we couldn’t wait to get to temptations like:

• Cinnamon. We’ve said it before: there isn’t enough cinnamon ice cream in America. Perfect by itself, heavenly with any fruit pies, a secret sin on pancakes and waffles.
• Green Tea. If your only introduction to this flavor is what’s served at Japanese restaurants, you owe it to yourself to try this version.
• Mint Chip. We can never resist this flavor wherever we find it. This gelato is very naturally minty, with large shavings of exquisitely delicious chocolate. We think it’s the best chipped chocolate we’ve ever tasted in an ice cream.

Flavors We’ll Try Next Time

• Banana
• Mascarpone
• Toasted Sesame

Capogiro Gelato Artisans

At Capogiro Gelato Artisans in Philadelphia (capogiro means “head-turning” or“head-spinning” in Italian), the Philadelphia premises are more spacious, but the artisanal techniques are equal: owner Stephanie Reitano is pureeing ingredients at 5 a.m. and the store opens at 7:30. Stephanie and her husband, John, decided to create artisanal gelato after a trip to Italy, and their own nightly passeggiatas. The number of flavors is head-spinning—more than 250, based on seasonal ingredients.

Some might think that New Yorkers have the more adventurous palates, but Ms. Reitano is much more flavor-forward, nouvelle gelato. You can walk on the wild side at Capogiro—but isn’t that why one wants a huge supply of head-spinning gelato in the first place? Yes, there are banana and chocolate... but no vanilla—at least, not right now. Be prepared to choose from a slate of flavors, most of which you have never seen before. And, you get an Italian lesson in the process: flavors are given their Italian names, with translations.

What We’ll Never Forget

• Lancaster County Yogurt was unlike any frozen yogurt confection you could imagine, what the greatest pastry chef might do to a frozen yogurt. Ethereally light with a lemon accent, we would have eaten the entire pint in a sitting if we hadn’t wanted to have more the next day.
• Ananas Con Mento, Pineapple Mint Sorbetto is  a marriage of fruit and herb that might not have occurred to us...but now we can’t get enough. It’s a sophisticated flavor—another staff member said she “couldn’t give it away” to her more rural neighbors.

In fact, for those seeking something new, the cutting edge of Capogiro flavors is very evident in the fruit and herb sorbetti. As we write this, it’s the height of summer: fruit and herb combinations are a natural inspiration. Lime with Cilantro is no one-note citrus sorbet. Quirky cilantro throws the palate for a loop. Refreshing anytime, it also begs to be served with Mexican or Pac Rim cuisines. Ananas con Sage (Pineapple with Sage) and Mirtillo con Timo (Blueberries with Thyme) remind us of the herbed palate-cleanser sorbets and granitas of Provence. People who don’t like things sweet can really get down with this group.

Traditional Flavors We Love

• Grapefruit With Campari, a classic we can never get enough of, here is smooth as silk and slightly tinged pink from the Campari. A beauty.
• Cioccolato Scuro, Dark Chocolate, is a very different “chocolate ice cream” experience: it has the density of cold fudge, but none of the sweetness. You are taste bud to taste bud with pure chocolate and cocoa butter. If you like 70 percent chocolate bars, you’ll like this gelato.
• Mint Stracciatella is the lightest mint chocolate chip (actually, chocolate flakes) you’ll ever taste—almost like Tinkerbelle, it’s hardly there, yet magical. Yet, more so than in any other mint chocolate frozen dessert you can buy at retail, you taste mint as fresh as if you had just crushed it yourself.
• Turkish Coffee is a must on the stop for a coffee lover: finely ground whole beans are mixed into the ice cream: a sea of specks throughout, providing flavor and texture. (THE WEBSITE SAYS Coffee gelato infused with cardamom.)

Flavors We’ll Try Next Time

• Salted Bitter Almond, bitter almond gelato filled with salted marcona almonds from Spain.
• Tahini, like halvah ice cream (we make one of these ourselves!).
• Thai Coconut Milk, a coconut gelato made with a hint of coconut rum.
• The rest of the herb sorbets, like Arancia con Cardamomo (Orange with Cardamom); and all of the liqueur flavors: Cocomero Giallo con Grappa (Yellow Watermelon with Grappa, Pesca (Peach) con Southern Comfort, Butterscotch with Bourbon (Wild Turkey), Espresso with Kahlua. After tasting Pera Con Bourbon, we might easily have called it Bourbon With Pear, so equally represented were both flavors. When tasted alongside the non-alcohol flavors, it seemed like an excess of Bourbon. Enjoyed by itself, it was wonderful.

For the most part, Capogiro’s textures are light and ethereal—gelato spun by a fairy queen. Some flavors, like Cioccolato Scuro (Bitter Chocolate—not bitter but dark and delightful), are thicker, owing to the ingredients (all the chocolate, e.g.). But those to whom gelato is “Italian ice cream” will be surprised by the work of both of these featured gelato artisans. These small batch products are so light as to be almost a froth on the palate—delicate, dainty frozen confections. While using the farm-fresh ingredients from nearby Lancaster County, the gelato at Capogiro has an American nouvelle spin.

• 119 South 13th Street, 1.215.351.0900
• Rittenhouse Square, 117 South 20th Street, 1.215.636.9250
• Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; to midnight on Friday and Saturday

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