Paciugo Gelato

A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I were down in Hermosa Beach area and I had remembered that supposedly the best gelato in Los Angeles could be found nearby at Paciugo Gelato. Paciugo was started by the Ginatta family after they moved from Torino, Italy to Dallas, Texas (which is why they are currently predominantly found in TX). They opened up shop in 2000 and after years of perfecting their product and people showing interest they began to franchise in 2004. The gelato is made fresh every moring without preservatives and fructose corn syrup. They even have nutritional information on their website which is surprisingly not too guilt inducing. This is probably because their gelato is made from whole milk and not butterfat which is commonly found in ice cream.

My entrance was warmly welcomed by the friendly and happy people behind the counter. There was quite an array of flavors including the traditional (vanilla and chocolate) to the unique and intriguing (violet, chocolate extra virgin olive oil, sweet potato organic maple syrup). They also let me sample a fair share of them before I made the executive decision: Pumpkin Pie, Pannacotta (Wedding Cake), Mediterranean Sea Salt Caramel, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl. The gelato was thick and creamy. Although I have never tried to eat velvet, if I did this is what I would hope it would taste like. Each flavor had subtle wonderful hints: spicy finish to the pumpkin pie, hint of vanilla in the creamy wedding cake, lovely toffee taste found in the sea salt caramel, and the sweetness of hazelnut in the chocolate swirl in the peanut butter.

The location is close to the beach which means on the weekends it is crowded and parking is unfortunately limited and/or costs money. Overall, I think it is almost as good as Scoops in quality, but sadly is even longer of a distance to travel for me.  However! Looking at their website, it shows that Paciugo’s are coming soon to the following Los Angeles areas:

California-Los Angeles / (Coming Soon)
California-San Diego / (Coming Soon)
California-Santa Monica! / (Coming Soon)
California-Thousand Oaks / (Spring 2009)
California-Orange County / (Coming Soon)

Paciugo Gelato
1034 Hermosa Ave
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254