Posted November 6th, 2008 by Meg
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
Posted October 6th, 2008 by Meg
N’Ice Cream officially opened up this weekend on Abbot Kinney. Immediately next door to a Pinkberry, a renovated garage has now become a cute little gelato shop. This place stands out to me because not only are their limited ice cream / gelato places (that aren’t corporate) in the area, but the owner I met was friendly and talkative (not too talkative though, just right talkative). I love when proprietors are social, it makes the experience more enjoyable; it’s good to know that someone cares about their product and their customers. Apparently, the owners are from Denmark (cool!) and are keeping N’Ice Cream a mom&pop place (not selling their souls franchising).
They make their gelato/sorbet fresh everyday (you can even watch them as they make it through a window). The day we went had about 10 standard gelato flavors, which is good for people like my boyfriend, but I love crazy ridiculous flavors. This is not to say I did not enjoy what I ordered. I am sure they will expand on that in the future. I chose a combination of Coffee, Chocolate Hazelnut, and Vanilla. Each one was wonderful in their own way. The chocolate hazelnut had pieces of hazelnut in it, making it my favorite of the cup. The vanilla had little black vanilla bean dots making it the most aesthetically pleasing. I regretfully did not get the white chocolate, but I heard people talk about how amazing it was. This place is great. In the heat, it will become quite popular especially since it is so close to the beach. They also do To Go packs. And they take credit cards. Go check it out.
N’Ice Cream
1410 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
Posted September 26th, 2008 by Meg
One would think that by the ocean in a state where there is constant sunshine and warm weather, there would be infinite ice cream / gelato/ frozen yogurt locations. Sadly, this is not the case in Santa Monica. My roommate and I stopped at the one gelato place near the Promenade called Angelato Café. Gelato is the Italian version of ice cream but with significantly less butterfat than ice cream making it less solid and frozen (melts more quickly in your mouth), gelato is of a higher density because it is produced without the addition of air, and it is served slightly warmer (10-15 degrees less) than ice cream. All three differences gives gelato a richer, more full flavored taste than ice cream.
Angeleto offers an array of standard and unique flavors of gelato, sorbetto, tofulati, yogurt, and sugar free products. There is supposedly over 100 flavors but I was not counting. I ordered a strangely amazing combination of Green Tea Gelato and Chocolate Grand Marnier. Although this is not as good as what you would find in Italy, it is still creamy and rich. I especially enjoyed the Green Tea Gelato; it was a treat to taste this flavor in any form other than Soy Dream or Pinkberry. Cash Only.
Angelato Café
301 Arizona Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 656-9999
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.
