Kelly the Culinarian: Food find: Frost Gelato

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Food find: Frost Gelato

Back when I studied in Slovenia at the University of Ljubljana, gelato was all the rage. Gelato is an Italian iced dessert that often gets grouped in with ice cream. In fact, gelato has a lower fat content and less air than ice cream, resulting in a creamier, richer flavor.

I haven't had any decent gelato since I left Slovenia, until I was working on a story about Frost Gelato in Tucson. As the story goes, one of the owners spent some time in Italy and wanted to enjoy the decadent and unique flavorings of gelato back home. As a University of Arizona student, he found a business partner and began importing all the necessary equipment. One of the owner's mother is a real estate agent here and found them a prime location in the Casas Adobes Plaza on the far north side. They also filed immigration papers and brought an Italian gelato chef to Tucson to help create the delicacies.

Even though it's out of the way, I had to try some. First of all, I find their flavors are far more original than any ice cream I've found -- strawberry and campaign, blackberry cabernet, bellini, amaretto -- the list goes on. It was a bit overwhelming. The place is also nicely decorated in a contemporary style with lots of stainless steel and blue glass. The employees' uniforms are T-shirts that say "Frost in Tucson?" I thought it was cute.

The presentation of the ice cream itself was impressive and appetizing as well. Instead of tubs of ice cream slapped in a freezer, the gelato looks like it was piped into the cooling pans. They are also garnished the gelato tubs with the fresh fruits, nuts and other decorations as an indicator of good things to come. The gelato is made fresh everyday, according to the company's Web site, so I'd like to know what they do with the leftovers ...

I decided on the tiramisu, but I could have stood there all evening eating samples. It was served with a little cookie and I found it delicious -- creamy, bold flavor of coffee with little bits of chocolate running throughout. The little cup that I got, called the piccolo size, cost $3.66 and was just enough gelato for me.

Really, choosing the flavor was so difficult. I wish they did something like an gelato flight (they have wine, beer and cheese flights, why not?) with like five little spoons of different gelatos. Yum!

15 comments:

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Ooooo! That gelato looked really good. In fact, the whole showcase looked great. I would have a hard time choosing the flavors too!

tigerfish said...

Me too, prefers gelato to ice-cream. That frost gelato sounds like a gem during the hot summer.

Retno Prihadana said...

Yumm...I really want to try them!

FH said...

YUM!! We need those here in NC right now!! Employee T shirt logo was appropriate!:)

Swaruchy said...

The Gelato looks yummm dear..wish I had a mouthful of it :-)))))

Indonesia Eats said...

Looked soo good
I remember one time when I went to gelato place, they have black sesame seed gelato

Cynthia said...

I am joining the group, I too prefer gelato to ice cream.

Nora B. said...

I love gelato. We have lots of terrific gelato bars in Sydney. My fav. flavours last summer were cherry yogurt and toffee apple. I love testing the flavours too :-)

Wandering Chopsticks said...

I love gelato. Most places let you do a half and half of flavors though.

Cate said...

Haven't had gelato in ages, and now you've got me craving it. Good thing our local grocery store has a little gelato bar and the weather is heating up again tomorrow!

Tracy Tan said...

i love gelato. i remember traveling to italy during winter. it was freezing but we were eating gelato all the time! its so much nicer than ice cream

Susan said...

Oh man...I LOVE gelato. I want some now! Because San Francisco is so...hot, you know? :P

stay-at-home mum said...

I love gelato tooo. Looks really yummy!

mindovermatt said...

You'll have to try the gelato at Linz and Vail in Evanston. Choosing is a bit easier there, because you can mix flavors if you want to!

http://www.centerstagechicago.com/restaurants/linz-vail.html

emily said...

Lucky you studying in Slovenia! I travelled around the country for a week a couple of summers ago and fell in love with my now-husband there. What a fabulous place!