What is gelato? Well it means "frozen" in Italian. It is a frozen dessert made with all natural ingredients like milk, sugar, fruit, and water. It is a healthier alternative to ice cream because it has less milk fat and has no cream. The texture of gelato is also creamier then ice cream because it contains only 30% air content, and ice cream is almost 60%.
Let's just say... I love gelato. I experienced gelato my first time in Venice, Italy when I was 9 years old. I remember it being the best ever! I had chocolate in a cone and I was running around chasing all the pigeons in the square feeding them my cone. When I would have gelato in America, I always said nothing compares to the gelato in Venice. Then I went to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas to experience their gelato cafe. I thought it was amazing. I compared it to Venice and said this is good gelato and compares to Venice. WELL.. times have changed.
I came back from my vacation in Huntington Beach, CA. My family and I love it down there. The beach is wonderful, the restaurants are great and inexpensive, and it is a fun environment. Walking down their famous Main St. a new store opened up.
Mangiamo Gelato Caffe. The first night there, we had to try it. We all had our own cup and for the price we had so much gelato. They weren't skimpy! But the taste? Amazing. The flavor? Fantastic. This was the BEST gelato I've had. It was better then Venice and Bellagio. I was in heaven. I couldn't believe a place in Huntington Beach could have such a wonderful gelato caffe. While we were there, we had gelato everyday, if not twice a day! I always wanted to try something different and being it was warm outside, it was the best thing to cool us off. I said it was worth it to gain a few extra pounds if I kept trying different gelatos!
The service was also amazing. I'm usually scared to ask for a sample of something, but they KEPT asking me if I wanted to try this flavor or that flavor. I couldn't believe it. Once after I finished my gelato, I went back to the ice box to see what else they had for next time, and again offered me a sample! One night the owners were in and I talked to the wife. I knew right away someone was Italian and had spent time in Italy because the quality of the gelato was superb. She told me
their story and I knew it. I knew it!
So yes, I had gelato almost every day if not twice. They had the original flavors, as well as their own flavors they had created themselves. So if you are planing a beach getaway somewhere, I recommend Huntington Beach because it is inexpensive, clean beach, great environment, and the gelato is the best I have EVER TRIED! Here is their
website again so you can check out all their flavors and more.
Nutella. One of the best. Very creamy and packed with flavor.
Anything with hazelnut, I think is the best!
S'mores. The marshmallow gelato wasn't overpowering.
The waffle cones are made fresh and are delicious!
You can smell them outside the shop.
Nutella and Vanilla. The vanilla was AMAZING!
I had it several times. This time we had a cute heart waffle.
Strawberry Sorbetto and Stracciatella.
The sorbetto was the best. I love strawberry ice cream, and
even though this had no dairy, it was delicious! Didn't miss it at all.
So creamy and full of strawberry flavor.
Stracciatella was good, it was light in flavor like the s'mores.
Vanilla and Bacio. In Italian Bacio means "Italian Kiss."
It is chocolate and hazelnuts mixed into chocolate ice cream.
We thought nutella was the best? Bacio is even better!
Vanilla (underneath) and Hazelnut. Vanilla, MMM!
The hazelnut gelato was amazing. It reminded me of the hazelnut gelato
Haagen Dazs use to sell in the grocery stores. Which I miss dearly.
I had to wait for this waffle cone as they were making more.
Chocolate Peanut Butter and Sea Salt and Caramel.
Chocolate and PB are meant to be, the flavor was very rich.
The sea salt and caramel was very different and one they created.
I like it but it is very sweet on its own!
Told you I ate a lot of gelato. Since the portions were rather large, we would share. I already miss this place and I look forward to my next trip now. My goal is to try to each of their flavors. I set strange goals sometimes. LOL
Well I'm glad I finally got a post out. I feel weird not posting everyday or every other day. I'm still here! Just been busy and now a full week of work is ahead of me. I have more to share from my vacation but I will leave you with the best for now.. GELATO!
Mi piace il gelato!
Fallon
I did it again, with my cousin this time around! Here is a refresher if you can't remember! I went back to Jean Philippe. I was raving to my cousin how wonderful this gelato really is! She couldn't agree more. We went in with a plan to share something. I say go big or go home! We decided a Chocolate Cappuccino sundae would be the perfect plan. Except while waiting we noticed no cappuccino gelato in site! The people who were in front of us ordered the same exact thing (funny how we all can think alike ;)). I saw the gelato man use hazelnut! I was super excited for this. My cousin never tried hazelnut gelato, so before anything I had her try it, just in case it wasn't her thing. Well she actually really liked it, so we were game. Chocolate Hazelnut sundae here we come!
This bad boy had chocolate, vanilla (amazing), and hazelnut gelato. Chocolate sauce galore, little brownie bites, whipped cream, and tiny little chocolate pearls. As soon as we sat down we thought, "How are we doing to eat this?" It was piled up so high! Our luck the hazelnut scoop would roll off, LOL.
We slowly dig in till it was finally not so high and in minutes it was devoured. For good reasons too! I was able to spend a few hours with my cousin that day and we were able to catch up, laugh and just have a good time! We don't see each other often, so I'm so glad I was able to have that opportunity with her. Which we will have more of! Gelato included!
Peace out,
Fallon
PS: HELLO TO ALL MY NEW COMMENT BLOGGERS!
