When it comes to gelato, La Casa Gelato packs a one-two punch of sheer quantity (218 flavours at any given time) and total wackiness. Sure, theres good old chocolate and vanilla, classic amaretto and spumone, and for the kids, several tubs of day-glow bubblegum. But lets be honest: people are drawn to the Vancouver institution for its unusual flavours: basil, garlic and even durian.
When we make durian ice cream, people come in and say, hey, you have a gas leak, says Pina Misceo, who owns the shop with her husband Vince. The Misceos have been at their current location, at the corner of Venables Street and Glen Drive, since 1992; for a decade before that, they had a small wholesale operation on Commercial Drive.
Given Vancouvers ethnic diversity and near-obsession with eating seasonally, it shouldnt be surprising that we expect the same from our ice cream. For example, La Casa Gelato has riffed on akbar mashti, a Persian dessert made with saffron, rosewater and pistachios, and once a year makes lucuma gelato from fresh Peruvian fruit. When we run out, we run out, says Misceo.
In other cities, that impermanence might drive customers to revolt, but not in Vancouver. In Coal Harbour, Bella Gelateria routinely has a line snaking out the door and around the corner as eager disciples try their luck with James Coleridges latest concoctions. Trained at Italys Carpigiani Gelato University, the award-winning gelato maker prides himself on making small-batch gelato from top-notch ingredients.
This weekend, Coleridge will launch a salted Moroccan lemon gelato, made from lemons he started curing 14 months ago. Well do a lemon salted caramel and a lemon salt sorbetto. Its crazy, Coleridge says. Hes also looking forward to a raspberry-lime gelato, made with local raspberries from Krause farms and Peruvian lime; and a fruita de bosco (fruit of the forest) with local raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries.
Though gelato sounds like a fancy word for ice cream, the two really are different. Gelato is made from a base of milk, eggs, and sugar; ice cream contains the same, plus cream. Both are churned to incorporate air, though gelato slightly less so, which results in a slightly denser texture. (Sorbet, or sorbetto, is made without dairy, typically with water or fruit puree instead.)
Over in the ice cream corner, Earnest Ice Cream has won Vancouverites over with its grown-up comfort flavours and exceptional quality.
Ice cream is a blank slate for flavour, says Erica Bernardi, one half of the two-person operation. We can take inspiration from entire dishes and other cultures and spin it how we want. Recent flavours include preposterously rich milk chocolate, spicy-cool cardamom and the very popular rhubarb oat crumble. [Co-owner Ben Ernst] and I grew up eating rhubarb crumbles, made by our grandmothers a la mode, of course. We rolled it all into one ice cream.
Earnest Ice Cream started off selling ice cream at farmers markets, and fans are buzzing about their forthcoming bricks-and-mortar shop at Fraser and East 24th Avenue. Its set to open any day now. Well be able to do one-off batches, says Bernardi, especially with the locally grown, foraged ingredients we can only get so much of.
Similarly, Bella Gelaterias Coleridge is working on a second location on Marinaside Crescent, on a prime strip of Yaletown waterfront. Hes planning to open by the end of the year with a full gelato and espresso bar, and to offer Neapolitan-style pizza.
Gelato or ice cream? Whichever you cheer for, your taste buds will win.
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