We like gelato - a lot. What's not to like?! Technically, gelato is denser and richer than ice-cream since it has a lot less air churned into it (~20% air vs ~60% air in ice-cream) and a softer texture.
Our first stop in Rome was
Gelateria del Teatro, a newish hand-made place down an ivy-covered alleyway a few blocks from Piazza Navona. Following our usual family pattern, Narisa had white peach and strawberry, Amara had stratiaccella and chocolate, Sean had puro (a super dark chocolate) and tartufo and I had lavender flowers/white peach and sparkling strawberry. Plus we shared a surprisingly rich granita of mint and lime, that tasted of fresh mint leaves. It was a great first stop - traditional flavors plus a few nouveau experiments that were lovely. And rich, rich, rich! We made multiple stops back here during the rest of the trip.
The next stop of note was
Gelateria Corona. I had lemon with basil and wild strawberry, Amara had chocolate and stracciatella. The fruit flavors were excellent and the chocolate was also pronounced to be two thumbs up.
The third stop on the list was a little disappointing -
Alberto Pica had been written up in multiple guides. But it was just so-so. I had chocolate and rice, which was a slightly odd combo - I also asked for pear, but I guess he did not hear me. Amara really liked hers - hazelnut and chocolate which if she spooned carefully, combined into an excellent nutella-like concoction.
The next stop was
San Crispino - chocolate meringue and Valrhona chocolate for me, peach and lemon for Sean, stracciatella and peach for Narisa and Valrhona chocolate and nocciola for Amara. The shop was interesting - the gelato was kept in steel bins with lids so you couldn't see the actual gelato until you ordered it. And the service was almost surly. This was the gelateria featured in
Eat, Pray, Love and most reports say it's gone downhill due to its enormous popularity, and the original proprietors are now too busy expanding their empire to maintain their previous quality levels. I have to say the peach was amazing - I'd go back just for that one single flavor.
Frigidarium was another local gelato place, not as high profile as the others, but recommended nonetheless - plus an ideal location just 3 mins away from our apartment. They had some excellent cream flavors including a vanilla caramel specialty and another vanilla swirled with nutella. Plus they gave very generous servings! And you could get whipped cream or a chocolate dip at no additional charge. We went back there a few more times and concluded this was the best quality/value combo, although their flavor selection was not huge.
Venchi was a beautiful place we happened on - not written up anywhere but it seemed to have a big focus on chocolate flavors (and also sold other chocolate items). It was such a pretty store plus interestingly enough, sold low cal gelato. Which was quite delicious - plus we also tried their gianduja and chocolate flavors. A nice find. They had just run out of Azteca Chocolate though, I was sad.
We also stopped at
Il Gelato one evening - almost too many flavors to choose from - 20 different kinds of chocolate alone. Venezuelan, Madagascar, Columbian - you could get gelato made from sourced cocoa, and then labelled with % intensity! It was a little complicated to choose and I was still rather stuffed from dinner. It would have merited a return trip but alas, we were not in that part of town again.
Another place that came highly recommended was
Giolitti, near the Pantheon. Supposedly the successor to Il Crispino for best gelato in Rome, I found the service to again be surly, with almost a factory element with the huge lines of people. The gelato was just ok. By Day 5 here, I was getting pretty picky about the whole gelato experience! Really nice flavors, but the hassle factor was too high to be overcome.
We also tried the special tartufo flavor and fancy sundaes at
Tre Scalini, a pretty cafe right on Piazza Navona with a view of Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain. With sundaes running at €13, it's a pretty pricey stop, but you are paying for the atmosphere of being right on the square.
And finally,
Fiordiluna in Trastervere - we had stopped by earlier in the week and it was closed, so a return trip was in order. Again, a nice place, but nothing completely memorable.
So, that's it for our Rome gelato experience. Even walking 30,000 steps a day, I am pretty sure I have gained a few lbs. Thankfully, there is not a scale in sight so I won't worry about it!
I love coming to Santa Fe around the holidays - there is usually some snow on the ground and all the adobe buildings are decorated with the traditional luminaria they call farolitos. Of course, it seems to be extra cold this year, which means our outdoor activities are extremely limited. And snow is forecasted for today, which my kids are eagerly anticipating.
The heart of Santa Fe is the main Plaza - we visited the Palace of the Governors where we learned about Santa Fe history and the old trade routes of the Spanish Empire. And did some shopping with Native Americans artisans under the old Portal - where folks have been selling their wares for over a hundred years.
The dining is excellent here in Santa Fe - our first meal out was Sunday Brunch at Santacafe, a few blocks off the Plaza. After wandering around in the sub-freezing temps, hot chocolate never tasted so good! I had a really good spinach Nicoise salad - I don't know why all restaurants don't always do Nicoise with spinach, it's so much better than with regular greens. Amara's lamb chops were good but the gorgozola polenta they came with was remarkable. We did notice that Giada had visited here on one of her Food Network specials.
Dinner that night was at the historic La Fonda Hotel, the last stop on the old Santa Fe Trail. We had a New Mexican meal at La Pozuela, which couldn't be beat for ambiance. It's situated in the old courtyard in the middle of the hotel (which thankfully has been covered over), with the lights in the trees and the brightly painted window panes, was simply a lovely place for a casual meal. And I had sopapillas for dessert, smothered in honey - mmmm.
So after my extremely long drive to dinner, I found out that it's the first day of a three week truffle festival at Biscotti. My dining companion practically lives at this hotel and knows both the Maitre D' and the Chef (a lovely young Italian from the Piedmont region).
Last night we drove down the coast road and headed to Marbella for dinner. Marbella is the nicest of the resort towns and we ended up at Playa la Fontanilla, primarily because we had no idea of where we were going.
We found a lovely restaurant overlooking the main promenade, La Navilla Del Mar. The service was excellent, we were the only non-Spanish family there and happily watched the sunset over the Meditteranean.
I moved on to a nice grilled turbot while younger daughter had gambas plancha or grilled shrimp. And french fries. The seafood was very fresh.
So my dad decides he wants to go back to this place in La Jolla where a good friend took him for some really great cioppino. Actually his words were more along the lines of "I want to have lunch at this place on the water, in that nice town, where there was this seafood soupy thing that was really good"...
It turned out to be a lovely place in an old house, overlooking the cove, with a nice covered patio where we had a great lunch on a gorgeous day. Besides the aforementioned cioppino (which was probably excellent but I wouldn't know, since I wasn't offered a taste - must have been really good since we always taste in my family...), there were some nice Kobe sliders with three different kinds of cheese.
One of my travel companions in Las Vegas last week was my 13 month old niece. This greatly limits fine dining opportunities, especially when her usual bedtime is 7:30 pm. For the very first time ever, we would be done with a full meal (including dessert) by 7 pm. In Vegas!
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