June 24-30, 2004

summer restaurant guide

Ice Breaker

GLACIAL GRACE: Three desserts by Fred Ortega of Lacroix: (from top) chocolate macaroon, mango and lime sorbets on cherry; hibiscus consomme, fresh fruit and lemon verbana sorbet; and lemon-basil, chocolate and champagne sorbets on crystallized sugar. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

What sets our city's frozen desserts apart from the competition? They're the coolest.

by Elisa Ludwig

With a new emphasis on natural, high-quality ingredients and intensified flavor, frozen desserts have truly evolved above and beyond the wooden stick. (Which begs the question: Why did it take our country so long to catch on to the pleasures of gelato?) This summer, there's no reason to subject yourself to the Ben and Jerry's find-a-chunk game when there are better, and possibly less caloric, scoops to slurp. The following are a few of the more tempting cold confections around town. Jimmies not included.

Bent Spoon

35 Palmer Square West · Princeton, NJ 609-924-BENT

Opened last April, the Bent Spoon is the brainchild of Gabrielle Carbone and Matt Ericho, twenty-something New Jerseyans who, after affirming their love for one another, discovered their mutual love for gelato on a honeymoon in Italy. A French Culinary Institute-trained pastry chef, Carbone creates a hybrid of gelato and European- and American-style ice creams, as well as her own original sorbets. Everything at the Spoon is made with organic and free-range eggs, hormone-free milk and produce from local farms. Carbone and Ericho serve up 15 flavors of sorbet and ice cream a day, plus homemade baked goods, locally roasted coffee and Euro-style hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows.

Claim to Fame: Socially conscious sweet things

Craziest Flavor: Anise seed

Favorite Flavors: Dark chocolate orange; caramel nutty streak; cardamom with crystallized ginger; and Sicilian blood orange sorbet

Capogiro Gelataria

119 S. 13th St. · 215-351-0900

Taking it back to its roots, Capogiro makes dessert the hard way, without flavor extracts, using organic or non-certified organic fruit, nuts and herbs. Owner and gelato master Stephanie Reitano has concocted over 240 different flavors. Her craftsmanship has earned Capogiro special commissions, like the wasabi sorbet she made to accompany an ahi tuna salad at Sole Food. The gelataria now supplies some 40 restaurants with its goods and the Reitanos are looking to open a store in Manhattan. And if the long lines out the door weren't advertisement enough, the Food Network will be airing a segment about Capogiro this summer.

Claim to Fame: The city's only authentic, old-fashioned, handmade gelato

Craziest Flavor: Rosemary-honey goat's milk

Favorite Flavors: Bitter chocolate; dulce de leche; nocella (hazelnut); and lemon opal basil sorbet

Crema Lita

401-A Chestnut St. · 215-829-9510 129 S. 16th St. · 215-829-9511

When the gelatos and ice creams have taken their toll on your HDL count and left you with a mad jones for more, Crema Lita will be there to help you pick up the pieces. Made with skim instead of whole or butterfat milk, Crema Lita is a fat-free, cholesterol-free and low-calorie concoction that looks and tastes a lot like ice cream. At 70 calories for a 4-ounce serving, anyone could reasonably eat Crema Lita on a daily basis, provided they don't go overboard on the candy and cookie toppings. Soon, the bragging list will also include low-carb, when the company introduces its sucralose-sweetened flavors next month. The Manhattan-based chain has opened up two franchises in Philadelphia this year, and is eyeing two additional locations in Atlantic City and West Philly.

Claim to Fame: Fat-free, cholesterol-free, low-calorie ice cream

Craziest Flavor: Low-fat Amaretto cheesecake

Favorite Flavors: Coffee toffee; Snickers; Hawaiian coconut; and caramel fudge

Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Lacroix

210 W. Rittenhouse Square · 215-546-9000

It's not every day you can complete your meal with a refreshing bowl of tomato, basil and Tabasco sorbet — unless you're dining at the award-winning restaurant Lacroix, where you can choose from a changing daily selection of ice cream and sorbet made by Executive Pastry Chef Fred Ortega. Sure, there's usually vanilla and chocolate, but there are also herbed sorbets and vegetable-infused ice creams on the list. If balsamic-berry sorbet isn't exotic enough, consider the carrot cumin flavor currently in development in Lacroix's alchemic kitchen.

Claim to Fame: The most exotic ice creams and sorbets in town

Craziest Flavor: Tomato, basil and Tabasco sorbet

Favorite Flavors: Fennel; coffee with caramel praline; vanilla and black pepper ice cream

Miel

204 S. 17th St. · 215-731-9191 1990 Marlton Pike · Cherry Hill. NJ · 856-424-6435

Having wowed his Cherry Hill customers with fresh fruit sorbets for years, Miel chef/owner Robert Bennett has just introduced them to his Center City store. For now, Miel sells two flavors of sorbet at a time — currently mango and raspberry — and will change them up throughout the season. Miel also creates Bassett's super premium line, which is popular among high-end local restaurants and hotels. Bennett studied his craft in Italy and now uses a Carpigiani gelato machine for all his sorbets, gelatos and ice creams. The secret is in the intermittent spring blades, he says, which keep the product more compact and flavorful. The top-of-the-line ingredients don't hurt, either.

Claim to Fame: Responsible for Bassett's super premium line

Craziest Flavor: Fig ice cream

Favorite Flavors: Peach; Tahitian vanilla; hazelnut gelato; and strawberry sorbet