Well, Dimas & I took our first gelato road trip this past Monday. We first went to Philadelphia, where we visited Capogiro Gelato Artisans and then headed about 45 minutes north + east and visited the bent spoon in Princeton, New Jersey. We wanted to go and meet our fellow gelato-ologists and check out what they are up to.
First, we went to Capogiro in Philadelphia. Unfortunatley, Stephanie Reitano, the chef/owner was in the middle of that days production when we first passed by, around 9:30am and couldn’t come up and talk. So, we will definitely be back and hopefully time it better. We ate 2 gelati – Cioccolato Scuro, Nocciola Piemontese and 2 sorbetti – Cilantro Lime and Red Grape. All 4 flavors were beautifully balanced and had a wonderful creamy texture. Capogiro works with local farms in sourcing their ingredients and does a wonderful job in producing deliciously fresh gelati & sorbetti, with many traditional flavors and some very interesting flavors, combining fruit with herbs and spices.
After our visit to Capogiro, we headed to Princeton, New Jersey and met the super kind folks at the bent spoon. Gabrielle and Matthew were there behind the counter producing ice cream and prepping ingredients, and came out and greeted us with a thick rich hot chocolate, probably the best hot chocolate we have ever had. They took us through the whole flavor rotation in their case. We tried Salted Caramel, Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Mexican Chocolate, Raspberry, Pistacchio, Cranberry, Mango and a couple of more that I can’t recall. All the flavors were great, some subtle, like the Cranberry and others bold, like the Mexican Chocolate. the bent spoon also works with their local farms for their ingredients. This makes such a big difference not only in the flavors that are made, but the type of people that this practice attracts. They served up a couple of croissants filled with gelato and it was amazing! This was our first experience with the whole brioche and gelato combination. We were blown away by the vibes of their little space. They were so warm and friendly and even gave us a to-go bag with some of their pastries that they make right there in the shop.
All & all, we spent about 13 hours on our road trip, eating amazing gelato & ice cream, walking around the two beautiful cities and meeting some super nice folk that do justice to the East Coast gelato scene. Our next road trip will be to NYC to check out a couple of places there, so this was a really nice way to kick off our gelato tour, by checking out Capogiro and the bent spoon. Thanks for the warm reception and the great gelato! You are always welcome to our space in DC.