In late September, I finally made it back to a Ciao Bella with a camera so I could profile it on Tour del Gelato. Be sure to check out Ms. Adventures in Italy, home of the Tour del Gelato and a great blog on food and travel.
I visited the Ciao Bella on Mott Street, which was a location I had never been to before. For those of you in the U.S., you might be familiar with Ciao Bella because their pints are sold in many grocery stores. Ciao Bella was actually founded back in the 1980s by the now-owner of Laboratorio del Gelato (my first stop for Tour del Gelato)- initially, Ciao Bella sold only to restaurants and a few grocery stores, but has greatly expanded in the last few years.
I was very excited to see many of the traditional flavors — ie a good dark chocolate, strawberry, hazelnut, pistachio. I ended up going for the last two.
The verdict — the Ciao Bella custardy goodness is too cold to be authentic gelato, which is too bad, because once I let it warm up while sitting outside in the sun, it really was very close to the real thing.
And the flavors were exactly right for those types of gelato. So, really, I can’t complain too much, especially since I got to sit and eat my gelato right in front of Ciao Bella and people-watch. I sat on the wooden square bench you can see on the picture.
Ciao Bella Gelato, 285 Mott Street, New York, NY, 212 431 3591
P.S. If you can’t make it to a Ciao Bella Gelateria, look in your grocery store — chances are Ciao Bella will be there in pint form.
General Disclosures & Disclaimers
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Sounds so great! And they named a street after me! Just kidding…a tempting treat on Mott St. is very fitting, though!
Fortunately for you, Manhattan is just a short bus, plane, or train ride from D.C. : )