Gigi Gelateria: A North End Gem in a Citizen's Bank

We ventured to the North End yesterday in search of Sapori di Napoli, which for some reason (that I'm sure isn't nearly as important as our gelato quest) is closed until October 18th. Gelato fail, Sapori. We'll catch you another time.

We wandered back to Hanover Street and "settled" for Gigi Gelateria, right at the corner of Hanover Street near the Greenway. At first, we were turned off by the price - $4.95 for the only size cup they have. But then the magic hit us. First of all, the tiny little storefront is staffed by one woman and is literally carved out of a Citizen's Bank. Awkward but oh, so charming. Secondly, they let you get three flavors in a small cup. The flavor possibilities were endless. Kday tasted the pistachio (too sweet) and ultimately settled on vanilla, chocolate, and stracciatella ("white" ice cream with chocolate shavings). I chose to continue my hazelnut tradition and also chose chocolate and stracciatella to round out my cup. So much for endless flavor possibilities, but if I'm going to eat my way through Boston, I'm going to choose flavors I like.

Gigi doesn't have seating (unless you'd like to take a seat in the Citizen's Bank) so we headed straight to the greenway to eat. The gelato was smoooooth, creamy, and delightfully drippy, leading to a good deal of cup-licking (I'm looking at you, kday). Kday spilled on her pants too, but a bit of vanilla ice cream on the capris is a small price to pay for such an experience. The vanilla won out for most flavorful - lots of subtle flavors (clove? cinnamon?) overlaid by a powerful vanilla bean taste (I may not be able to sniff out things in wine, but I can do it in gelato, folks). The chocolate tasted like chocolate ice cream and less like the sinful stuff at Piattini, but the texture was great. The stracciatella was just like in Italy, although we are both a bit concerned about what kind of gelato "white" gelato is in the first place. It's not vanilla and it's not really anything else either. It was delicious nonetheless.

And look at this view: Who could ask for a more enjoyable gelato-eating experience? The spoons were small, but the gelato disappeared relatively quickly. (Eat your heart out, Athans). Despite our roundabout tour of the North End (in heels, on my part) we were both pleasantly surprised at the deliciousness that can come out of a Citizen's Bank storefront. So far, I would say that the Hazelnut and Vanilla win out at Gigi and the chocolate wins out at Piattini. We bite our thumbs at you, Athans, for advertising yourselves as a place to get good gelato and then selling gross stuff to unsuspecting law students who don't want to go downtown.

Good till the last slurp.