Clear Flour Bread: A Clearly Delicious Cookie

Upon her first bite of a chocolate chip cookie from Clear Flour Bread, Melanie said, "Wow, this quest can end now. We found the best cookie in the city." Now, we wouldn't be professional questers if we declared Clear Flour Bread the winner without thoroughly investigating many other cookies in the city, but let me be clear: the bar is set high for all future cookies. Anytime on this quest we eat a cookie less delicious than this one, we're going to wish we had returned to this neighborhood bakery and shared a chocolate chip cookie again.

Clear Flour Bread is a quaint bakery near Packard's Corner. The smell of baked bread wafted outside, and the cute young, male cashier's who waited on us had a flour-covered apron. After we both selected a loaf of bread, we ordered one chocolate chip cookie to split (see picture below for approximate size). Since there was no place to sit inside, we ate the cookie in Melanie's car. After all, it's January in Boston and it's freezing outside, so we had to make-do with what we had.

Clear Flour's cookie was divine. The outside had a perfect crisp while the inside was soft and chewy. The rich buttery texture and smooth, milk chocolate chunks resulted in a cookie that just melted in your mouth. Rarely have I ever had a cookie that had such a perfect combination of crunch on the outside and gooey deliciousness on the inside. Despite the size of the cookie, I immediately wished I had purchased an entire one for myself. I'll run it off in marathon training---right?

As this is our first stop on the cookie quest, we should cover some ground rules. No ranking until we're done, and we will discuss the texture, taste, size, and type of chocolate for each cookie. Bonus points going to things like ambiance and other intangibles. Clear Flour Bread scores extremely highly for everything related to the cookie, and the only negative we had for the place was that there was no inside sitting. But honestly, if it were warmer outside, we probably would have overlooked that entirely because we were so enamored with our cookie. The take-away folks? Get to Clear Flour Bread immediately.

Melanie's Gelato Rankings

Again, sorry for the delay. I've been busy passing semester #5 of law school. I'm still working on one paper, actually. It's due "on Christmas Eve, sometime before Santa comes." Way to ruin Christmas, professor. No, really. Thumbs down.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand: GELATO. I do not dispute Kday's overall rankings, so I thought I'd break things down for you by flavor.

First, however, I do have to restate that Angelato is the overall winner by approximately a million miles. I can't wait to go back. Athans was the clear loser, despite the fact that their drinks and seating and spinach pastry thingies have helped me to pass 4 semesters of finals (we're still crossing our fingers on this 5th semester, but Athans helped this time too).

Here it goes: Gelato rankings by flavor!


1. Chocolate: That stuff at Piattini is the runaway favorite, despite the cost. If you're looking for something less...intense (or cheaper), I would recommend Bon Bon (for a cocoa flavor) or Rita's (for classic chocolate flavor).



2. Vanilla: Definitely Gigi.



3. Hazelnut: I didn't do a great job describing the hazelnut at Gigi so I don't remember how good it was, but I just can't give the win to Cafe Paradiso (because we had to pay so much and because they hang witches near the tables). If I had to do it again, I'd try the hazelnut at Angelato, which I'm sure is delish.

4. Other: The wacky flavors at Sapori di Napoli were good (even my giant hunk of chocolate fudge was good), as were those at Angelato (obviously) and Bon Bon.

5. Ambience: Rita's has great ambience if you'd like to study or have a deep, brooding conversation with your gelato-eating mate. Bon Bon has a great ambience if you would like to feel as though Sesame Street and an M&M factory exploded in your face. The best ambience for my money, however, is the greenway near Gigis and near-ish Sapori di Napoli and Cafe Paradiso. There's no better view in Boston and the people watching is fabulous.

That's all she wrote, folks. Stay tuned for another semester of questing - until then, Merry Chrismakwanzukkah/Festivus and Happy New Year!

KDay's Rankings

Sorry for the delay with this posting, but Mel and I are law students and sometimes we actually have to do work. But the gelato quest is complete and below you will find my rankings for the best gelato in Boston.

1. Angelato

2. BonBon

3. Rita's

4. GiGi

5. Sapori di Napoli

6. Piattini

7. Caffe Paradiso

8. Athan's Bakery

Athan's is ranked low because of flavor issues while Caffe Paradiso and Piattini are near the bottom mostly because of cost. Angelato wins out because the flavors were spectacular and the price was perfect. Stay tuned for Mel's rankings--I think we differ on a few. And with that, KDay's gelato quest is complete. Despite gelato being healthier than ice cream, this quest was still extremely caloric and delicious.

Eating Dessert First!

Hello “QUESTING: boston” Readers! I was so pleased to be a “guest quester,” due in part to the fame it is sure to bring, but also (mostly) because I knew even if the gelato disappointed, the company definitely would not.

After deciding that yes, even with my Type A personality, I could eat dessert before dinner, I set out with Kday and Melanie to Sapori di Napoli, but, as Kaitlyn mentioned, it was closed. Fortunately, we were in the North End, where there is no shortage of gelato!

We headed across the street to Napoli Pasty, where we were able to select from many brightly-colored flavors! I debated trying one of the fruity selections, but after Kaitlyn chose turtle, I decided to select a flavor that also included chocolate so that I would not have “gelato-envy.” The scoops got progressively bigger as the scooper-man filled our cups, so Melanie, having selected last, ended up with a huge scoop!

My oreo gelato had a good ratio of oreo chunks to cream and the little plastic spoon moved well through the gelato. (I was told by the expert questers that this is a sign of authentic gelato.) There were a few ice chunks in my gelato, but for $2.50, this was a flaw with which I could definitely deal.

The most impressive thing about this gelato experience was definitely the enormous chunk of salty fudge that comprised about 75% of Melanie’s scoop. As we chatted about bar passage rates (there’s no way we are going to be part of the 9% of “Passachusetts” bar takers that fail, right?) we attempted to tackle the salty fudge chunk, but alas, even between the three of us we could not finish it.

Thank you, Kaitlyn and Melanie for allowing me to crash the gelato quest – I hope I can score an invitation to join you on your third quest!

Napoli Pastry: Questing on the Fly

On Friday afternoon, Mel and I, along with our second guest-quester Sarah, set out for Sapori di Napoli. This was our final stop on the gelato quest. For you avid readers, you will remember that Mel and I tried once before to sample the delicious gelato at Sapori di Napoli, but we found that it was being renovated until October 18th. As Friday was November 5th, you can just imagine our surprise (and disappointment) when we arrived at Sapori di Napoli to find the exact same sign on the door. So we did what any dedicated quester would do: we improvised. We walked across the street to Napoli Pastry (as this hand-written sign told us to do) and tried the gelato there.

Looking across the street, we saw a delightful sign that made us think that the gelato at Napoli Pastry would still be a delicious. Once we were inside, the flavor selection did not disappoint. After staring into the display case for awhile and learning that you could not get more than one flavor in each scoop, we made our selections. I chose turtle, Sarah chose oreo, and Mel tried moose tracks. Despite being limited to one flavor, each scoop cost only $2.50, so we were pleased and ready to again, ruin our dinners by eating dessert first.

My turtle gelato was a bit soupy texture-wise, but flavor-wise, it was spot on. The caramel flavoring was decadent without being overly sweet and the cashew pieces in the gelato were a perfect salty compliment to the dessert. Sarah, our guest quester, will write about her experience with the oreo gelato. Spoiler alert--it was delicious! Mel's moose tracks gelato was a bit confusing. For our first few bites, all three of us greatly enjoyed Mel's choice. The vanilla base of the gelato was very flavorful and the chocolate swirls and peanut butter-chocolate pieces were delicious. However, half way through Mel's gelato scoop, we found one, huge chocolate piece that quite literally, was the size of 1/3 of Mel's cup (see below). This discovery basically meant that there was no gelato in the cup and it was mostly just a scoop of salty, fudgy chocolate. While the chocolate fudge chunk was tasty at first, it ultimately overshadowed the gelato altogether. Not to mention that it just didn't look very appetizing.

We were a bit disappointed to be unable to try Sapori di Napoli, but luckily, Napoli Pastry is owned by the same people, so it was an acceptable substitute. With this last minute substitute, the gelato quest is complete. Some 5000 calories and 8 stops later, our second quest is done. After Sarah's post, be sure to come back to learn which gelato shop in Boston was our favorite.

Bon Bon: Hidden Gem

After a questing hiatus (during which we had some very involved halloween costumes to make), we're back! This Tuesday, kDay and I ventured out once again in search of the best gelato in the Hub. On Mass Ave., between Berklee School of Music, the Boston Symphony, and the massive Christian Science Center, is Bon Bon. The first thing we saw was the display case which was easily the most impressive yet:

A real pumpkin! Half a coconut! A slice of apple pie! A cup of coffee beans! Real Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

No fake fruit here, folks. This is some serious commitment.

We tasted a few flavors (yes, the Cinnamon Toast Crunch tasted exactly like the cereal, yes it reminded me of Saturday mornings circa 1990, and no we did not get a whole cup of it) and settled on 6 flavors between the two of us to cram into our cups.

Each cup looked small, but the friendly Bon Bon employee packed those puppies with so much gelato that neither of us finished our servings. (Dinner was totally ruined, obviously).  kDay chose chocolate peanut butter (with real Reese's Pieces, shown above in the upper left hand corner), coconut, and fudge brownie (lower left hand corner). I chose mint straciatella (upper center), vanilla (lower right), and chocolate (upper right).

We retreated to a very retro sitting area to eat our gelato. It had twirly bar stools made of red, glittery plastic that I would have liked a lot in 1990 (and, let's be honest, really liked on Tuesday). Once we sat down, we realized we were in crazy town.

Why hello, seventeen thousand Sesame Street stuffed animals and all the colored M&Ms you could ever want. It's nice to meet you.

Even though the decor was pretty strange (see below), the gelato was surprisingly delicious. kDay's fudge brownie was the clear loser of the day, only because the gelato was not so fudgy. Despite the pieces of real brownie, it wasn't a properly chocolatey experience to justify such a chocolatey name. The chocolate peanut butter was everything kDay had hoped it would be, in addition to having Reese's Pieces in it (no, we're not gelato purists). In kDay's cup, however, the come-from-behind winner was the coconut. It had the texture that Angelato's educational materials raved about and just the right amount of coconut mixed in.

The vanilla was shockingly yellow, which was a little suspicious but it tasted delicious. Strong vanilla flavor and a great texture give Bon Bon's vanilla the edge over Gigi's vanilla for me, although kDay is resolutely still giving Gigi the win. The chocolate should have been called cocoa - it tasted just like cocoa powder with sugar (delicious but unexpected) and I spent some time puzzling over whether I liked it. I've decided that chocolate gelato comes in three types - the Piattini type (death by gooey fudge), the Standard type (exemplified by Rita's and tasting like chocolate ice cream), and the Bon Bon type (darker, cocoa flavored). I have decided that I can take or leave the standard type but really like the more unique chocolatey flavors. kDay seemed to dislike the cocoa flavor which meant more for me. The last flavor in my cup, the mint straciatella, was perfectly executed. Not too much mint and lots of crunchy chocolate bits made it really tasty and unique - every other straciatella we've seen has had a white/vanilla base.

I just have to come back to the decor though. Big Bird, meet your new neighbor, the hooded skull-in-a-dome. You better lean away so that he can't eat you. Just lie right down on that bear. Push Elmo into the corner. Look natural though, Big Bird. LOOK NATURAL.

Despite the wacky decor, I was pleasantly surprised. Who would have known that some of the best gelato in the city was in a Sesame Street themed acid trip of a store across from the home of Christian Science? Who knew that there was a place you could sit on sparkly stools as a grownup? Who knew they were still making Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

This place definitely gets a big thumbs up from us. It's right off of the Hynes Convention Center T stop, so you don't have to go all the way into the North End. And they've got a pretty sweet view!

Hello questers,

Drew here, with a belated post on Angelato. In the past week, KDay and Mel have increasingly been accusing me of being a 'bad guest-quester' and have threatened that unless I posted vit-vit, I wouldn't be enjoying any quest-related goodies anytime soon. So that got me off my rear (on the couch), on my feet, and back on my rear (at the computer desk).

Both KDay and Mel have waxed poetic at length about Angelato and I have to say that I fully support everything they have said about the place so far. During the quest, I had two roles. First, I took photographs of the occasion. Second, I loaded up the handy-dandy notepad function on my iphone and took notes on the things KDay and Mel said as we took in the atmosphere and took in the gelato. I therefore, present to you, the original "questing notes". Mind you, these were written on the fly. When KDay and Mel get to talking about gelato, they don't stop (except to eat more gelato). That means I had to type as fast as I could just to keep up, and as my iphone made auto-corrections, I didn't bother to go back and fix them.

Quest

Oct 15

It's like a fall harvest (cider)

I didn't even need to tell thou. It tastes

just like a reward pent butter cup

Consistency is perfect light and fluffy

Were coming back here

This is like the best hilarious I've eve

had

Drew you've picked the right gelato

quest to come on

3 dollars for a perfect portion

Kday got a penutenutter and original

chocolate

Mel got cinnamon and pumpkin pie

Drew apple cider and mocha crunch

Mocha flavor is not overlee coffee

It was worth the drive

This has been delightful absolutely

delightful -Mel

"Gelato is the fine wine of frozen desserts"

All right readers, first I have to clear my name. I was the driver that made the wrong turns, the u-turn in the construction zone, and who executed the "pretty poor parking job." Thanks for throwing me under the bus, questing buddy. BUT, the getting lost was not my fault (my navigator gave me faulty directions), the police officer in the construction zone could not have cared less about my u-turning, and the parking job was as good as could be expected when there was freaking gelato to be eaten. Ahem. Back to the real purpose for my post, which is to wax poetic about the tastiest gelato this side of Firenze.

To start: the flavors. On the left, we have kday's cup of peanut butter straciatella gelato (on top) and chocolate gelato (hiding). In the middle is Drew's cup with apple cider sorbetto (on top) and mocha chip gelato on the bottom.  On the right, we have my fall-themed choices, cinnamon (on top) and pumpkin pie (hiding). Kday already gave you her thoughts on her flavors and I don't want to steal Drew's thunder, so I will try my best to stick to my own flavors here but - let's be honest - we did a lot of sharing.

I've never been sure how I feel about cinnamon flavored things (the fault of Big Red gum) and have always felt that cinnamon lends itself better to warm items than to cold ones, but the woman in front of me in line had just ordered a whole quart of cinnamon gelato, which made me think it must be pretty tasty. So I ordered it. After my first bite, I knew that my feelings on cinnamon had changed. Do you know how sometimes, when you're eating inartfully made apple pie, you can feel the cinnamon specks on your tongue? And how when there's too much cinnamon in something, you feel the immediate need to brush your teeth? This gelato wasn't like that at all (obviously). It was smoother than smooth, not too sweet, but also not too cinnamony. It made me envy the Eskimos and all those words they have for ice - there just aren't any words in the English language to describe how delicious this stuff was. And then I got to the pumpkin pie gelato, which had two equally delightful parts: pumpkin gelato (again, perfect consistency, not to sweet) and bits of actual pumpkin pie. The whole thing was an autumnal explosion. Delicious.

The thing that really set this gelato apart from the rest of the stuff we've tasted (even more than the quirky yet perfectly executed flavors) was the texture. Angelato says: "To enjoy your gelato to the fullest, try pulling your spoon through the product. At the correct serving temperature your gelato should be soft enough that you can do this easily, but not so warm that it is melting." I dragged my spoon through my gelato and it was perfection. The death-by-chocolate at Piattini was too runny, kday's chocolate peanut butter at Piattini was too cold, and all the stuff that dripped all over our pants in the north end was also too drippy. Angelato though, true to their educational materials, had the perfect texture. I'll never be a wine connoisseur, but I will be a gelato connoisseur - Angelato also says that "gelato is the fine wine of frozen desserts."

So thank you Angelato. Even though I am a disaster who can't park and who gets lost on Greenough Boulevard and breaks laws with impunity in front of police officers, you came through for us. You are the clear winner in my book (pending completion of the quest, but probably the clear winner anyway).

Oh - I almost forgot. Each cup cost three dollars.

Yeeeaahhh!!!

Angelato: To be enjoyed with gusto!

On Friday, Melanie and I along with our guest-quester, Drew, went to Angelato in Belmont. After making a few wrong turns, including a U-turn in a construction zone in front of a police officer and suffering through a pretty poor parking job, we arrived at our questing location. Immediately upon entering this gelato shop, we were in love.

Staring into the gelato case full of deliciousness, we couldn't decide what to order. After sampling the pumpkin pie and cinnamon gelato, it was so good that we decided we needed to organize. It was decided that the three of us all needed to order different things in order to maximize the number of flavors we could try. This was a good quest to have a guest-quester because we tried 6 flavors. I ordered peanut butter cup stracciatella and chocolate. Melanie chose pumpkin pie and cinnamon, and Drew ordered apple cider and mocha chip.

As soon as we started eating, Drew seemed surprised by our enthusiasm and our ability to wax poetic about gelato. My peanut butter cup stracciatella tasted exactly like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup in frozen form. It was divine. There were good size pieces of chocolate and streaks of peanut butter in a nice vanilla-based gelato. When I shut my eyes and ate the gelato, it was like tasting peanut-butter and chocolate heaven. I'm not exaggerating even in the slightest. The chocolate gelato was also delicious. It tasted like a fudgesicle and had a very smooth consistency. Our dedicated readers will know that nothing will ever top Piattini's dark chocolate magic, but this gelato had a solid, original chocolate taste that didn't disappoint. It was on par with Rita's.

As I was shoveling my gelato choices into my mouth with a colorful and appropriately sized spoon, I noticed a laminated placemat that had the history of Angelato's gelato and expressed the establishment's love for Gelato. Angelato's mission statement is now officially adopted into the gelato quest: Whether the flavor be traditional Italian, otherwordly exotic, or home grown American, we always remain true to the artisan tradition of producing products with love that are intended to be enjoyed with gusto.

As we sat in Angelato's, we enjoyed our gelato with gusto. Because we loved this place so much, each quester (even our first guest quester!) will write their own comments about their flavors. Get excited for what awaits you, as I described Drew's apple cider gelato as tasting like a fall harvest and Melanie's cinnamon gelato mixed just the right amount of warmth and heat into this cold dessert.

Belmont is a bit off the beaten path, but trust us---run (or drive), don't walk to this delicious gelato shop. You too can eat gelato with gusto!

The Polls are Closed

Despite the fact that the polls say they are open for another 80 days, they are now closed. Why? Because Melanie and I said so. We are the questing czarinas, so we do what we want. Plus, we don't really anticipate getting many more votes. I guess only 20 or so people read this thing. But that is neither here nor there because the important thing is that chocolate chip cookies won. This will be a delicious quest, and Melanie and I are equal to the challenge. Thank you for your participation. Also, we are thankful that chowder did not win. How could we possibly make an entire blog about fish soup? Our comments would be limited to the following: too fishy, not enough fishy-ness. That would have been a boring blog. We are confident, however, that we will have lots of say about cookies.

Below are the possible locations for our chocolate chip cookie quest. The list is subject to change and will likely be trimmed down to 8 locations. Any suggestions for the final list would be appreciated.

Clear Flour Bread

Flour

Boston Chipyard

Kilvert and Forbes

Rosie's Bakery

Quebrada

True Grounds

Hi-Rise Bakery

Parziale's Bakery Inc.

Sweet Tooth Boston

Burdick Chocolates

Even though our next quest is taking shape, we still have a few more gelato shops to sample and we are headed to Belmont on Friday to try Angelato. We are confident that we will accomplish our goal of completing the gelato quest before the first snow, which is important because even though we support gelato-induced brain freezes, we dislike eating gelato when the temperature is actually below freezing.

Cafe Paradiso

On Thursday, Kday and I met in the North End to test Cafe Paradiso's gelato. We arrived at the cafe to find several men speaking Italian and watching sports on television. It felt pretty authentic even though the decor of the cafe oscillated between sporty:

(Go ... Albania?) and seriously strange:

For those of you who are confused, this is part of a (real) tree with witches hanging on it. I know we're in Massachusetts and I know it's close to Halloween, but I just don't know how I feel about this bit of decor. There was also a fully stocked bar (seven flavors of limoncello anyone?) staffed by a middle-aged Asian bartender, which you just don't see a lot in the North End.

We sat down and received menus. We asked the waitress how many flavors we could get per order and she told us that there was only one size available and that it included three scoops, each the size of a golf ball. Twist my arm. I ordered Nocciola (hazelnut, per tradition), cappucino, and vanilla. Kday, in a leap of faith, had chosen tiramisu (which looked a bit pre-chewed) and "cookie creme" (which looked like cookies and cream ice cream but only if you were squinting). For her third scoop, Kday asked the waitress for her favorite flavor. The waitress recommended, "zuppa inglese," which contained vanilla gelato, rum, strawberries, and panettone. Kday paid no mind to the fact that the name means "English Soup," which sounds revolting, and includes several ingredients that don't sound like they belong together. Bold choice, questing buddy.

Despite small-but-metal spoons and whimsical parfait glasses, our gelato surprised the heck out of us for being not three golf ball sized scoops, but three baseball sized scoops:

Whoa, nellie. Talk about ruining your dinner.

The vanilla gelato had a nice consistency, but it was nothing to write home about. Gigi is still the winner on the vanilla front. The cappucino was delightful and, according to the menu, award-winning. The nocciola was the best I've had yet. I thought, after Athans, that I would be morally opposed to non-smooth hazelnut gelato, but the nocciola at Cafe Paradiso proved me wrong. While the Athans "chunks" were really some species of almost-but-not-quite pulverized hazelnut, the chunks in this nocciola were real chunks and were, therefore, acceptable. There was also some sort of caramel ribbon, which was a nice counterpart to the chunks.

Kday's tiramisu was excellent, despite looking pre-chewed. It wasn't too boozy but still had a rum flavor and tasted like a gelato version of the real thing. The "cookie creme" tasted "like a blended oreo" and therefore got rave reviews from the chocolate monster who ordered it. The third scoop, the mysterious zuppa inglese, was our least favorite in the dish. It tasted a lot like rum (in addition to ruining her dinner, kday risked getting seriously sauced with two baseball-sized scoops of boozy gelato) and the cinnamon in the pannetone clashed horribly with the strawberries. Blech. Way to lead us astray, otherwise-nice-waitress.

Despite our best intentions, neither of us succeeded in eating our own weight in gelato. Even though we didn't clean our dishes, we were feeling pretty good about the whole experience. And then we got the check. The menu didn't include a price for the one-size-only gelato serving and, what with being so overwhelmed by the decor, we didn't ask the waitress either (mistake).

So when the check came and we each owed $6.98 (plus tip) we were understandably peeved. What gives, Cafe Paradiso? You expect us to pay $7 for the only size of gelato you have? Without telling us? And when your flavors include boring ones (vanilla) and gross ones (english soup)? And when you're hanging witches from a tree next to our table? If it weren't for your tiramisu and your nocciola, I would bite my thumb at you. As it is, I'm quite miffed and probably not coming back. If we do come back, Kday and I will share one dish of gelato and there's nothing you can do about it. And your English Soup flavor is gross. So there.

Reader Poll!

We're almost at the halfway mark of the gelato quest and have turned our minds to the next adventure. Please vote one for one of the options in the poll (right above the "Followers" link).  If you vote for "other," please leave a comment to this post explaining your brilliant idea.

By way of information, our hot chocolate quest would be loosely based on this one from the Boston Globe (but without the $42 chocolate bar, sadly). The donut quest would resemble this list provided by Lynne S. on Yelp. The chocolate chip cookie quest and the chowder quest would be up to our imaginations (and yours) since no one seems to quest for these things.

But mostly, dear readers, we want your help in brainstorming the perfect next quest (or three). We're ready to do this once a week for the rest of the school year, so we need lots of ideas. Our questing criteria include (1) cheap and (2) delicious. With that in mind, cast your votes!

Rita’s Café: A Hidden Gem in Brookline

Yesterday afternoon, Melanie and I continued our tradition of ruining our appetites for dinner by eating dessert first. We quested to Rita’s Café in Brookline, and immediately upon entering the shop, we knew one thing: we would be coming back.

When we walked into the quaint coffee shop, we were kindly greeted by a man who spoke limited English. It didn’t matter. He fully understood that we wanted gelato and he was quick to get that gelato to us. After looking into the display case and pondering one scoop or two, Melanie and I both made our orders. Melanie ordered one scoop of chocolate and one scoop of raspberry, and I got one scoop of chocolate and one of vanilla. We both tried to get one scoop, split into two flavors, but this was lost in translation. But it didn’t matter—as we soon discovered the gelato was delicious and two scoops a piece was perfect. He took our orders, and we waited at the counter for gelato, but then, he directed us to take a seat. We followed his kind orders, and we found a table in the charming and nicely decorated shop. This place even has an exposed brick interior wall. We soon saw him bringing out gelato to us in glass polka-dotted bowls complete with real, metal spoons, and we knew that Rita’s was one classy establishment.

We dug into the gelato with enthusiasm and with the best spoon yet. It was ¾ of a normal spoon size and metal, whereas all of the other spoons to date were cheap and disposable plastic ones. Melanie’s raspberry tasted like sorbet, rather than a true gelato. It had a strong flavor and an intense raspberry color, and she was pleased with her order. The gelato was light and almost fluffy, but she did long for a more creamy consistency. We both ordered a scoop of chocolate, and both of us were very pleased. Melanie aptly described the flavor as “an intense fudgesicle.” While no chocolate gelato will probably ever compare to the dark chocolate heaven we ate at Piattinis, if someone wanted a true and original chocolate, I would direct them to Rita’s. Both of us ate ever last bite of the chocolate gelato in our dish. My vanilla gelato was just average. It tasted just like ice cream. It was creamy and had a vanilla flavor, but it did not have the flavor intensity or lightness that I so enjoyed at GiGis.

After we had eaten to our heart’s content, it was time to pay. Paying for this gelato further confirmed to us what a delightful spot Rita’s Café really is. Two scoops cost just $3.50 a person. While paying, another employee asked Melanie and I if we would like a sample of a new milkshake they were making. The recipe was still in the experimental stage, and he wanted our feedback. We obviously accepted the offer, and we slurped down our chocolate, peanut butter, and banana milkshake offering him all of our thoughts (less peanut butter, more milk, use smooth peanut butter rather than crunchy). Good thing Melanie and I are so opinionated! He really took our comments to heart and after thanking them profusely for the gelato and the bonus milkshake, we got on our way.

Now, no post about Rita’s Café would be complete without this piece of information. Rita’s does not make their gelato onsite; rather, they buy it from Sapori di Napoli (that place in the Northend that was closed last week when we tried to go there). Learning this made Melanie and I very excited to go to Sapori di Napoli in the near future, and we have promised not to repeat any flavors on that quest. Even though we cannot score Rita’s on their gelato making ability, the shop gets perfect scores for its ambiance and the experience as a whole. We both want to go back and get lunch or dinner from this café and then order some gelato for dessert.

WTF is stracciatella?

In keeping with last week’s theme of flavors that are difficult to identify and describe (please see the blackcurrant debacle described below), at GiGi’s Gelateria, Melanie and I both tried stracciatella gelato. Before tasting it, there were a few things we knew with certainty: it had a vanilla base, it had chocolate chips, and it looked delicious. After greedily eating our gelato, we knew less about what we just ate than before. GiGI’s stracciatella gelato does not taste the same as its vanilla, as Melanie explained below. So then, what exactly is stracciatella? Good thing the internet has all the answers.

Googling stracciatella yielded unusual results, leading me to believe I had misspelled something. Stracciatella is an Italian egg-drop soup, which derives its name from the Italian word stracciato meaning “torn apart.” Stracciatella soup is made by boiling a broth and then slowly pouring a raw egg mixture into it. When the egg mixture hits the hot broth, it forms stracciatelle or “little shreds” of cooked egg in the broth.

As egg drop soup is nothing like gelato, I was certain that either Google or I had made a mistake (Google is always right, so I blamed myself and some clumsy typing). But then, I kept prowling the web until I got an explanation as to why egg drop soup and gelato share a name.

Stracciatella gelato typically has a vanilla base and small bits of chocolate in the gelato. However, to make stracciatella, chocolate bits are just not added to the gelato and then mixed in. Rather, gelato geniuses developed a technique where they pour a thin continuous stream of melted chocolate into the cold vanilla gelato while churning it. When the hot chocolate hits the cold gelato, the sudden change in temperature causes the chocolate to get “torn apart” into small bits of chocolate that are dispersed throughout the gelato. So the soup and the delicious dessert share a name because the two dishes share a preparation technique.

GiGi’s stracciatella was delicious, but after doing this research, I really want to watch stracciatella be made. Perhaps that can be a side quest.

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.

WTF is a blackcurrant??

At Athans yesterday, kday ordered blackcurrant gelato because it was pretty. Then she tasted it made a face. It was not a bad face, but rather a face that fully conveyed an intense and unexpected flavor experience. After she calmed down a little, we realized that neither one of us had ever heard of or tasted a blackcurrant. In the spirit of education, dear readers, I went on a side-quest to dig up some information on the blackcurrant.** You’re going to have to put up with these educational posts because, between the two of us, we’re two law students and a former teacher and think that learning things is almost as important as eating gelato (almost).

So. The blackcurrant is a small berry that grows on a bush. It is well suited to growing in the British climate and was consumed regularly during World War II as a source of Vitamin C when other sources of Vitamin C (like oranges) became difficult to obtain. The reason for our collective confusion on the blackcurrant may have something to do with the fact that the U.S. banned the plants in the early 1900s after discovering they carried something called “white pine blister rust.” I don’t know what that is, but it sounds pretty scary and apparently threatened the logging industry. Today, some states still have a ban on growing blackcurrants but they’re making a resurgence in others.

In addition to their use in Athans gelato, blackcurrants are the primary ingredient in foreign delicacies like crème de cassis, kir, Rote Grütze, and Ribena. In my humble opinion, Ribena is incredibly disgusting and crème de cassis is quite tasty, which demonstrates the versatility of this fruit. There are also jams, jellies, and sauces to be made out of blackcurrants. Apparently, lots of foreign-made blackcurrant foods are labeled “grape” here, because we Americans just can’t be bothered with crazy berries.

Apparently the blackcurrant is a “superfood” with all sorts of health benefits. Blackcurrants contain a rare Omega-6 essential fatty acid called Gamma Linoleic Acid, which is used in treating depression, as well as packing quite the punch with four times the Vitamin C of oranges and twice the potassium of bananas. I hope that kday is feeling fully super today as a result of all this healthy goodness in her cup of gelato.

Wikipedia described the flavor of blackcurrants as “astringent.” I was under the impression that astringent was something you dabbed on your face with a cotton ball and was not aware that you were supposed to eat things that tasted like face product. Perhaps this is why kday made such a spectacular face.

In conclusion, even though blackcurrants are the primary ingredient in Ribena (gross) and have something to do with astringent (troubling), they are excellent for you and apparently saved Britain from Vitamin C deficiency during WWII. If you are in the mood for a wild cup of gelato and some nutrients to boot, head down to Athans and check it out for yourself.

** Full disclosure: Most of this information came from Wikipedia. Don’t judge. 

Athan's in Washington Square

This evening, the quest took us to Athan's in Washington Square. This neighborhood favorite is well known for its coffee and pastries. This was both of our first experience with Athan's gelato.

Our initial thoughts about Athan’s were positive. There was a wide selection of flavors and the staff was incredibly helpful. Our waitress—errrrr gelato scooper—even let us get two flavors in the small size cup when

the sign on the counter explicitly says that small cups are for single flavors only. After sampling rose flavored gelato, which was not that good and tasted only of sugar, we paid our $3.16, and we took our two-flavor gelato cups to our table and started eating. Athan’s also scores points for its patience when I paid with two $2 bills.

Melanie ordered praline and hazelnut. While the flavor of the praline was good, Melanie did not like the texture. The gelato was not perfectly smooth; rather, there were unidentified gritty parts which were not to her liking. The hazelnut was tasty but the texture presented more of the same problem. Melanie strongly preferred Piattini’s hazelnut gelato. My blackcurrant gelato had an intense flavor, although I then realized that I had no idea how blackcurrants are supposed to taste, so I have no opinion as to whether the flavor was authentic. The flavor was good, but ultimately, it was a bit overwhelming. I would not have been able to eat an entire serving of blackcurrant gelato. The tiramisu gelato was overly boozy, and left me wishing that I had ordered the tiramisu sitting in their pastry display case instead. Athan’s did have full-sized spoons, which allowed us to shovel large quantities of gelato into our mouths quickly, but sadly, the taste of the gelato did not generate enough enthusiasm for us to need the larger sized spoons. Both of us had uneaten gelato at the end of this quest.

As one of the more reasonably priced gelato shops and so conveniently located to our humble abodes, we had high hopes for Athan’s. But after this quest, if I wanted gelato, I would get on the T and head back to Piattinis.

Gelato: A Quick History of a Tasty Treat

On our first quest, sitting on Newbury St. on a crisp Sunday-afternoon, we felt like ladies who lunch. However, sitting there, eating our delicious gelato, we realized that we didn't know very much about the treat. Of course, it's not ice cream---but what are the differences? What is the history of gelato? Alas--a quick history lesson, readers (if we have any at this point).

While the history of gelato is not known exactly, it is believed that China first invented a frozen dessert using fruit, shaved ice, or mountain snow. These first frozen treats were not ice cream because there was no diary. Enter Italy to remedy this. Frozen fruit and ice treats are good, but gelato is better. Thank you, Italy.

Two distinct frozen treats came from Italy: sorbet in the south and gelato in the north. In the south, the frozen treat was water-based with a higher sugar content but less fat. Called sorbetto in Italian, it is now known as sorbet in English. In the Dolomite region of the Alps in northern Italy, however, the wise-Italians added diary and gelato was born. Gelato was made with milk, sugar, eggs, and natural flavors. Again, thank you, (northern) Italy.

As we quest around Boston, we are thinking that walking a few steps from a T station to a gelato shop is not enough physical exercise to burn off the calories we consume during each tasting. However, as gelato is made with milk rather than cream, like ice cream, this tasty treat is much less caloric than ice cream. Thus, as you follow along with us on this quest, perhaps we will not have to purchase new jeans or settle for only wearing elastic-waisted pants. Of course, if we sample all of these flavors, even the lower calorie count might not save us.

Piattini Cafe and Gelateria (Newbury Street)

Our first questing stop, Piattini on Newbury Street, was the most expensive on our list ($4.99 for a small gelato) but had a pretty funky flavor selection and a charming location. Although there was no indoor seating for gelato purchasers (it's also a restaurant - we assume they save the seats for people who order real food), we found a table outdoors that we were able to sit at, undisturbed. We even heard an operatic rendition of "Happy Birthday" emanating from the restaurant as a bonus.

Upon our arrival, an incredibly helpful gelato man allowed us to taste Basil, Sweet Potato, and Mango.

All three flavors were absolutely delicious.  The basil was sweet and basil-y, a refreshing and unexpected flavor. The sweet potato was reminiscent of pumpkin and had a creamy consistency. The mango was also delicious, but we ultimately decided to order "small" cups of Chocolate-Peanut Butter, Nocciola (Hazelnut), and Scuro (dark chocolate). We'll have to save eating an entire cup of a wacky flavor for when we're a little more experienced at this. Kday, purchaser of the Chocolate-Peanut Butter, was a bit disappointed.  Her gelato seemed dry and crumbly and the flavor was not particularly sweet or chocolatey. The hazelnut was an improvement, though its texture was a bit grainy.

The winner, by a long shot, was the scuro - apparently Piattini's most popular flavor. It tasted like brownie batter, but cold and without that pesky risk of salmonella.  It was much runnier than the other flavors, and there was some un-ladylike licking of the cup (not pictured) before I got the situation under control. After discovering the nocciola-and-scuro-on-one-spoon taste sensation, I was reluctant to share my spoils with Kday (but I did, of course).

Piattini gets good marks for their adventurous flavors, their operatic waitstaff, and their amazing scuro gelato. They lose points for lack of indoor seating, high prices, depressing chocolate-peanut butter gelato, and for providing us with impossibly small spoons. Though the tiny spoons made the entire experience feel a bit classier and more European, they were not useful when it came to the main goal of the excursion (namely, eating a lot of gelato rather quickly).

Despite the drawbacks it was, all in all, a successful kickoff to the fall quest!

A quest!

After our spectacularly successful cupcake quest last year we decided to join forces one more time for another Beantown adventure. Kday, inspired by the Boston Globe, suggested a gelato quest. I, part Italian gelato monster and part procrastinator, agreed that this quest deserved our immediate attention. We have decided to start with the most expensive gelato on the list and today we will be kicking off the quest at Piattini Cafe and Gelateria on Newbury Street.  The Globe says they have dark chocolate and sea salt flavors, which sound delectable. Updates to come!