Gelato & Sorbeto in N'ville

Hunting for good food is an opportunistic pursuit. I was slowly driving behind a lady in a shopping center on Monday, trying to meet the Bride for lunch. I was quietly cursing this lady, since she seemed to be looking left and right, stopping and starting, and generally holding me up. And the only reason I was there anyway was because I had a 2 for 1 coupon for donating blood. Heartland does not pay me for donations, but they do give me coupons for free, and usually awful, food.

Can't say how many $5 gift cards I have gotten for McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts (the Bride is happy to receive these so they do not go to waste), and Oberweis. We actually accumulated so many coupons for free pints at Oberweis, that we were unable to keep up with them.

So this lady pulled into a parking aisle ahead of me, and stopped once again, inexplicably. I was able to slip into a place and was headed, briskly, for my lunch date when she called to me - "excuse me, do you live around here?" Hey, I had no desire to engage in this discussion, so despite being less than a mile from my office, and 3 miles from my home (a hop, skip and jump out here), I replied, "not really." She was not discouraged and continued, "well do you get out here often." I was noncommittal. Still, undiscouraged, she continued, "Well, I have this gift certificate for the ice cream shop over there, it expires on Thursday (it was Monday) and they are closed on Monday and Tuesday (winter hours, I later found) and if you can use it, you can have it."

I took the proffered certificate and eyed it dubiously. This was all wrong. First off, I was annoyed with this woman and did not want to be distracted from my annoyance. What is more unsettling than to have classified someone as a jerk, and then have them cross you up by doing something totally unexpected, and nice? Sort of like listening to someone make a thoughtful and convincing argument about a political position you had dismissed as completely wrong and without any redeeming value years ago. Anyway, the coupon offered a $10 discount at Tutto Dolce, with lots of conditions, but none that seemed to really apply to me. So I took it and thanked the lady, the cheap and pragmatic always overcoming the angry and principled (food is good, good, free food is better, and anger is really unhealthy anyway).

So that is how I ended up at Tutto Dolce on a sunny, warm St. Patrick's. In yet another inexplicable turn of events, it was 60 degrees and a bit of ice cream sounded quite tempting. My expectations were not high for this free ice cream, but the circumstances seemed promising.

I suppose life is not easy selling ice cream in the winter. And if one is in a strange little strip island at Iroquois Center, anchored at one end by Starbucks and the other by Joy Yee, one place I loathe, and the other I usually only frequent when away from home, one of those places that seems a retail death trap (aside from Starbucks and Joy Yee, proving once and for all that there is no justice), it must be particularly hard. Can't say why, but I was feeling full of empathy suddenly, and then guilt, like I was somehow hustling these people.

I was the only person there at 5, it was real quiet, half the freezer cases were empty and turned off. Then I began to inspect what was in the case, and saw what sure looked like good, fresh, creamy gelato and sorbeto. Not a big selection, one frozen yogurt, maybe 5 sorbetos, 7 or 8 gelatos. But the flavors were promising - lemon/basil, white chocolate, pistachio, mango, blood orange, and more. So I started asking her about the place - been open nine months, the products - all made fresh every week on site using fresh, real fruit, water and sugar for the sorbeto, and equally good ingredients for the gelato. And I started tasting.

For my taste, the sorbetos were the stars. Simple, fruity, smooth and creamy texture, just excellent. I bought the blood orange and lemon/basil, but will go back for the pineapple, mango or whatever other flavors they have next. The pistachio gelato was surprisingly simple, more a plain cream gelato with a whisper of pistachio than the full-on, in your face pistachio I expected (they do get extra credit for foregoing the green food coloring, even on St. Patrick's day, going with a natural beige), whereas the French Vanilla and White Chocolate I sampled were overwrought for me, having nuts and chocolate bits added to the vanilla, and raspberry syrup (quite nice syrup actually) added to the white chocolate, as if a white gelato needed some added flavoring to be complete. Nothing wrong with it, I suppose, unless one really wants to savor the vanilla or white chocolate flavors, which were overshadowed.

Which is not to say that you should not go. A family-owned, high quality gelato and sorbeto store is a neighborhood treasure and one I plan to make a regular stop as the weather warms, assuming I can work my way past the crowds at Joy Yee and Starbucks. Beats Cold Stone, anyway.

Oh, and they make pies and cakes, too, so I know where I will buy my birthday cakes for the next year.

There is something about Iroquois Center and the adjacent Ogden Mall that attracts interesting food places, low rents probably. The current star for me is still Cho Dang Tofu Village, but Super H, Cuisine of India, and Tutto Dolce are all more than serviceable. Drive a little further in either direction and you have Naf Naf, Fabulous Noodles, Riku Sushi, Yamado, and more. Much better than the overpriced corporate entities in downtown N'ville. Go, enjoy.

Tutto Dolce
1136 E Ogden (Iroquois Center)
Naperville
Closed Monday and Tuesday in winter, open 7 days starting in April.

Well, this is going to be dangerous. I work 5 minutes from this place. Thanks for the heads up.

dicksond wrote:Go, enjoy.

Just went, and I did very much. While I wanted to try and say something about a sorbetto not yet discussed (as I remember, other sorbetti came in coconut, pineapple, strawberry, and raspberry), I couldn't NOT start with the basil & lime / blood orange combo. Fantastic and very clean tasting. Noting that it was my first time, the proprietor commented, "starting with the best, eh?" Yes I did. Great find, D!

Well, I managed to resist for about 4 hours. I had the lemon basil and it was absolutely perfect. Just enough basil, not overly sweet and I'm SURE it's good for me. I'll be back.

Oh thank you thank you I live a hop skip and a jump. I'm going................

Stopped in for an Amaretto gelato last week. Excellent! So far, I never see anyone in there though so I hope they can stay in business.

I have a dish of basil/lemon sorbetto in my freezer. The taste I had at the store was incredible. But for my drive home, I snarfed down a chocolate gelato cone. It was chocolate squared. And really creamy.