Mondo Gelato
May. 20th, 2003 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randomnessWe didn't originally intend to go to Mondo Gelato.
We were wandering around the Inner Sunset after the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park closed. (We being Gautam, Dan, Kim, John, and me.) I realized we weren't too far from Polly Ann's Ice Cream in the Outer Sunset, not if we were driving, anyway. So we walked back to the astonishingly good parking space Kim had found in the Haight, earlier in the day--and on Bay to Breakers day, no less!--and drove out to 3142 Noriega.
Polly Ann's was *closed*. There was a sign basically saying what their website (http://www.pollyann.com/homeHTML.html) says, although the weirdly-formatted sign on the door wasn't as reassuring as the website about their reopening.
With heavy hearts we drove off and tried to form a new plan. Not Ben and Jerry's again, as Kim and Gautam had been there at lunchtime. Not Cold Stone. I jokingly mentioned Dairy Queen. Either Gautam or Dan suggested Mondo Gelato.
In Berkeley.
"Well, hey, it's only ten miles", someone said.
I was driving Kim's car, as I'd volunteered to get us out of SF. I said I'd be willing to drive there if Kim was willing to let me. She said it'd be fine with her, so off we went, across the Bay, on something of a wacky quest for frozen dairy treats.
Mondo Gelato
2106 Shattuck Av. (btw. Center & Addison)
Berkeley, CA 94704-1209
U. S. A.
BART: Downtown Berkeley
http://www.mondogelato.com/berkeley/
tel: +1.510.883.1568
fax: +1.510.291.2849
Su-Th: 1100-2300
F-Sa: 1100-2400
(two other locations:
Mondo Gelato (head office)
1094 Denman Street
Vancouver, B.C.
V6G 2M8
Canada
tel: +1.604.647.6638
fax: +1.604.647.6639
Mondo Gelato
2nd Floor Lufthansa Centre
No. 52 Liangmaqiao Rd
Beijing 100016
China
http://www.canadiansinchina.com/mgbeijing/
tel: +86.10.6460.6122)
What distinguishes Mondo Gelato from most other gelaterias I've been to is the sheer variety on hand. There must have been fifty flavors available, color-coded in four categories: gelato, sorbetto (non-dairy, non-fat, fruit), soya gelato (vegan), and yogurt gelato.
I'm a traditionalist, so I got a singlo (which nonetheless allows you to choose two flavors, $2.75), half chocolate orange, half lemon cream, both gelato. The chocolate orange tasted just like the candy. The lemon cream was overwhelmed by its more forceful scoopmate. Kim's mango sorbetto was *very* flavorful and I wished I'd gotten it instead.
Overall, *I* thought it was well worth the trip across the Bay.
We were wandering around the Inner Sunset after the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park closed. (We being Gautam, Dan, Kim, John, and me.) I realized we weren't too far from Polly Ann's Ice Cream in the Outer Sunset, not if we were driving, anyway. So we walked back to the astonishingly good parking space Kim had found in the Haight, earlier in the day--and on Bay to Breakers day, no less!--and drove out to 3142 Noriega.
Polly Ann's was *closed*. There was a sign basically saying what their website (http://www.pollyann.com/homeHTML.html) says, although the weirdly-formatted sign on the door wasn't as reassuring as the website about their reopening.
With heavy hearts we drove off and tried to form a new plan. Not Ben and Jerry's again, as Kim and Gautam had been there at lunchtime. Not Cold Stone. I jokingly mentioned Dairy Queen. Either Gautam or Dan suggested Mondo Gelato.
In Berkeley.
"Well, hey, it's only ten miles", someone said.
I was driving Kim's car, as I'd volunteered to get us out of SF. I said I'd be willing to drive there if Kim was willing to let me. She said it'd be fine with her, so off we went, across the Bay, on something of a wacky quest for frozen dairy treats.
Mondo Gelato
2106 Shattuck Av. (btw. Center & Addison)
Berkeley, CA 94704-1209
U. S. A.
BART: Downtown Berkeley
http://www.mondogelato.com/berkeley/
tel: +1.510.883.1568
fax: +1.510.291.2849
Su-Th: 1100-2300
F-Sa: 1100-2400
(two other locations:
Mondo Gelato (head office)
1094 Denman Street
Vancouver, B.C.
V6G 2M8
Canada
tel: +1.604.647.6638
fax: +1.604.647.6639
Mondo Gelato
2nd Floor Lufthansa Centre
No. 52 Liangmaqiao Rd
Beijing 100016
China
http://www.canadiansinchina.com/mgbeijing/
tel: +86.10.6460.6122)
What distinguishes Mondo Gelato from most other gelaterias I've been to is the sheer variety on hand. There must have been fifty flavors available, color-coded in four categories: gelato, sorbetto (non-dairy, non-fat, fruit), soya gelato (vegan), and yogurt gelato.
I'm a traditionalist, so I got a singlo (which nonetheless allows you to choose two flavors, $2.75), half chocolate orange, half lemon cream, both gelato. The chocolate orange tasted just like the candy. The lemon cream was overwhelmed by its more forceful scoopmate. Kim's mango sorbetto was *very* flavorful and I wished I'd gotten it instead.
Overall, *I* thought it was well worth the trip across the Bay.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-21 10:08 pm (UTC)It's not ten miles. It's eighteen or nineteen, depending on route.
So whoever it was, lied.
Tonight we went to Cold Stone Creamery, in Palo Alto, which by local standards was close. Five and a quarter miles.
I think most Americans would agree that five miles isn't *too* far to go for good ice cream. Maybe not Bostonians, though.