Italians may have invented gelato, ice cream’s lower-fat, less-aerated cousin, but people enjoying the luxurious frozen treat in Rome or Florence would be hard-pressed to find the types of flavors that Los Angeles gelaterias are producing. The city’s culinary diversity is hard to match, and three shops in particular draw inspiration from global demographics to produce particularly L.A. scoops.
Fatamorgana Gelato expanded from Rome and has embraced L.A. food culture at Studio City and Beverly Hills outposts. Katyna Mercenari teamed with Italian founder Maria Agnese and fills some of her 66 bins (in each location) with L.A.-inspired gelatos and sorbettos. She even serves molded gelato "sushi" with chopsticks.
Fatamorgana Gelato came to Los Angeles from Rome, and has adapted its new city's food culture. Its Italian owner even serves molded gelato "sushi" with chopsticks.
“Los Angeles is a great melting pot of cultures, where all kinds of fresh fruits, nuts, and spices are available and allow us to make flavor combinations that all together could only belong in this wonderful city,” Mercenari says. She singled out gelato flavors from her 400-recipe repertoire, including ceremonial grade matcha that pays homage to a Japanese sushi chef and family friend.
She patterned her Mexican mole chocolate gelato after the slow-simmered Mexican dish that incorporates chilies, fruits, nuts, seeds, and in some cases, chocolate. At Fatamorgana Gelato, Mercenari makes mole in-house using “42 different spices and chilies, which is then the base for our gelato with a touch of cinnamon.” This flavor is part of an impressive chocolate line-up that may also include wasabi chocolate and mezcal chocolate that both impart distinct burns.
Baklava gelato riffs on the sweet ground nut and phyllo pastries that are popular across the Middle East and beyond. “Hazelnuts, almonds, and spiced cinnamon caramel are the base for our gelato,” Mercenari says. “Memories of Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey flow back to make our Middle Eastern friends happy.”
Mercenari calls Lalaland “a fun, exuberant combination to pay respect to the City of Angels!” In this case, she combines vanilla bean, ricotta, raw cacao and pear that could probably get Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s feet tapping.
Pazzo's Ube Praline Gelato.
Pazzo Gelato has thrived near Silver Lake’s normally bustling Sunset Junction since 2006. Co-founder Mike Buch says, "L.A. is such a melting pot of cultures." He’s found inspiration for many flavors in neighborhood fruit carts. “Growing up in L.A. I’ve always loved adding chili and herbs to fruit,” he says, citing combinations like mango cayenne, pineapple cilantro, and Meyer lemon mint. Seasonal farmers' market finds also motivate him. So do flavors like ube praline, baklava, Mexican chocolate, and halva from the city’s “melting pot of cultures.”
Gelateria's Uli Matcha Black Sesame Gelato.
Gelateria Uli founder Uli Nasibova hails from Azerbaijan and runs shops in DTLA and on West 3rd Street. She celebrates L.A. in flavors like black sesame, horchata, and matcha with chocolate waffle bits, which she scoops into cups, delicate waffle cones, and waffle bowls. A giant overturned cone rests atop her colorful Mid-City shop. On a hot day, it looks like runoff might rain down on passersby. Considering how Uli’s gelato tastes, that may be a good thing.
Nasibova also sources saffron from Baku, her hometown on Azerbaijan’s Absheron Peninsula, to feature in gelato. “I’m pretty sure that I’m the only place in the U.S. that has saffron from Azerbaijan,” she says. Nasibova plans to return to Baku this summer to buy more saffron to further fuel L.A.’s global gelato culture.