Buffalo Rising Online

A light, delicious summertime treat, gelato is Italy’s version of ice cream, with three major differences. First, gelato has a more dense texture than ice cream, due to the fact that no air is mixed into the batch. Second, it’s moved into a forced air freezer immediately after it’s made, which keeps it about 10-15 degrees warmer than ice cream. Lastly, gelato has significantly less butterfat than ice cream, typically 8% versus ice cream’s 10% (and often much higher). By no means does that difference in milk fat mean it has less richness. The flavor develops as it melts in your mouth, giving you the guilty pleasure of ice cream with a smidge less guilt.

Ross Runfola, owner of La Dolce Vita, finds that his crowds get a bit larger in the summer, when the café serves up seven different flavors of gelato. Their gelato is available for take-out in three different sizes, or in a cone if you just can’t wait to dig in. They also serve gelato year round, so if you’re craving a…