30 Scoops in 30 Days: Gelato Bar (Day 11)

By Elina Shatkin Wed., Jun. 15 2011 at 3:00 PM

Gelato Bar: Chocolate, Blueberry & Banana Gelato

It's both cruel and practical that Gelato Bar limits customers to three samples. Otherwise, we'd probably be lolling at the counter and annoying the clerks as we taste our way through the shop's repertoire of dense, Italian-themed gelato flavors. Owned by Gail Silverton (sister of Mozza's pizza queen Nancy), Gelato Bar has two locations, Los Feliz and Studio City. The Los Feliz shop is bright and cozy, designed to look like a typical neighborhood gelateria in any mid-size Italian city -- one that happens to serve top notch gelato.

After Grom, with its incredible fruit sorbets and gelatos, we worried we might be spoiled for all other gelato. Happily, Gelato Bar takes gelato seriously.

Here, the flavors are less intense and the gelato more dense than at Grom, but the flavor combinations are varied and intriguing, like the Veneziana vanilla gelato ribboned with chocolate and sprinkled with candied orange peel, or the milky Lattemou. The Los Feliz shop has about two dozen flavors at any given time, but their full repertoire stretches to nearly 90 flavors.

We're a big fan of the chocolate, which is dark, lovely and satisfying, and the Yogurt Greco, with the tartness of yogurt and the sweetness of honey in irresistible harmony. But the knockout punch is the exceptional pear sorbet. It's light and flowery yet manages to exploit every last drop of pear essence, and it's a flavor we've seen almost nowhere else.

Bonus: Gelato Bar makes very good coffee. It doesn't hurt that Gail Silverton's son, Nik Krankl, is an award-winning barista who sometimes steps behind the counter of the Studio City shop to pull a few shots.

Location Info

Venue

Map

Gelato Bar

1936 N. Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA

Category: Restaurant

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Tags:

30 Scoops in 30 Days, Elina Shatkin, Gail Silverton, Gelateria, Gelato Bar, Ice Cream, Nancy Silverton, Nik Krankl

We Recommend

Steve

this place serves a mediocre product that is way overpriced

Jessica Hamlin

Every other gelato I've tried tastes like a chemical-laden icy impostor compared to Bulgarini in Altadena. I've been spoiled for life and wonder if I'll enjoy gelato in Italy as much the next time I go. His perfectionism and use of seasonal ingredients pays off big time and I'm thankful to be a short drive away.

S. Britchky

I stopped by the Studio City location of Gelato Bar this week and, since they weren't serving my favorite -- Veneziana -- had salted caramel in an affogato. Smooth, a bit sweet, two bits fabulous, plus outstanding espresso, all without requiring you to be, or ever have been, a flawless member or associate of the intelligentsia. Over the last couple of years, I've had only half-a-dozen of their flavors (it's hard to get away from that Veneziana), but Gelato Bar is my favorite ice cream shop in the city. The only negative is the extremely tight parking around both locations. Yet another positive is the location of the new store. It's just down the street from this place and that place but especially Yuca's place, where carefully filled and folded cochinita pibil burritos give evidence that Los Angalus hasn't gone completely to hell.

Changing the subject to all those "intense" Grom flavors you keep mentioning, I will have to go back again, because they didn't make it to the cup on my one visit. But the flavors would have to be blessedly intense and intensely wonderful for an antiseptic shop in a plastic mall -- plastic stores, plastic people, bolt-on boobs, etc. -- to come even close to the grunty-lovely flavors at Gelato Bar. Lots of flavorful parking near Grom, however.