According to http://www.foodtv.com, gelato is “the Italian word for ‘ice cream.’ Gelato doesn’t contain as much air as its American counterpart and therefore has a denser texture. An Italian ice cream parlor is called a gelateria.”
Aromi d’Italia in Guilderland was my first experience with the stuff. There’s no question I’ll be making frequent visits from now on.
There are those who won’t want to drive all the way out past Crossgates just for dessert. No problem, just arrive hungry. Aromi d’Italia offers a fine selection of appetizers, light meals, and full entrees.
There’s no question that the owners of the restaurant know what their star product is, though. The gelato counter is facing the entrance, and you have to walk past the full dessert case (including cakes, pies, and my personal favorite, tiramisu) to get to the dining room.
It was pretty full when my wife and I arrived around 6:30 on Thursday evening. The acoustics of the building aren’t very good, so the crowd meant that it was fairly noisy. Other than that, though, it’s a very pleasant environment.
After being seated, we were brought bread—specifically, wedges of their homemade rosemary focaccia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We both were specifically saving room for dessert, so each went with lighter fare: I ordered a roasted chicken Caesar panini, and my wife got an individual-sized vegetable pizza.
It turned out that both the bread for my sandwich and the crust for her pizza were made from the same thick, poofy focaccia that we had received as an appetizer. This meant that our meals were definitely more filling than anticipated—I only finished half of the panini, and gladly brought the rest home for another day. The pizza also made the grade, although it proved slightly difficult to eat, focaccia not having the greatest structural integrity.
Dinner was good, but we were definitely there for dessert. Our waiter—who was excellent the entire night—invited us to go up and take a look at the available flavors, offered us samples of any flavors we were interested in, and explained the difference between ice cream and gelato. Apparently gelato—which literally means “frozen” in Italian—is made by a different process than “normal” ice cream, so that less air is worked into the mixture. It’s also made with either water (for fruit flavors) or whole milk instead of cream, resulting in a lower fat content.
Not, mind you, that it tastes anything like low-fat. In fact, I’ve had very few servings of ice cream that were remotely as smooth as the chocolate hazelnut gelato I ordered. My wife ordered plain chocolate and was similarly rapturing, until she realized about halfway through that she was quite full, which brings me to my caveat: This stuff is rich. It’s served in a small plastic cup with a tiny spoon that seems ridiculous until you taste the gelato. Then you realize that you want to go slow so you can savor it. And then you realize you probably should have ordered the next size down.
As if there weren’t enough reasons to visit this place, the bottom line is also remarkably friendly. Entrees run $11-20 each, but with the lighter meals we selected, our total tab—dinner, dessert, tax, and tip—came to less than $30. If you’re just going for gelato, cups range from $2.25 for a kiddie size to about $4.50 for a large. And it’s worth every penny.
Aromi d’Italia is located in the Star Plaza at the corner of routes 20 and 155 in Guilderland. To get there, leave Troy on Route 7 west toward Latham and pick up I-87 south. Stay on that road until the end, going past exit 1, where I-87 splits off at the Thruway. Just after the Crossgates ramp, the road terminates at Route 20, Western Ave. Turn right and go roughly 2.5 miles to the intersection with Route 155. Turn left at that intersection, and then immediately right into the plaza. Aromi d’Italia is roughly the fifth storefront on the left.
