Donate to a good cause: Send me to Italy!

It has come to my attention that, in order to be a more educated, articulate Capogiro manager, I really need to affiliate myself more with the birthplace of gelato. In that spirit, I have decided to embark on a campaign to travel to a distant land in order to gain the knowledge that will enable me to become a true Capo zen master. As I am a little short on cash, I am asking you all to help me to study abroad: Send me to Italy!

In case you need further convincing, I have prepared a brief list of reasons for you to help me in this noble cause.

Reasons you should pay for me to go to Italy:

1. I could learn to pronounce every single one of our gelato flavors correctly. I could learn to trill my R's and elongate my vowels just so. I've been working on this while behind the case but it just looks like I'm talking to the flavors and it wierds out the customers. Just for the record, I don't talk to the gelati. (Except for you, Thai Coconut, you're my only friend).

2. I am not Julia Roberts. I just saw Eat. Pray. Love. and I would look WAY cuter sitting on a bench in the middle of a piazza eating gelato than she would. Julia Roberts looks like a horse.

3. Vespas are sexy. I recently signed up for an OkCupid account so I'm busy trolling the interwebs for ladies, and I need to learn more about how to be sexy. Everyone looks better on a Vespa, and Italy is full of them.
4. Going to Italy may be my only way to possibly ever hear someone say, "It's-a me, Mario!" outside of a Nintendo game.

5. Make friends with the police. I've always wanted to have a buddy who was a police officer. Being friends with a cop can be very handy in all kinds of predicaments. Many cops in Italy ride Vespas too, so we can hang out together looking sexy and keeping it real. In particular, it is the Italian dress uniform that really gets me. So adorable!!

So, in closing, please help me obtain my lifelong goal of going to Italy. I will accept donations in the form of American dollars, Euros, travelers checks, bottle caps, sacks of grain, and/or ponies.

Thank you all for your support.

So There's Snow Outside

. . . we get it.

No really, we get it.

But there's plenty of yum inside, so don't forget about that either.

Yum, you say? Yes, yum. For instance, this yummy "Little Digger" spoonable dark chocolate yumminess. You can spread it on a toasted brioche, a chocolate chip cookie, or put a little in your morning yogurt. I've even bought an orange and dipped in in there too. What can I say? YUM!

Happy Holidays from the crew at CapoPenn

We look forward to seeing you again on January 9th. Until then, have a very happy time, keep it warm and avoid inferior milks.

Bad Santa

So, my BFF is currently at the Ritz and has been texting me nonstop about this foreign film she is watching, Rare Exports (click to view trailer). This movie looks AWESOME. From the trailer it seems like some Finnish dudes drill into an icy mountain and unearth an ancient evil in the form of a psycho-killer Santa Claus. This has prompted me to make a list of awesome holiday horror movies to help get you into the Xmas spirit. Here goes:

Jack Frost. This flick is about a killer snowman who can melt himself and then regenerate. Amazing. There's also a pretty crazy murder scene involving a girl, a shower, and a carrot. Ow, and brrr at the same time.

You have to check out Black Christmas. It's a film that combines a Christmas, a serial killer, sorority girls, and mayhem. Also this film features the brilliant plot twist that the killer is calling from, you guessed it, INSIDE THE HOUSE! Ahhhh!!

Santa's Slay is also a must-see. Basically, it's another killer Santa movie (that guy really needs try some yoga). One of the best scenes in this movie involves someone getting their head set on fire then drowned in egg nog. Epic.

The best Christmas horror movie of all time, however, has got to be Gremlins. Phoebe Cates delivers one of the greatest monologues ever about how she found out that there was no Santa Claus. The only issue that I have with this movie is if you can't shine bright lights on them or get them wet, what fun are they as pets? Also, can you only not feed them after midnight in the central standard or do they just magically know what timezone they're in..? Whatever, in any case, they're ADORABLE.


So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, kids. Enjoy all the merry-making! Just be sure to lock your doors and double pump your shotguns just in case Santa comes to town. Ho, ho, ho!

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Here are two of my favorite things at Capogiro that I think may help warm you up this holiday season. First an affogato, or a scoop of gelato and a single shot of espresso...

This one's got Hazelnut gelato in it and it was AMAZING. Secondly, you could try Mexican Chocolate gelato who's warm spiciness should find warm you up just nicely.

Merry Christmas from 13th street!!

Panna Tutorial

OK, everyone, let's get this straight. There are three kinds of pannas:


1. panna

The classic and original whipped heavy cream, sweetened ever so slightly and dispensed most angelically onto your gelato or hot chocolate.


2. Aqua Panna

Brisk, refreshing bottled flat water from the fine people of San Pelligrino.


3. panna-andas

Endangered Brazilian creatures, written originally about here, whose biological mass is composed entirely of panna (fig.1). Recent research has revealed that panna-andas have mean fathers and most have a serious gambling problem.

Now that that's straightened out: back to panna business.

After holiday party...

Possible hangover cures include, but are not limited to; hairs of the dog, Bloody Marys, LOTS OF WATER, deep fried canaries (oh, you crazy Romans), Vitamin C, Vitamin E, exercise, buttermilk, egg sandwiches, tonic water, tripe (ew), tomato juice, hot showers, PBR!, boiled cabbage, Vegemite on toast, and/or tons of sleep.

What's your favorite cure, Capo kids? I know I wasn't the only one feeling it on Tuesday morning!

Oh, Holiday Revelry!

This week was our annual holiday party. It was interesting. I loved the mode of dress and admired the fancy sweaters. Take a look.

Adrienne looks so happy wearing her circa 1988 "Dear Santa Dear Santa Sweater" complete with shiny Christmas Tree and a nipple bow. Sweet Alex borrowed one of Adrienne's many Christmas sweaters and Nelson was sporting a fancy dark green sweater with bonus present embroidery on the back shoulder! Like a tattoo! 13th Street really represented this year. I expect the rest of y'all to step it up next year.

We had our annual gift exchange. The rules being that you spend $10, wrap and put it on the table. Everyone just swaps. Miles was a winner with his Snuggy, snugglie? Only $10?!?! What a steal!

The biggest loser had to be Jay who, coincidentally received Miles' gift of dried pasta, Rolos and bandaids. I know, gross. I wish you could have seen poor Jay's face. He was heartbroken. Miles kept repeating, "There is 10 dollars worth of stuff in there!" I am sure, in fact positive, that that did not really soothe Jay's devastation. He could have used a picture of Ezra! Look how happy she is! I don't know about you, but a picture of Ezra for $10!?! Ezra, don't sell yourself so cheaply!!

Sarah did an incredible job. She arranged for tamales, tacos and chips and warm spiked cider. Irlanda and Mago made incredible guacamole (best ever! and we had Dante tearing through the place. It was awesome!) and this shrimp salsa thing that was incredible. John after sampling both, opined that our next project should be a Mexican place. Jay made some weird gin concoctions and I heard that after I left some keg stands were attempted. Oh you kids!

The best part of the evening is that some old Capogirians stopped by. Patrick was there! He now is working out in the burbs selling food with judgment and Emily stopped in. Beth finally came back from Germany! We missed you Beth!! We got to wish Christian the best and Chris is off with his most talented wife to Spain. We will miss y'all horribly.

It was a wonderful evening. John and I cannot imagine doing this crazy business without the great personalities that work to make Capogiro what it is. With four cafes we cannot always get to know everyone as well as we want to and last night was incredibly rewarding to be able to talk and find out what y'all's hope and dreams may be. That, or if you are a fun or sloppy drunk. All good. All great.

Thank you.

You mean to tell me there's fruit at Capogiro?

Yes!

Capogiro will be selling fresh fruits for you to nom on! They come in a couple of ways:

CUT! $3 for a big 'ol cup of freshly cut fruit.

Or, WHOLE! $.75 for a piece of fruit.

I hear what you're saying, "But just fruit won't fill me up!" And I hate to be your mother about this, but guess I'm gonna have to walk you through it.

To go with the fruit we've got yogurt, granola, panini, and of 

course, gelato. So yes,you can eat healthy and have it fill you up. Well, what are you waiting for? 

Breakfast (and lunch too) is served!

Italy #3 Slimmest Nation in Europe

Yeah, that's right: Italy. Pasta, cheese, cured meats and GELATO galore, but still basically tied with Norway and Sweden as third least-fat nation in Europe. The Swiss are ranked #2 behind Romania (are they all gymnasts, or something?), but I think they cheated.

Topping the not so slim list are the UK, Ireland and Malta. Really? Malta? As it turns out, due to the enduring popularity of the Dashiell Hammett's book "The Maltese Falcon", the inhabitants of Malta have made a habit of snacking on creme-filled chocolate Maltese Falcons. The kicker is that THE CANDIES ARE SCALE REPLICAS OF THE MOVIE PROP! Insane.

So this blog post goes out to all you ladies and gents who are worried about their gelato consumption ruining their carefully honed phsyiques. Don't worry, people: the sveltest people of Europe gobble the stuff with impunity and suffer no ill effect.

How? Why? Because gelato is magic, duh.

It's cold. Solution: EAT MORE GELATO!

It's true, nothing combats a stinging, arctic chill better than a delicious frozen treat. Much like how eating spicy food on a hot day makes you sweat and cools you down, the best remedy to beat the cold is with a cup of yummy gelato! I tried this theory out today at 20th Street. After coming into the store after a long wintry walk, I felt like my fingers were going to break off of my hands like little fleshy icicles. Although every instinct in my body said to head straight for the hot coffee and warm embrace of steamy soup, I opted instead for a giant bite of Irish coffee gelato. As my insides started to feel as cold as my outsides, I began to shiver uncontrollably. This resulted in an immediate burst of heat from all the tiny muscle spasms, and voila! - I was warm.

Try it out for yourselves, folks! This tactic worked so well that I'm thinking about jumping into a frozen lake the next time I feel a little chilly. No pain, no gain!

Coming soon, salmon gelato! (Just kidding, that would be disgusting).

Dogs love gelato too!

Pre-gelato.
Gelato!
Post gelato.
What's the lesson here? Occasionally it's nice to treat your pup to some Fior di Latte. Just sayin.

Happy Holidays from 13th Street

Dear Philadelphia, the artisans at Capogiro 13th would like to send you all the warmest greetings this holiday season. And what's the best way to warm up at Capogiro? With a Hot Chocolate!!

Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom...

But what to go with our rich and delicious Hot Chocolate? Ooo ooo, a hand-made Candy Cane!!

Mmmmmmm...

Or, a locally baked spicy vegan Crumpkin with Cream Cheese!!

Yyyyyuuuuuummmmm...

Ok, but maybe some savory Sea Salt Caramels!!

It's too hard to choose y'all. I guess you'll just have to come and make up your own mind. :)

The wonders of new life.

In case you haven't heard, NASA recently announced that they had found a completely unprecedented bacterial life form in a California lake which uses arsenic rather than carbon to form its genetic building blocks. The implications are mind-boggling. Not only does this discovery change the way that terrestrial science will examine biology henceforth, but it also means that our search for alien life has also broadened enormously. The possibilities of alternate biologies based not only on carbon, but also numerous other possible elements, gives scientists and optimists worldwide great hope of possibly discovering E.T.s in our lifetimes.


Mono Lake, home to the newly discovered life form
It's unfortunate that this announcement coincided perfectly with the less-heralded press release from a small group of scientists studying deep in the heart of the jungles of Brazil which stated that they had found a new form of the Ailuropoda melanoleuca, better known as the great panda, a life form that had hitherto only been observed in Asia. This new panda is also unlike anything science has ever seen: the creature's biological components are composed entirely of whipped heavy cream. The beast was quickly dubbed the "panna-anda" and driven nearly to extinction by the very scientists who discovered it, as they quickly determined that morsels of the bear tasted great atop their hot chocolates and gelato treats. Fortunately, a radical group of environmentalists were able to rescue and protect a small pack of panna-andas, and with the help of a team Chinese panda specialists, they believe that they will be able to bring the panna-andas back from the brink of disaster. Until the panna-andas are once again thriving, we suggest that you show solidarity for their cause by enjoying only the finest in non-panda derived whipped cream, as found at our fine cafes.


A panna-anda slowly splits in two after falling asleep in a tree.

It's cold up in this (Ritten)house!

Brr... Winter is definitely grasping at us with its icy hands, smacking our faces with tendrils of stinging cold rain. Why not come inside 20th Street for a warm up? Our favorite winter treat is the Ciocccolato Caldo con Panna, or Italian Hot Chocolate as we like to call it.

Throughout Europe, particularly Spain and Italy, hot chocolate is served much thicker that the wimpy hot chocolate of the US. Here at Capogiro, you can have it either way, but we insist that you at least try the Cioccolato Caldo. Made with milk, cocoa, and sugar, (plus a magical secret ingredient), Italian Hot Chocolate is a sipping chocolate, and is best when enjoyed with a delicious side of fresh whipped cream...

Caitlin prepares a bubbling pot of Cioccolato Caldo

So come, impress your date by ordering a tasty beverage outside the status quo, and get your drink on. Be warned though, Cioccolato Caldo is served incredibly hot, so make sure you don't look like a jackass and burn the roof of your mouth, m'kay..?

Oh, I Guess It's The Holidays Now

Happy Holidays, everyone! Or if you celebrate nothing, happy. . . cold and flu season?! Either way, have we got some treats for you this season!

Here at 13th street, we've been eagerly awaiting the fabulous winter flavors for weeks now. I don't need to tell you about them, you know what they are. And to our delight, a few FAVORITES started rolling in over the weekend:

Who can say no to fresh, local Mint gelato? Not me.

And probably the most popular this weekend, Sweet Potato Pecan Praline gelato!

Y'all better get in here, these samples aren't gonna eat themselves.

Turkey hangover: it's bad.

Thanksgiving is without a doubt one of my favorite holidays. Scads of home-cooked food and specialty dishes you have only once a year? Check. Fine drink for all to share, be it warm cider or cold white wine? Check. Seasonal family time without the obligation of buying presents for everyone, including Aunt Chelsea? Check. There's really only one problem with the holiday, that feeling of sadness as you nibble on that last piece of pie crust, washing it down with some hot coffee: you know that you aren't going to have that enjoyable feeling of perfectly balanced satisfaction again until next fall.

While we might not be able to rival your mom's secret stuffing recipe, we here at Capogiro welcome the latter portion of the fall season with open arms, and are more than happy to replicate that post-Thanksgiving pleasure buzz that we all enjoyed yesterday. Our hot chocolate is a divine treat on a cool fall's eve, and the house specialty Italian hot chocolate, a richer, hotter, and thicker version of the classic, is attaining a well-earned legendary status. Our coffee, brewed with artisinal skill by our baristi and roasted at Philly's own La Colombe, is a perfect pairing with our gelato (perhaps in an affogato) or light and crispy baked goods from Au Fournil. Heck, we even have a turkey and apple panini, the two ingredients snuggled comfortably between a light and crispy ciabatta roll along with local greens and a light olive oil dressing.

Even though the students are gone until Monday, you will find us opens through Sunday from 11AM-11PM. Pop in and warm up with Capo!

Citrus Season Sneak Preview

Ah, fall is in full effect. Heck, I'd even venture to say winter is on it's way. With this comes awesome flavors. Sure, you've seen pomegranate, in all its glory, and you are seeing tangerines, which are only the tip of the iceberg for citrus season... Wanna sneak a peek at what's to come?

Seville oranges. These little firecrackers are an explosion of sour! It's like an orange Sour Patch Kid times 50.

Cara Cara oranges are sweet, and have a mix of orange and red flesh. These are my personal favorite, and always mix well with your favorite gelato. When they come around, try it with Thai Coconut for a real treat.

Everyone's fave Moro will be back more towards winter. Blood oranges, appropriately named for their red hue, are one of our staple late fall/winter flavors. Sweet and tasty, and if you've never had it, you NEED to try it. Trying it at any other shop does it no justice. It should NEVER be fluorescent red-orange.

Lastly, clementines. These cute lil' guys are super duper sweet and tasty. Mix em with our Fior di Latte gelato for a throwback flavor much like a creamsicle!

There are tons more flavors to blog about, but you'll just have to wait and see.


By RyRu

Don't Forget About The Standards

With all the hype we give to the seasonal favorites on this blog (pumpkin, pomegranate, and blood orange to name a few), we must not forget the standards. The mega delicious flavors each store will have a least a few times a week, all year long. My favorite standards? Well, funny you should ask. I've got two flavors that I can just never get enough of:

Stracciatella, of course!

And Dulce De Leche comes a close second!

What are your favorite standards? Let us know in the comments!

Frappa-what-o?

Everyone in West Philadelphia surely knows that our world-famous gelato is the best not only in the neighborhood, but in town. Luckily for you all, CapoPenn is also home to the finest espresso drinks, vendor of the most fantastic bagels, hailing from H&H in NYC of course, and purveyor of top-notch beers, wines, and expertly-crafted cocktails, all of which feature local ingredients. Today, however, I want to focus on one of the unsung heroes on the Capogiro menu: the frappé, a simple yet divine concoction.

The recipe for our frappés is quite basic: two scoops of your choice of gelato or sorbetto, milk or soy, followed by a healthy whirl from our lovely fraperator. It sounds deceptively simple, but in reality, the outcome is a subtle and gorgeous beast. Pairing our gelato flavors in a cup or cone is one thing... blending them together into a heavenly, rich puree is something altogether sublime. I am currently personally really into our neck pumpkin gelato, aka zucca, joined together with the timeless, peerless Thai coconut milk, a blend that was originally created as a joke "curry frappé" but ended up being absolutely delicious. Our barista Miles also has a knack for creating frappés with less traditional ingredients, such as the Owl Shriek, which combines kiwi and lime sorbetto with our excellent Two Leaves and a Bud iced green tea. The resultant frappé is light, brisk, and more refreshing than the sum of its parts. If you ever see Miles behind the case, I highly suggest asking him for his daily frappé suggestion. You will not be steered wrong.

The best part about our frappés, in my humble opinion, is that we can add shots of La Colome espresso for an added kick, or if you're in more of a rowdy mood, something from our well-stocked bar. A fior di latte frappé blended with two shots of espresso is a pick-me-up that none of our competition can ever hope to even come CLOSE to competing with, while a cinnamon and Irish coffee frappé with an added shot of Powers vodka will knock the chill out of your chest right quick.

Frappés: the unsung heroes of our little gelato universe. Come in and ask for one today!

Pomegranate: A Legend of Yore

Well chaps, it's your lucky day! Today marks the beginning of pomegranate season, woohoo! Pomegranates have been all the rage recently, what with all their magical cancer fighting, blood pressure lowering, heart disease whomping abilities. When I first think of pomegranates, however, I personally am reminded of one of my favorite mythic tales. Ahem...

Persephone was an idiot. Her mother, Demeter, who was the goddess of the harvest, had kept her hidden and safe from all the other debaucherous, rapey Greek gods her whole life. Then one day, as she was sitting idly in the forest, twisting dandelions into a giant hammock, Persephone was snatched up by mean ol' Hades and dragged down into the Hellmouth. (He'd had a thing for her since sophmore year.)

Mama Demeter was soooooo sad. She was so sad that she up and quit her job, which was making things grow. Well, you can guess what happened. All the plants died, then the animals that ate the plants starting dying, and the people who eat the plants and animals were screwed and starving. Bad scene all around.

Meanwhile, back in Underworld, Persephone is getting pretty hungry too. Trouble is that long ago, the Fates decided that you could get a 'get-out-of-Hades-free card', just so long as you didn't eat anything. So Persephone is kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place, as she would like to get back to being totally useless back on Earth.

Well, Hades wants to keep Persephone in the Underworld forever, so he hatches a plan. He knows that Persephone is dumb as a box of hammers, so he tricks her into eating six pomegranate seeds. He does this by telling her that they aren't really food yet, since they're just seeds. Plus, he adds that they are low-carb and a good source of antioxidants. Persephone takes the bait and bam, it's Hellsville for good.

Up top, things are going from bad to worse. People are resorting to cannibalism. It's chaos. Deadbeat Dad, Zeus, sees what's going on and begs Demeter to get back to work. Demeter refuses, she won't make things grow without her beloved daughter.

Zeus decides to make an executive decision, and makes a deal with the Fates. Now Persephone is allowed to come back, but she must spend six months of the year with dirty Hades in Hell, one month for each pomegranate seed she ate. Now to this day, Mama Demeter is happy and makes things grow so we humans won't eat each other for six months out of the year, and for the other six she's real sad and just sits around watching the Golden Girls.

Fin.

Pomegranate Sorbetto

Befriending A Gastropod Can Make Your Day!

Once upon a sunny August afternoon, a dear friend introduced me to Marcel. I don't want to spoil his debut into your world, because he'll rock it just fine on his own, but he certainly deserves a little background, and you deserve a few easy justifications for viewing and reviewing his masterpiece for days on end. Marcel is a sweet, spunky, generally soft-spoken, magic-worker... and by magic-worker I mean laugh-generator and occasional (happy/gleeful) tear inducer. He's honest, gracious, sometimes sassy, and always adorable.

If you're human, and not a total scrooge, you've probably experienced something simple and small cheering you up quite a bit more than expected. You can trust that meeting Marcel will likely result in similar feelings, and may in fact turn your day around. Not a 360, more like a 180, unless your day was already awesome, in which case a 360 would be preferable. Everyone deserves an extra chance to smile each day, so to anyone and everyone , I bring you, Marcel! Enjoy :)



Here's the link jusssssst in case a llama gets your good thumb and you can't click on the video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU&feature=related

Philly Homegrown Tour

So by now you're all well versed in our devotion and love for our local purveyors. The good news is, you're not the only ones! With food savvy awareness becoming more chic than ever, our longtime loves over at City Food Tours have debuted the Philly Homegrown tour. It's a two-hour walking tour that stops at some of our favorite spots including the Fair Food Farmstand, Salumeria, Tweed and our 13th Street location. The tour will run three consecutive Saturdays (November 27, December 11 and December 18) from 3-5pm. Come see us! To make reservations for the tour, you can go to City Food Tour's website or call them at 800.979.3370! We're stoked. You should be too.

Preludes and Piercings

Loki Gunderson was a dinosaur. A toy stegosaurus to be precise. After being crafted by some lovely Chinese people, he was sent across the ocean with hopes of a bright future. He was purchased from a little shop in Philadelphia a few months later when the kids at Capogiro needed a new plaything. That's when things started to get a bit dodgy..

Loki arrived to his new home with joy. Looking around him, all he could see what sweet treats, yummy gelato, and smiling faces. The sweet aroma of espresso and coffee swirled around him. Everything seemed great with the world, until he was taken into a small, cold back room. Once there, the Capo kids treated him with no mercy.

They first shoved an Exacto blade through the roof of his mouth. Could he have, Loki would've screamed in protest. The soulless kids then pierced him with a ring, attached to which was a shiny silver key. Loki thought the worst was over, until he realized why he had been taken to this new home. Day after day, he would be dragged by customers to the water closet, where he was forced to witness them do unspeakable acts.

One day in November, Loki decided he'd had enough. When the kids were distracted, he took the opportunity to get the attention of a small child and give him his best puppy dog eyes, pleading silently to be rescued from his bondage. The child took the bait, snatched the dinosaur up with sticky, Scuro-covered hands, and marched him out the front door. At last, thought Loki, freedom!!!

He managed to remain unseen for a few blocks, as the child carried him nonchalantly while trotting alongside his mother. When they rounded the corner of 18th and Walnut, however, the child lost all interest in the small dinosaur, as he was distracted by something shiny. The child dropped Loki onto the hard cement, and he and his mother wandered off. A skinny hipster with a chip on his shoulder walked by a few minutes later, and kicked Loki nice and hard, sending him sailing into the park. Hipsters are known to be dinosaur haters.

Loki landed with a thud, and took a second to collect himself. He stared around into the vast forest that lay ahead of him. Filled with trees and benches and bustling with people, Loki thought he had finally found the promised land. That is, until night fell..

NEXT CHAPTER - 'Jurassic Park: Brave New World of Crackheads and Folk Singers'

Sweet Potato with Pecan Praline gelato

OMG, it's here!!

The store fronts along Walnut and Market streets began decorating for the holidays the second all the Halloween candy ran out, but I never begin to get that warm holiday-season-y tingle until we start serving our Sweet Potato with Pecan Praline gelato, and yesterday, I got that tingle... It's back y'all!!

The only other advice I might offer, after "sampling" the Sweet Potato all day yesterday, would be to try it with Gianduia. That's chocolate with hazelnuts, if you didn't know. They pair tremendously!!

And remember, you can always check our "Daily Flavor list" to see which stores have which flavors each day.