Our New Favorite.

So we were at the latest Night Market last night in South Philly. Best crowd yet! Tons of fun as always. And we met Alex, the awesome lil guy in the picture. He's our new favorite, and his new favorite is our Madagascar Bourbon Vanila gelato. Next Night Market should be in Mount Airy, last Thursday in July. You gonna come out? We'll be there!

Meet Sarah Reyes

Sarah is our newest barista here at 20th Street. She is very pleasant and wonderful to work with. Sarah is the younger sister of our wholesale queen, Amanda, and equally as awesome. I'm pretty sure that they both were born in a land of rainbows and grew up riding winged unicorns. I learned a fun fact about Sarah today, that she used to be a professional bar mitzvah dancer. Apparently she and her sister were hired to liven up parties. I can see why they would be ringers for such soirees, Sarah definitely makes our customers smile with her charm and positive vibe. Welcome aboard! Feel free to come down and heckle her at any time. She may even show you how to do the electric slide. Mazel!

BBQ time!!

It really feels like summer now, I suppose it has for a little while but this weekend we picked up a grill for my house and nothing says summer like BBQ.  You know you don't want to cook anything in the house when you have the A/C cranked up trying to fight the heat in an upper floor apartment in the city.  Since the rain on Friday the weather has been amazing and it's perfect for firing up a charcoal grill (sorry Hank but I have to disagree with you about the propane) and making burgers, sausage, and kebabs.  And of course having a whole pint of lemon opal basil sorbetti all to myself.  Just like the rest of the year my favorite thing about summer revolves around the foods of the season.  I'm sure others will agree with me.




I have to agree with bobby about the smokey flavor.

They eat brains, don't they?

All this talk of a zombie apocalypse - phooey!

But it's raining again in south Philly and now I'm not so sure...

Yes, we know, it's hot. Why not make a homemade Slip 'n Slide?

Step 1: Find a decent hill that doesn't end with a highway or a brick wall.

Step 2: Get a bunch of big black trash bags and/or tarps, and duct tape them together until you have the desired length of slide. Position on hillside.

Step 3: Pour soapy water down the slide to get it all sudsy. Baby oil works better but is harder to clean.

Step 4: Drink copious amounts of alcohol. This helps get rid of the self-awareness that you might actually get hurt.

Step 5: Launch yourself hurdling down the slide at high speeds, hope to avoid concussion.

The heat is on it's way

I hope everyone is prepared to sweat it out in the heat or hide in their comfy A/C because the rest of this week is supposed to be crazy hot.

Don't forget the rules of the heat.

Stock up on pints of your favorite sorbetti and gelato (come early and beat the crazy lines....they will be crazy.
Don't forget to carry lots of water AND drink it. 
Make sure your pets have lots of water to drink and some circulating air to keep them cool when you leave them alone. 
Don't leave your pets or small children in the car in the heat.   Seriously.  (ಠ_ಠ )
If you see a sprinkler on then you are obligated to run through it like you are twelve and enjoy it.

Take a walk on the wild side ; )

Hey, I'm not complaining. Really though, he's on absolutely every station we put on (Pavement, Talking Heads, The Replacements, Madonna??).. it's getting pretty eerie.

Waste of a good berry.

Clearly the archetypal delivery method for blueberries has to be the muffin, right? Lame. Lame! All that those berries are accomplishing is helping you rationalize what is otherwise an enormous engorgement of sugar and butter. Are you one of those people that has a muffin-a-day habit? Please tell me you're not combining it with some frappa-caramel-latte-ccino-mocha-with-sugar-free-syrup-and-half-a-packet-of-Equal-but-make-it-with-skim-milk-so-I-can-have-whipped-cream-too nonsense. I think WAY too highly of you to accept that as truth. Seriously.

Because good blueberries are so fleeting! They just showed up in our stores, and I canNOT express to you how excited we are. I mean, yeah--we definitely get giddy about blood oranges in the winter. And of course strawberries. But those seem kind of predictable, don't you think? Maybe I'm just being cynical--and don't get me wrong, I do love me some strawberry sorbetto--but blueberries are so easily co-opted and processed and finagled into shelf-stable jellies and freezer-ready slurries and pie filling...this is me getting on my "eat what's in season!" high horse again. (What's the difference between blueberry jelly and pie filling anyway?!)

And honestly, Blueberry+Bluecoat sorbetto? Just so good. So good! Blueberries and gin! Weird that I like it so much, given that I'll need you to remember when you're making my martini that I want it as dry and dirty as a Jersey shore back bay that even the crabs won't hang out in.

So listen, quit munging up a perfectly awesome blueberry by swathing it in all kinds of carbohydrates and fats and shenanigans that are just going to make you feel guilty. You don't have to feel guilty about your blueberry fixation! Now's the time for blueberry gelato, but it won't be around forever. Gotta make room for the raspberries! (not a song about blueberries at all)

Dads are insufferably hard to shop for.

I know I wasn't the best daughter (see my Mother's Day post), but I've always had a soft spot for my dear old Dad. I tried, and failed, every year to buy him gifts that he would use, or at least appreciate. It took me about twelve years to notice that my father never wore the ties or cologne that I bought for him at the local gas station, so I started buying gigantic bags of pistachios instead. We bought him pound after pound of pistachios.This was all well and good until my father had to be hospitalized for a severe allergic reaction to pistachios, and my brother and I were once more at a loss for what to get him. We tried the gift certificate route, but somehow showing our love through Bloomin' Onions at the Outback Steakhouse somehow lacked that emotional integrity we were aiming for. It took several Father's Days, birthdays, and Christmases to realize that there actually was in fact, nothing that we could get our dad that would equate to a good gift.

Which brings me to my point. Don't get your dad anything; take something from his past and make it cool again.  My favorite leather jacket was something that I stole from my dad. It's this sweet burnt orange motorcycle jacket from the 70's, and it was just gathering dust in his closet. I now wear it all the time. He got a great chuckle when I unearthed it from the closet and said how rad it was. Dad's were the original hipsters after all. My first pair of tinted aviator sunglasses were also something that I "liberated" from my father. When I asked if I could have them, he laughed and said sure, amused that what once was cool to him had come full circle to my generation.By taking vintage things away from your father, you are giving his life validity and a sense of hipness that he probably did not get to experience enough in his youth. There, aren't you a good daughter?!

You could also buy him gelato. Just no pistachio, please.

Father's Day is coming!

Father's Day is coming up this weekend and what better way to tell your dear old Dad you love him than taking him out for a tasty, frozen treat.  Better yet get him a few pints of his favorite flavors, surprise him, and he can enjoy them for the few days they will last him (my Dad was an avid midnight-snacker so treats disappeared rather quickly and without a trace).

We have finally seen some blueberries at 13th and they are more delicious than I remember.  Whether you like them in sorbetto or gelato they are always good and will absolutely leave a smile on you and your pops faces.  I also saw some Lychee come off the truck today and whether you are familiar with the strange leathery, reddish, lizard skinned fruit with the sweet, tender, white flesh inside you should come by and try it this week. (I hope that wasn't too many adjectives, I feel like my high school English teacher might scold me for that sentence.)

Lychee

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad's out there!!

It's strollin' weather!

Hey, where do you live? Do you find yourself frustrated sometimes that you don't have a Capogiro close enough to you to really attend to your needs? Because we're the kind of folk who LISTEN. And who like to mill about the city looking for people to whom we might hand gelato, so if you're way out there by the Delaware River (I'm a West Philly guy, remember) we're in your neighborhood Friday evenings!

And like I've said before, we're always where the cool things are happening. And we knew pretty instantly that The New Market was going to be cool. Remember how a long time ago people would make useful, excellent things and then gather together to offer them to the community around them? THAT'S what The New Market is all about. Not big-box stores. Not importer-exporter-wholesalers-distributors. Local businesses selling to local people, ideally outside in nice weather (or not so nice weather, so consider yourself briefed--this is a rain-or-shine kinda thing).

Expanding on what is one of the longest continuously operating outdoor farmers' markets in the country, The New Market is settling in at The Headhouse Square Shambles on 2nd Street between Pine and Lombard on Fridays. That picture up there? It's from right around where we're talking, believe it or not. It's definitely a revival of an old market tradition in that part of town, which might be my favorite part about the whole thing. I dig Philly's age.

And while we sure do love doing food-centric events, these are a little different.There are definitely some awesome comestibles on offer (hey Philly Love Bar, you know we <3 the stuffing out of you!), but it's about so much more than food. To be honest, if you attempted to gnaw on one of the Philly Roller Girls, the consequences would probably be dire. Urban garden designers, furniture made from reclaimed materials, professional photographers...honestly, it really is the kind of perfect outdoor market to stroll through on a gorgeous early summer evening--soundtracked by live classical music!

For our part, we've decided to bring as much as we can of what you love about Capogiro every week. Not only are we doing our best, freshest seasonal flavors (you're going to have to stop by to find out what we're scooping any given week), but we can pack a pint (or three) for you to stash away in your freezer or stack a cone to keep a hand free for your dog's leash while you walk. And while The Market is definitely about the old-school way of doing things, we DO like us some technology...so we can handle your credit card if you're feeling cash-averse.

So! Queen Village, Society Hill...it's your turn. The New Market runs most every Friday from 5pm to 9pm, rain or shine, and is dog and kid-friendly. And remember! No gnawing on the Roller Girls.

Shack Attack

 photo: Caitlin Welge

Welcome to the neighborhood, Shake Shack! We have been watching closely as this NYC-based establishment took over the retail spaces caddy corner to 20th Street. A few months ago they demolished the old and got to work redoing all of the interior and exterior across the street. Last night was their soft opening, with Mayor Michael Nutter doing the ribbon-cutting honors, and at 8:30 this morning folks started lining up for the 11AM grand opening. We are glad to welcome them to Philadelphia, as well as to our corner of Rittenhouse. Capogiro is a popular date night destination, and most of our nighttime customers have just finished eating at any of the various delicious dining options in the area like Tinto, the Village Whiskey, or Melograno. We are excited to share this symbiosis with the folks at Shake Shack as well. One tip for those of you headed out to try their burgers, the line is currently around the block so you might want to grab your gelato first to make your waiting time oh so much more delicious.

It's June already?

It seems like this year is slipping past very quickly.  We're already nearing the halfway point.  Apart from that heat wave last week it seems like we're having a slightly more mellow summer than last year which is awesome.  My third floor apartment was like an oven last year and this milder weather is great.  I'm sure we'll have our hot days and I know we still have the rest of the summer for the temperature to spike but I'll worry about that when it happens.
 

I rode my bike down to Lowe's the other day to pick up some random items for home and on the way the sweet smell of honey-suckle flowers drifted my way.  That same day when I got into the shop I was pleased to find that we had been delivered a whole supply of honey-suckle for Gelato!  I LOVE honeysuckle.  The neighborhood I grew up in had wild honey suckle all over the place so it's one of those smells I immediately associate with summer and home (which is not far away in Jersey).  I'm really excited and can't wait to have some of that sweet, delicious flowery goodness. 

And finally I'm preparing myself to hide out at 20th street and ride out the zombie apocalypse.  After the stories I read in the news this week it sounds like we have seen the very beginning.  Luckily it seems that so far all the infected have been contained.  But jeez can you believe that stuff?  Stay safe and watch your back.  You never know if the guy standing behind you in the elevator is going to try to take a bite out of you.