Further adventures in fruit!

So, you know. There's us. We go to great lengths to make sorbetto and gelato out of the more obscure fruits out there, like rambutan and cherimoya. I gotta tell ya though...mamey sapote, like we have in now? Ranging pretty far afield, for sure. Here's what they look like!

Indigenous to southern Mexico, they've been transplanted all over the tropics of the western hemisphere. Some people say they're a little sandpapery on the outside, I think they're more like coconuts with a shave. That's just me though, and I'm not the guy to ask for shaving tips.

What do they taste like (assuming you haven't been in yet to taste them in frozen form)? They're...hm. Tough to explain, they've definitely got their own thing going on. Definitely complex. There's for sure some apricot in there, but in terms of fruit I get (this is just me) some mango and papaya. But then you've got some chocolate in there, and some almond/nuttiness going on...Yeah. Complex. You'll just have to come in to taste it and then tell US what you think it tastes like. The texture though, before we get our hands on it and magic it into a frozen delight? Custardy and smooth...a little like avocado, but a little more fibrous in a good way.

This is an old, old fruit. People have been making ice cream out of them for a long time, so it's a natural for us. But also milkshakes and smoothies, so we'll make you an awesome frappe with them (maybe with a shot of rum? Or tequila? HmmmmmmMMMMM? BRB, spiked frappe).

And the mangoes are back and growing strong, and I know how much you love them. Would mamey sapote and mangoes make a good combination? Why I think they would be quite nice together, yes. Of course, you'd need to strike that lucky, lucky day when one of our stores has them both on hand...which shouldn't be all that hard to do. You...y'all do know how easy it is to track what flavors we all have in our stores on any given day, right? Just head to our website, we update it every day. So now you know!

And all in all, even if the weather STILL ISN'T WHAT IT SHOULD BE (it's true, I'm starting to get a little nutsy about it), we can pretend. Tropical fruits, drinks with rum in them, hot-weather music...yeah. We're gonna get there, people!

A Goodbye from Ryan...

I never thought that this day would come, where I would have to say goodbye to a place that means so much to me. After five? (you lose track of time when you are someplace for so long) years, I'm finally prepared to embark on the next part of my life.

I came to Capo with no experience in the food industry, and no idea what I was doing. I was 19, in school, still green. I just moved off campus half a year earlier, and thought I was ready to take on the world headfirst. Boy, was I wrong. But regardless of that, Capogiro took me in, gave me a family away from home, and filled my life with some of the best people I have ever met. This stands true behind the counter, as well as our customers.

Over the years, I have switched stores, boyfriends, hair colors, styles, customers, managers, and anything else you can think of. If you have known me from the start, then you got to see firsthand my process of growing up. Words cannot express the gratitude I have towards Capo for aiding me in the process. Who would think that a job would be so much a part of one's life?

I'm going to try and keep this brief, but understand that there are so many people to thank and give love to.

Sarah - Oh Sarah, you know more than anyone else this process and I thank you so much for putting up with me and pushing me in positive directions in my life. Whenever I had a trying time and needed advice, you were there. I remember our closes at 13th Street, and it's strange to think how much we have both grown since then. I love you, but I'm sure that that is understood.

John and Steph - Thank you for taking a chance on me, and giving me opportunity to grow. All of the experience that I gained through this company has really shaped me into the person I am today, and has set me up for a pretty awesome future. You didn't need to do that for me, but you did, and I can't say how much I appreciate it.

Tandy! - You might not be here anymore, but your legacy is still strong! Thank you for putting up with all my whining, and reminding me to slow down when necessary. I learned a lot about managing from you, and hey, I got a manager position elsewhere, so you must have done something right!

20th Street Staff - Blah, I don't wanna get too mushy here but you guys are my family. I want the best for all of you, and I know that I will still see you all. Please continue to be the most awesome store ( sorry 13th, 40th, and Passyunk, I'm biased ) and know that I'm there if you need me.

To all of my regulars throughout the years, THANK YOU! Espresso John from 13th, Linda, Bill, Charles the Granita Guy, Sid, Josie, David/Henry/Jen, Martha, Ernesto, the Italian couple who put up with my awful cappuccinos for a year straight and never complained, Fergie, everybody under the sun ( I forgot a lot of people, forgive me ). You all made work worth coming to. Sincerely. Leave me notes at 20th and I'll pick them up and respond!

It is rare in life that you get to work at a place you love, and that you leave with the same amount of love as when you came in. Thank you for that Capogiro, and I look forward to seeing you on the other side of the counter for a change.

Aloha!

I am sorry to have lied to you in my previous post.  After all of the miserable snow and rain that we experienced since that horribly untruthful post, I know for certain now that Spring isn’t even real and is probably never going to come.  Just kidding, that was the last snowstorm ever, hopefully.  It definitely looks like Springtime in the gelato case, which was full of Mango and Avocado all weekend, so the warm weather has to be coming extremely soon or the Avocados and Mangoes will be sad.  No one wants that.  

Oh, by the way, some of our Mangoes and Avocados seem to have escaped from the kitchen.... We got this postcard a few days ago...

I really hope spring comes before the blood oranges make for Hawaii too...

<3 TORI

Pope Francis says relax & have an espresso

Sure, all the wind-kissed faces on E.Passyunk of late have been imparting to me "Oh, it's too cold for gelato" such and such. A single tear rolls down a cheek as eyes glance up toward our list of flavors. I'll then witness the tundra clad patrons sneak a peek or three at our Cadillac of an espresso machine. The Victoria Arduino Venus Century is literally one in a hundred and deserves to be gawked at. Have you heard the Pope has the first in the edition? It must be a mighty fine day when you are granted the hat of the papacy. So along with being the head of church and monarchy affair, he gets to use this puppy, in fact. So please, don't fret, South Philly - the shots are a-flowin' and the temperature in CapoYunk is fine (a warm 22°C [72°F]) Cheers!

Want a lick? SIKE.

Listen, I'm not the world's biggest basketball fan--today's obviously the first day of the NCAA Men's tournament (mega-ultra-snnnnnnzzzzzzzkkkkk-yawn) and I won't really pay any attention to the NBA until the playoffs start in another couple of weeks (although...man. LeBron James. He might really be that good, huh?). But this...this is pretty great:

The telestration and play-by-play is in itself seriously funny, and the throwback to Eddie Murphy at the end is just the panna on top of an awesome bit of improv (I hope you get the reference--we're a family blog, and Eddie's bit is predictably a bit too raw to post here).

But this guy. THIS GUY. Have to admire him. I mean, that's a high-risk maneuver right there. "Ennnnnhhhhhh here you goNOPE." His girl's reaction? Chock full of "NO YOU DID NOT JUST." But can you blame him? Can you imagine if he had a big ol' cone of our mint stracciatella instead of that weirdly, unnaturally green, sub-par "mint chip" nonsense? (Let's be honest, the food at stadiums isn't ever that great.) At the risk of mixing sports, I dare say he might have given her a stiffarm to the grill to protect his scoops from her wee spoon.

But of course he ends up sharing. Of course! Because in the end, he's a nice guy. Though if it were me, I wouldn't share unless I was working on a pint of gelato. Alright. Maybe a grande. But less than that? A medio isn't family style dining. Know what I mean?


It's gonna get warm soon, right? And then we can all go outside and play?

Spring has sprung.

So I'm calling it. It's officially spring. I don't care what the weather channel says, it's spring now. Would you like to know why I am so certain? I would love to tell you! Let us start with our flavors.

We have champagne mango sorbetto. If you haven't tried it yet, something in your life is wrong.

Our local farmers have given us delicious basil. One of the most refreshing flavors we have is our lemon basil sorbetto. In addition to these we have pineapple mint, avocado and limoncello.

You can get pints to take home to make spring cocktails. Ask us for pairing recommendations and what our favorite flavors are. It's our job to know what's the best, and this is the best.

We hope to see you soon and often.

MANGO MADNESS AND OTHER NEWS

Hey man, Mango is back!!

Also.... Avacado!

If only it were hot enough for peaches....

Firstly, I want to tell the world that it IS spring. No more of this snowy, rain, grey stuff.  I truly believe that the warm weather is not coming, it is here, and there shall be no more snow!!!  Optimism.  

Secondly, thank you all you die-hard gelato fans that came in during the whole season of freezing weather to keep tasting and ordering our gelato delicioso...

Thirdly, WELCOME BACK all of our fair-weather friends, we expect to be seeing a lot more of you now that the weather is just peachy (allusion to our peach sorbetto which is hopefully not far off).

Fourthly (?)  CAPO13 HAS COME OUT OF HIBERNATION!!

We are fully staffed and open extra late for the rest of the summer.

Our shop hours are:

SUNDAY:  10:00am to 11:30 pm

MONDAY to THURSDAY:  7:30am to 11:30pm

FRIDAY: 7:30am to 1:00am (yes AM!!)

SATURDAY: 9:00am to 1:00am  

Enjoy the weather!!

<3 Tori

We're almost there, right?

Someone somewhere down the line in CapoHistory someone must have decided that the shift to Daylight Saving Time (saving not savings, people) in the spring was a pretty good cusp for unleashing all of our warm weather traits. No worries! I'm firmly on board. But you know we're gearing up for the hotness because Capo13 and Capo20 are open an hour later into the night and CapoYunk is back to full-time, seven-day-a-week operations. Huzzah! 'Course, we never really change our hours here at CapoPenn. Open early, open late, pretty much just always open. We like it that way!

And it's funny, I actually had a bit of a revelation a few days ago. In light of how lame the winters have been since I came back east (just in time to miss all the fun y'all had the winter of '09-'10), I've pretty much come around to thinking that, if we're not going to get anything like a decent blizzard in any given year, I might as well embrace the warm months. Don't scoff! This is a major shift for me! After a few years living in northern Vermont, you really learn to revel in the cold. It's a defense mechanism really. If, as we had one year I was there, you're not going to see positive temperatures from Christmas to Valentine's Day, you'll drive yourself nuts if you gnash your garments and rend your teeth despairing about your chapped lips and cracked knuckles.

But I was riding home from work a couple of days ago while it was still light out and I had this brain fart about sitting in my friend's back yard in a hammock drinking a beer at 8:30 on one of those sticky summer nights. And...it seemed kind of nice! And then I mentally slipped back into freezing my face off in the early March bike-breeze. We're definitely not that warm yet. I was cleaning up my house the other day and was torn--should I pack away my snow boots yet? On one hand I haven't at all needed them this winter, really. On the other hand it seems like tempting fate if I DO put them away. Murphy's Law and all that, y'know?

But we're right around the corner, people! On the downside, that means that the blood oranges' days are numbered. On the plus side though, rumor is that mangoes are starting to show up in the stores. And if it's getting warmer out, that means we're heading into event season! Big doin's going on there, so keep an eye on this space for announcements of where you can find your walkin' around gelato.

So! Just a couple of more months until we can all go back to complaining about the relentless, stifling, misery-making heat. Who doesn't love the smell of Philly in the summer?!

Spring Cleaning!!

Finally the worst of the weather seems to be fading and Capogiro is undergoing a major spring cleaning!!!  Please excuse us if you see us scrubbing down the store extra hard, we want it to be sparkling for the coming summer season :) This past week or so has seen some truly beautiful weather, and some truly enthusiastic gelato-craving customers as well!  

The staff is thrilled to be leading into gelato season with a ton of exciting new products.  I have already mentioned our new line of CAPOcakes, but may I introduce something even better??  GELATO SANDWICHES!! I know you all have been missing the cookies we used to sell but mourn no longer because not only do we have a variety of tasty new CAPOcookies, we are also making sandwiches out of them!!  I have already spent most of my extra cash this past Saturday night tasting the new cookies.  My recommendation??  Chocolate Chip Cookies con Stracciatella. Believe me, you need to try every combination possible of cookie and gelato.  They are all so delicious.

We’re not only bringing new products to the table but new attitudes!! We have a bunch of lovely new additions to the staff, who you will undoubtedly be charmed by.  All the staff (old and new) at Capo13 look forward to spending the coming warm weather with our wonderful customers (old and new) and with our summer flavors.

Keep your eyes peeled, Mango and Peach sorbetti are closer than they have been all year ;)
Also keep an eye out for our kicking iced coffee and freshly brewed iced teas!!

<3 Tori

Cookies: They're Super. Just Super.

Cookies. Who doesn't love 'em?

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way before we go any further:




Let's be honest, we all know my proclivity for posting videos and saw that coming a mile away.

Is there a better snack-sized dessert, though? I mean, probably not, right? Given the vast plethora of ingredients and preparations, EVERYone's got to have on particular type of cookie that floats their goat. Me I'm partial to a super-soft chocolate cookie, but for sure the crispier cookies of the world have their devotees. Truth be told you could probably start a pretty good bar-gument (that's a strident but good-natured discussion taking place in a bar among strangers, by the way. I might have just made it up.) about the relative merits and worth of crispy versus soft cookies. There's two kinds of people in the world, and all that.

Did you know? I'm guessing you don't. Cookies are ONE MORE THING that comes from Persia! Sometimes I feel like the ancient Persians get a bad rap, considering they invented not just cookies but also logarithms (which my non-liberal arts friends swear are important), but it seems like they only get mentioned in one of two ways:

And I'm truly not sure which is more demeaning, but we should move on. This is about cookies after all.

You know what would maybe make an otherwise graciously humble cookie even better? Maybe you could pair it with one of its mates and squish them on either side of a scoop of gelato. Would that work? COULD that work? Is it just crazy enough that it MIGHT work? Gosh, I really just don't know. How might we ever find out...?

(Sorry about all the ennui-overcome, disaffected French dudes. Still a great song, though.)

Boiled Soot and Puddle Water

Many a morning I've spent drinking coffee out of my favorite mug. I choose this mug for its weight and thickness, and the rim is curved to fit my bottom lip. Old-timey engravings wrap around it, alongside antiquated notions of coffee's heathenish qualities.  That drying, ENFEEBLING liquor! It has EUNUCHT our husbands! (ouch) But this sounds like the aspersions cast towards alcohol by teetotalers of the Temperance movement. Well, in fact, something quite similar happened with coffee in 17th century London, a whole hundred years before American women complained of wine and spirits' unwanted effects on their hubbies' tender loins.  But it's not all about sex. Coffee houses were a huge craze, and women were excluded. Men spent a lot of time and money there to the detriment of their families.  It was a women's rights issue, but men, the enlightened beings that they are, asserted the finer, Viagra-like qualities of coffee in retort.  I'll spare you the details, but I will say that if their assertions are true I would rather be excluded from the coffee house thank you very much.

Daylight Savings time!

Hey guys don't forget that Daylight Savings Time starts this Sunday March 10th at 2am.  Set your clock an hour ahead and make sure you get to work on time on Monday!

This also means Capo will be open an hour later every night starting on Monday!  At 13th we'll now be open until 11:30pm Sunday though Thursday and 1am on Friday and Saturdays.  We've got you covered for your late night gelato fix.