Ottawa Foodies

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Went by Pure Gelato on a major craving. Looking for the place, we saw a girl walking in the opposite direction with a small cup in hand. Tried the one in Byward since we had dinner in the area, but the girl looked like she was closing up and flatly said that they were closed. We checked the sign in the door which said they were closed at 11pm not 10pm when we went in. Easy going as we are and not really looking to expand our waistbands too much, we were going to head back to the hotel.

Luckily we tried in on our GPS and found the one on Elgin to be just down the street from us. We splurged and got a pint of Pistachio and a pint of Bacio. SO said Bacio tasted like Ferrero Rocher and I sort of agreed. The pistachio was a bit tougher to taste the flavour and after more than a few bites, it tasted more minty. Overall the texture was too fluffy and airy for us and not pistachio-ey enough. Bacio was good and solid but sparsely hazelnut-ed. Overall, both were nice for a low-fat fix.

We came here on Saturday after dinner at Black Cat on Preston. Having heard the raves about the ginger gelato, I was dying to try it, especially with the fig one (Thanks, momomoto).

Anyway, they were out of ginger, so I settled on fig and dark chocolate. The fig was a "muted" taste...or in short bland. I didn't get a single piece of fig and there was minimal flavour throughout. The chocolate was good, but I've had better.

All in all, a total disappointment.

I crave their maple crystal gelato on a regular basis. sooo refreshing. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Two thumbs up!

I had the fig one and the ginger one for the first time last night; they're both grand. The ginger has real stem ginger in it, so if you're big on gelato that's like a punch in the face, this is the one for you.

You've gone and exposed the best flavour FF! NOO! It's one of my favourites, if not my favourite flavour... though I am a sucker for Tiramisu or Marsala flavoured gelato as well...

Another incredible flavour that might often get overlooked because it has a funny name: Gianduja.

It tastes like Nutella, only classier (more hazenuts, less palm oil). The wikipedia entry says that this flavour originated in Switzerland: en.wikipedia.org

I love that they regularly add new soy based gelatos in the summer. The staff is always knowledgeable about which ones are dairy-free. Soy Chocolate is my fave.

I've been very often here since I'm living so close to Elgin Street. Nice place where you can taste fresh and light ice creams. I really like the creamy flavours (Bacio, Nocciola, Coffee, Panna Cotta etc.). Good crepes for Nutella Fans.

I like their gelato much better than Piccolo Grande. The latter always seems to have lumps and odd little extra frozen parts

I've been known to walk in and turn around and walk right back out if they're out of coconut!

hot summer's comin' with hot days and nights in the market, just mozy yourself down on over to piccolo grande and get the pent up passion for your *seriously* good clean ice cream sufficiency satisfied. no artificial flavors, colors or fillers. their ice cream is somewhat half-way in between soft-serve and home-made ice cream. no gummy binders or emulsifiers. it's lick'dy-split!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pistachio + mint chocolate + gianduia waffle cone. trust me, it was hard just picking 3 flavaz!

OH YEAH!!!!!!!!

I know nothing about the correct DNA of gelato, but my taste buds still enjoy the rare dip into the lactose world; Piccolo Grande is my usual go-to.

Love any of their Peanut Buttery flavours.

Featured here is kiwi, completely covered by Mint Chocolate Chip and PB. I can never walk back to the office without making a mess..

Constarch is a thickener and they claim to not use it unless it's one of the 'secret' ingredients.

Xanthan gum (which they don't use) is a stabilizer and Dextrose is a sweetener all three are byproducts of corn.

The latter two are both produced through the fermentation of corn syrup

www.piccologrande.com

Dextrose, a refined concentrate of corn syrup is by their own admission an ingredient in their product and I stand by my original statement.

When I think of Ottawa and Gelato I just get frustrated, Mondo Gelato and La Casa Gelato in Vancouver are probably the high water marks for Canadian gelato.

I mean not that I can have it anymore seeing as I gave up eggs but here's my two cents.

Real honest to goodness gelato has eggs and heavy cream in it and not much more. To use corn syrup is a total abomination yet I am given to understand both the big guns in Ottawa use it.

There are other variants that use soy and the like more power to them but they are not 'real' gelato they're something else (often yummy just not gelato)

The sorbettos I have had in Ottawa just make me miss Vancouver.

If you're in Vancouver and you want to taste the difference for yourself definitely check these

www.lacasagelato.com

www.mondogelato.com/

Just had the pumpkin gelato - WOW!

This is my addiction! How can you resist mouth-watering flavours like:
Apple Pie
Bourbon Vanilla
Lychee
Blackberry
Banana Peanut Butter
Chocolate Caramel
Pumpkin
Rum Raisin...and on and on.
I've had Pure Gelato, and in my opinion Piccolo Grande is tops.

Agreed with Huacatay - consistently delicious gelato here. I usually do a mixture of the 'Aztec Chocolate' (super good spicy chocolate) and raspberry. The few times I've strayed from the usual have been equally delicious.

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I find TT gelato the best in town - consistently extremely fresh and delicious. The fruit-based flavours are intense and well-balanced in terms of sweetness and acidity (the citrus flavours are particularly excellent).

My personal favourite is their "peanut butter and chocolate" flavour - it is an atypical gelato flavour but addictive like no other gelato I've had. Chocolate, baci are also great.

The only flavours that have slightly disappointed me are the mixtures of additions in a white-coloured gelato (e.g. vanilla skor or something like that) - those flavours tend to not have a sufficiently strong taste IMHO. A bit boring.

I'd love to try a ginger-flavoured gelato or an almond-flavoured gelato from TT - I bet they'd do a great job!

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I've had gelato from Truffle Treasures a couple times.
Not my favorite, but it is good and the store has good hours and a convenient location.
I guess if I wanted Gelato and was on that part of Bank st I'd go there.

Their sorbet though is a bit to "whipped" and airy and I was told they use fruit concentrates (sure they are all natural..but still).
So you don't get small bits of fruit in the sorbet.

The other store I go to on Bank st- they use real fruits in the sorbet. So if you get actual raspberry in the raspberry sorbet, if you order kiwi sorbet...it has actual kiwi and the seeds in it...not just frozen green kiwi juice or flavors.

Truffle treasures does have interesting sorbet flavors though and it is nice that they change.

I also tried the pistachio gelato and was a bit disappointed. TT seems to use a lot of almond extract in it and I could not really taste pistachio in it that much.
If you blindfolded me I would have thought it was almond ice cream.
Also there was no actual nuts in the gelato.
I have gone to another store where they use roasted pistachio in their gelato and no almond extract and you could really taste the nuts in that.

I guess not everyone can like the same frozen desserts :)
Truffle Treasures does have some neat flavors, and I will go back to try those sometime.
The Oreo gelato sounds very good.

Also tried their Turkish delight candy and it was ok, but a but disappointing that it has artificial flavor and color- the candy was fresh though..so that was a plus.

Tried the giant peanut butter caramel cup and that was good, but a bit too large sized for my appetite.
I did manage to save half for another time..but that was kind of messy to do.
If they had a smaller version of there I might get them more often!

Prices for gelato seemed ok-not the highest price and not the lowest either.
The price for the 500ml take home container is good though!

I agree that Truffle Treasures offer very good gelato. While their truffles aren't to my taste at all (I prefer a ganache center to syrup) the gelato is top notch.

N, if you think Piccolo Grande is awful, you should try the guar gum laden stuff they sell in the freezer section of any grocery store. The difference between TT and PG gelato is miniscule in comparison. :-)

Wow, I am quite shocked by how Gunt thinks Truffle Treasures gelato is expensive! Its quite the opposite. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about gelato or ice cream can taste that this stuff is REAL. I went to Piccilo Grande (spelling?) and it was just AWFUL, it was old, icy and just flavourless and the servers were rude. I know Truffle Treasures makes theirs fresh everyday (as the servers told me and you can taste it!) The prices are low compared to other gelato shops, so Gunt you obviously have not shopped around! And the pistachio gelato is delicious!

Gunt,
I find your comments offensive
at that cost, you did not ask for a taste or a sample ?

well, buyer beware comes to mind first of all
but in the industry, I've heard nothing but good things about TT

and really, I've done lots of dishes with pistachios and they do not impart huge flavour

more textural and colour

flavour-wise, having made real pistachio gelato, ice cream and granita, the cost would be prohibitive

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I bought for over $22.00 gelato today and had to throughout half of it! The Pistachio, as it was called, was anything but. I know that many businesses cut corners by using artificial tastes instead of natural ingredients. Nevermind the quality - most people don't know anymore what that means anyway. But this is supporting the Chemical Industry on a grand scale. Nothing to recommend here anymore.

Had the Pina Colada flavour yesterday - it was delicious. It was soft and I could taste the coconut. It was very refreshing - would definitely go back for a second flavour! A little pricey though - $4.20 for a small!

I love Pure Gelato, but also recently discovered Truffle Treasures which just opened last year in the Glebe. Its gelato is also outstanding -- the best in the neighbourhood, in my opinion.

This place is not just chocolate ganaches and truffles, but branches out in other directions for a full-tongue experience; a late evening in summer might well take a while to sample the many delicious delicacies offered.

For example, while they don't have many gelatos, their quality is definitely high and worthy of investigation. This is good for the Hull people who now have an alternative to going all the way to the Market or Elgin for good gelato. The photo shows how briskly they sell it for the home market, putting them in half-litre containers for faster sell ($9.75). Remember that they have little staff and need to serve customers quickly if possible. It's also available by the scoop (1 to 5). Prices _are_ more expensive than Pure or Grande though.

I would need to make a full taste-test with the other two gelato places, but I daresay it can hold its own. The caramel, however, manages to surpass them: rich and sugary without being cloying; I literally got weak-kneed with the taster spoonful and had eyes moist with tears of joy at the pleasure my tongue was receiving. (But then, I like Caramel. A lot.)

Other flavours, in order left to right, top to bottom: Lemon, passionfruit, raspberry, coffee, chocolate and vanilla.

Being a small variety, they don't try the unique combinations that others can afford; but there is something to be said for doing the basics very, very, very well. I believe they're at least worth a try!