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Summer smackdown: Gelato vs. ice cream

BY ERICA MARCUS AND JOAN REMINICK | erica.marcus@newsday.com
joan.reminick@newsday.com

July 24, 2008

It's a heated battle to determine the coolest summer dessert. In this corner, weighing in at 194 words, wearing the green, white and red trunks, it's "Gelato" Joan Reminick. And in this corner, weighing in at 180 words, wearing the stars and stripes, it's "Ice Cream" Erica Marcus.

Let's get it on!

Those cool Italians

The first time I ate gelato, it was in Rome. One small taste unleashed in me an electric current that ran from my scalp to my pinkie toes. When I returned to the States, my quest for comparable gelato began. It's been an ongoing hunt, one that, I confess, has seen more frustration than satisfaction.

We are overrun by pallid pretenders, stuff that gives the original a bad name. And, truth be told, even our best gelato can't compare to what the humblest Italian gelateria offers. Even so, when made well (and it does sometimes happen on Long Island), American gelato can be a marvel. I love savoring each little spoonful as it melts on my tongue. The fact that it's not as cold as ice cream also means it doesn't form those nasty little ice crystals. And it satisfies me in smaller quantities than ice cream does.

So, Erica Marcus, forget hot-fudge sundaes and malted-milk shakes a while and sink one of those little plastic shovels into the caramel gelato at Fiorello Dolce in Huntington. Or the coffee gelato at Sant Ambroeus in Southampton. Then, tell me you don't get a thrill.- Joan Reminick

American beauties

I couldn't be a bigger Italophile if I had a tricolore flag tattooed across my forehead. In virtually every culinary category, they've got us Yanks beat. But when it comes to frozen dairy treats, I favor American ice cream over Italian gelato.

It's not that I dislike gelato. Made well, it is an elegant and delicious confection. But ice cream. Ice Cream. First of all, there's almost no such thing as bad ice cream. Good ice cream can wipe the floor with most other desserts, and great ice cream can wipe the floor with most other foods, works of art and ideas.

With its colder temperature and less-ponderous flavorings, ice cream is more refreshing, allowing you to eat great quantities of it. Ice cream is the basis of three world-class desserts: the ice-cream soda (the only dessert that reminds you of itself an hour later), the malted-milk shake (among my favorite one-course dinners) and the hot-fudge sundae. And so I say to Joan Reminick, pour some Itgen's hot fudge on your precious gianduia gelato and then get back to me! - Erica Marcus