Pita Catt, Where Magazine, Vancouver
Published: August 2006

Sweet Ride on the East Side

The inside scoop on where to cycle for gelato

What’s cool on a hot day? If you’re a sweet-toothed cyclist, try gelato tasting in East Vancouver. The bike routes are dotted with delectable gelaterias, ideal sampling pit stops. To participate, you need a bike and basic cycling skills, but primarily a taste for the delicious Italian frozen dessert.

Get on the Adanac bikeway and follow it east. This brings you to the first stop, La Casa Gelato (1033 Venables St.; 604-251-3211), with its distinctive pink exterior. Owners Vince and Pina Misceo claim their 14-year-old store has the world’s largest selection of frozen treats: 218 in-store and 500 rotated flavours of gelatos, sorbettos and frozen yogurts. Sample exotic varieties such as curry, wild asparagus with cranberries, pear and gorgonzola, or kulfi (Indian ice cream).

But don’t fill up, because there’s a lot more sampling to be done.

Hop back on your bike and continue east along the bikeway. Let your taste buds be your compass. Where Adanac crosses Commercial Drive, turn south and continue until you spy the red and yellow neon sign of Gelato Time (1110 Commercial Dr.; 604-251-4426). Twenty-four flavours greet you as you walk into this colourful café, which received the Georgia Straight’s “best chocolate” designation in 2005. You can enjoy kiddie servings or half scoops, making decadent combos possible. A dense chocolate offset by a light tiramisu, perhaps.

Feeling guilty yet? Get back on your bike—time to burn some calories.

Travel south along Commercial until you reach your final stop, Dolce Amore (1590 Commercial Dr.; 604-258-0006). Since opening three years ago, this sweet spot’s reputation has risen high due to the more than 50 flavours of rich, all-natural, traditionally made gelatos. Owners Susan and Ted Grippo consulted an expert from Rome to guarantee they got the details right. Recommended flavours include cioccolato, Ferrero Rocher, meranga (a light cream with caramel), hazelnut, and a densely flavoured sugar-free chocolate, for the figure-conscious sampler. Half-scoops of the generous portions are allowed.

With your market research complete and taste buds primed, your mission is simple: retrace the route to your favorite gelateria, purchase the yummiest flavour and indulge.

What? You’ve indulged too much already? But gelato-loving cyclists never give up! Take a couple of loops around the block. Sweet satisfaction is just a few rotations away.