GELATO DOLCE VITA & ITALIAN GROCER – Mesa, Arizona

“La Grassa” (The Fat One) is the nickname of Bologna, Italy.  While that sobriquet may seem unflattering, Bologna bears it with honor.  This city in the north-central region of the country is considered the “gastronomic heart of Italy,” a place where food is an art form and a passion.   This may be best exemplified by one of the foods born in Bologna.  I’m talking, of course, about gelato.  Throughout “Lo Stivale” (the boot, a nickname bestowed upon Italy because the shape of the peninsula resembles a high-heeled boot) gelato is revered.  Not surprisingly, Bologna is not only the home of Italy’s oldest university (and the oldest in the western world), but home to Carpigiani, “Gelato University.”

Mesa, Arizona is the home of two of Carpigiani’s distinguished alumni.  Both Walter Bergamaschi and Marti Printy, founders of the Gelato Dolce Vita attended the Gelato University.   Having grown up in Bergamo, about two-and-a-half hours from Bologna, they have been around superior gelato all their lives.  In 2010, they launched Gelato Dolce Vita (literally “Gelato Sweet Life) in Mesa.  At the time there were only two gelato shops in Phoenix.  Ice cream shops dominated the market.  In time, customers began to appreciate the difference between Italian gelato and ice cream.   As an aficionado of both, I can attest to the superiority of gelato which is silkier and more dense than ice cream.  The higher density allows gelato to pack much more flavor than traditional ice cream. Gelato also usually takes its flavors from natural sources and has less butterfat than ice cream.

In 2014, Sicilian born Fabrizio Cali assumed ownership of Gelato Dolce Vita and gradually began expanding both the gelateria and the waistline of Phoenix area residents.  Immediately next door to the gelateria, he launched a small Italian grocery which provides comestibles imported from Italy.  He later began offering panini, salad and bruschetta. In October, 2021 after investing in a full commercial kitchen,  Dolce Vita began serving hot food such as pasta, pizza, meatballs, and so much more.  The eatery’s mission is to provide a casual dine-in experience featuring the most authentic Italian experience you can have. Dolce Vita doesn’t serve some iconic American Italian dishes (such as Alfredo Sauce and veal parmigiana) because those are dishes are not found in Italian food culture.

Dolce Vita is family owned and operated in every way.  You’re likely to interact with the mom-and-daughter duo of Francesca and Marica.  They’re not interchangeable.  Francisca’s domain is the kitchen where she prepares incomparably delicious Italian foods.  Marica serves as the pastry and gelato chef.  Both were born and raised in Italy and are as friendly as can be.  Marica told me she’s prepared about a hundred different flavors of gelato.  Admittedly, she’s sampled a lot of gelato.  Not all gelato flavors are on display in the freezer cases, but there will always be several flavors you’ll love.

30 December 2024: During our inaugural visit, we learned that Dolce Vita has been named among the top three gelato shops in America by Yelp.  Over the years, it’s earned a number of local and statewide awards.  Trust Marica to guide you.   We failed to notice the serving cups and both ordered our gelato on larger, family sized containers.  That’s the type of mistake we don’t mind making as it meant having gelato to take home to our rental.  My Kim’s gelato choices were dulce de leche and Madagascar vanilla.  Dulce de leche which translates from Spanish to “candy made from milk,” is a thick and sugary caramel-like sauce that’s made by slowly heating sweet milk.  It’s absolutely amazing–creamy, rich and addictive.  Like my favorite barbecue, dulce de leche prepared low-and-slow.

30 December 2024: Madagascar vanilla has higher concentrations of vanillin than beans from other countries, one of the main reasons Madagascar vanilla beans are so richly flavored.  Quality is telling.  The Madagascar vanilla gelato is the best vanilla anything we’ve ever had.  Madagascar supplies two-thirds of the vanilla consumed around the world, making it by far the most common and popular variety.  My choices were lemon gelato and Raffaelo gelato.  The lemon was lip-pursingly delicious, so refreshing and wonderful I lamented not having ordered a larger size.  Raffaelo gelato  is topped with toasted coconut flakes, blanched almonds and classic Raffaello candies.  If the four gelato flavors we had are any indication, we might just have to move to Mesa to be in closer proximity to Dolce Vita.

Though our inaugural visit was a fulfillment of a dessert craving, we enjoyed the gelato in the grocery-restaurant section of the space.  There we espied art under glass, a fridge showcasing cheeses (formaggi) and cured meats (salume) from Italy.  On a separate case were pastries showcasing more of Marica’s talent.  Shelves were replete with such Italian groceries as boutique olive oil, balsamic vinegar and marmalade made in the Italian Alps.  We witnessed as several diners split sandwiches, a concept we don’t often see in New Mexico.  We were to learn that sharing is almost necessary because the sandwiches are so large that it takes two people to finish them.

The menu is segmented: Cold Panini, Panini Gourmet, Fried Panini, Pasta & Pizza and Pinsa (Roman flatbread).  The take-out menu, which doubles as the appetizer menu, lists hot appetizers, salads, charcuterie boards, bruschetta and soup-of-the-day.  Perusing that menu should come with a caution:  “Warning: May Cause Involuntary Salivation.”  This is one seriously wonderful menu, equal to or better than the menu at many a fine-dining Italian restaurant.  After two visits, my Kim called Dolce Vita “even better than Guido’s Chicago Meat & Deli.”   Those are words I never thought I’d hear from her.

3 January 2025:  As we waited for our meal to be delivered, Francesca ferried over a basket of Italian bread.  On our table was a glass oil and vinegar cruet with an inner chamber designed to hold vinegar and an outer chamber holding olive oil.  Access to both in one convenient container is genius.  My Kim decided such a cruet is what she wants for her birthday so maybe this year I won’t be such a bad gift-giver.  Such a cruet deserves a bread worthy of high-quality balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Dolce Vita’s bread is outstanding!  Simultaneously airy and dense, the bread has wonderful absorbing qualities.  It probably would have worked well with butter, too.

3 January 2025:  Quite naturally, this lexiphile immediately noticed the menu had a “Charcuterie Board” section.  It struck me as funny because “charcuterie” is French and though a similar concept exists in Italy, it should have been called “Salumeria” or “Salumi.”  Both charcuterie and salumi indicate a type of cured meat.  Italians will argue that while French cheeses are quite good, French cured meats aren’t nearly as good as Italian cured meats.  Though I normally like both good grammar and good taste, the priority at Dolce Vita was, of course, great taste.

That’s what we got with the Italian Board (assorted cured meats and cheeses, meatballs, fried cheese, olives, artichokes, eggplant and giardiniera).  Quite simply, this was one of the very best boards we’ve ever had.  Where to start?  I’m not likely to do true justice to anything on the board.  Among the favorites were the Sicilian meatballs, two smallish orbs covered in tomato sauce and topped with cheese.  These meatballs were superb, an exemplar of the type of meatballs you want either on their own or with spaghetti.  Three cured meats–hot capicola, salami and mortadella–were immensely and intensely flavorful.  A trio of cheeses, including a soft, tender mozzarella were on par with the meats.  The giardiniera was tailor-made for an Italian beef sandwich (not on the menu; it’s a Chicago staple not found in Italy).  The baked eggplant parmigiana was terrific.

3 January 2025:  Though the menu listed fried pizza as one of the items on the Italian board, Fabrizio related that there would only be one shareable slice.  When we shared how much we loved fried pizza, he suggested we order one separately.  He explained that fried pizza has its genesis in Naples where it’s served “folded over.”  That concept (folding it over) would be considered too extreme for many Americans, he said.  As such, the fried pizza is served conventional pizza style.  That’s the way it’s served at Luigi’s Ristorante & Pizzeria whose fried pizza made it onto Gil’s “Best of the Best” for 2024.

3 January 2025: Unlike at Luigi’s, the fried pizza crust at Dolce Vita is soft and light, not crispy.  Francesca explained that the pizza dough is indeed fried after being rolled out.  Once it reaches a desired consistency, she heaps on tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil, the three ingredients found on the Margherita pzza, forerunner to today’s modern pizza.  We thought it would be heretical to ask for sausage or pepperoni.  The pizza was fabulous, easily one of the best pizzas we’ve had in the Valley of The Sun…and we’ve had a lot of pizza in the Phoenix area.  Fabrizio is proud of the restaurant’s fried pizza, confiding that several restaurants in the area try to make fried pizza but come up woefully short.

3 January 2025:  Sitting in close proximity to the dessert case, I thought my Kim would go for one of the spectacular treats under glass.  I was surprised there weren’t drool tracks on that glass considering what was available: tiramisu, profiterols, pistachio ricotta cheesecake, Napoleon cake, Italian lemon cake, lemoncello cake and more, all exemplars of Marica’s pastry skills.  Instead, my Kim opted for more of Dolce Vita’s amazing gelato.  This time it was two scoops of dulce de leche gelato, not the family size portion this time.

3 January 2025:  Before ordering a dessert for myself, I asked Marica whch of the two lemon cakes–Italian lemon cake or lemoncello cake–was more “lemony.”  She suggested the lemoncello cake.  Though delightfully lemony, it was just a bit on the sweet side.  One mysterious textural element on the frosting intrigued me.  My first inclination was “turbinado sugar” which has a crystalline texture.  Marica clarified that she crumbles lemon cookies onto the frosting, ergo the texture.  The cake itself has the consistency of lady fingers.  It’s soft and moist, obviously very fresh.

Though we’ve visited several Italian delis and gelaterias in the Phoenix area, Gelato Dolce Vita and Grocery stands out.  If ever we move to the area, it will be on account of gems like this one.

GELATO DOLCE VITA AND GROCERY  
5251 E. Brown Rd. #104
Mesa, Arizona
(480) 218-0225
Website | Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 3 January 2025
1st VISIT: 27 December 2024
# OF VISITS: 2
RATING: 25
COST: $$
BEST BET: Lemon Gelato, Madascar Vanilla Gelato, Dulce De Leche Gelato, Raffaelo Gelato, Lemoncello Cake, Fried Pizza, Italian Board
REVIEW #1444