How did you get started as a maker?
It was a very gradual process. As a child, I enjoyed drawing. And I pursued that through my high school and college years in fits and starts. While I was in grad school, I studied an artist named Ben Shahn who said that he was much happier having a life where he made things as well as did intellectual work. He worked for the Works Progress Administration and had plenty of administrative work in terms of office work, paperwork, proposals, and pitches, but he felt a great satisfaction in making paintings and photographs. And he would do cabinetry at home. It didn’t make much of an impression on me in my early 20s, but as I’ve gone on, I’ve noted that to be true. I did have an office life through which I learned a lot. And it did put food on the table. However, being able to create this little corner in our little world for my wife Kristin and I, while it is extremely difficult, it is also extremely gratifying.
You weren’t born into a gelato making family. How did you and your wife decide to pursue this line of business?
As linear as I can get the story – we were living in London, England while I was working for Papa John’s International. And the position ended early in 2005. We had a settlement, which was great. We always wanted to live in Italy, which is very difficult to do. So with the opportunity of having a little money on our hands and the time, we decided to move to Italy for a year to learn how to make gelato. In the summer of 2006, we opened a temporary shop at The Summit shopping center. And in the summer of 2007, we opened the shop in Norton Commons. Everyone was back together permanently in Louisville by 2008.
I appreciate that your shop carries both traditional gelato flavors as well as rotating inventive flavors. How do you pull that off with such regularity?
There are two parts to that answer. We make everything from scratch. And this is a very important part of what we do because so few frozen dessert companies do that. They’ll buy a base and add their flavors. And you can get a very competent, passable product that way. However, we make our base from scratch. We have gallons of milk, bags of sugar, a little bit of cream, and we have a Pastomaster pasteurizer that we use to cook our own base. Because we do that, we have absolute freedom in our flavor creation. We can make any flavor you can think of. As far as inspiration goes, it can be the seasons, it can be the farmers’ market, it can come from a pastry recipe. One of my favorite gelati that I ever created I got off of a bakery recipe – poached pear tart. I modified it for the use of gelato and turned it into poached pear zinfandel gelato.
Gelato Gilberto just celebrated its fifth anniversary at the Norton Commons location. What made you decide to open your store in this neighborhood?
We wanted to buy and we looked at some properties in the Highlands and other places and this opportunity came up. It was within our budget and we could live above the store. This was kind of a macro decision and we were the third business here. Even when there were only five people living here [at Norton Commons], we would still see the same people day to day. It is nice to have that kind of customer contact.
We lived in a town in Italy called Montespertoli. It had a population of 11,000 that supported two gelato shops, seven or eight coffee shops, a big supermarket called Coop, and fruit stalls everywhere. Living there, we had our routine. And for whatever reason, we gravitated toward Bar Fiorentina. We know Simone and his stepson [the bar’s proprietors]. We’d go back a year later and they would still recognize us. You walk in and they’re making your drink before you say anything. Similarly, I have people who walk in and the first thing I say is: “I’m sorry. We’re out of pistachio!” Because I know that’s what they’re looking for. Barbara Ricks, our wonderful daytime manager, knows everybody and their kids’ names. She lives out in Prospect and has worked here for four years. We make a banana pudding gelato and the other day she said, “I’m going to peel off a few pints for this customer because he’s very sad if the banana is not there.” Sure enough, the customer walked in and I thought to myself, “Thank you, Barbara!” So it goes beyond customer service; it’s a relationship.
It sounds like a big part of the experience of having the store has been about building a community.
Definitely. A lot of native Italians come to the shop on Tuesday nights. It started with an idea of people coming together to speak Italian, having some gelato and some food. But it’s turned into this social thing. I always emphasize to people that it’s an Italian gathering, but don’t select yourself out if you’re not Italian. It’s for people who want to do something on a Tuesday night – it’s that unprogrammed. We literally put a table out in the little alley with some paper plates and we just wait. There’s a Facebook page. And people show or don’t show up on a weekly basis. There are lots of kids – lots of Italians, Central Americans, and Irish. People bring food. We might kick the soccer ball around or throw a Frisbee. Last Tuesday we had a gelato eating contest. Our friend Johnny from Valencia brought his guitar and his wife played the violin. It’s a lot of fun. This is what makes Louisville special.
What are the differences between ice cream and gelato?
The major difference is that gelato uses less fat. And because it has less fat, it has a softer texture. Most people think that gelato contains more cream, more fat. Ironically, the creamy texture is a result of using less fat. Think of a stick of butter and how quickly and how hard it can get at even 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter is over 90 percent fat. Gelato has about 5 percent fat content. Another difference is overrun – the amount of air that is mixed into your product. Gelato has a low amount of overrun. If you go to a supermarket and find a real premium expensive ice cream and compare it in weight to the cheapest brand you can find, the cheap brand of ice cream contains more air and is going to be lighter. It’s less food and it helps lower costs. Gelato has less fat, less air. And finally, the other key difference is that it’s served at 8 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, which has a less shocking quality on the palate. American ice cream is served at 0 degrees Fahrenheit or below. So those three factors combine to form a more intense taste.
What do you look for when you visit other gelato shops?
My tester gelato flavors are chocolate, pistachio, and yogurt. You can tell a lot about a gelato shop based on their pistachio. You want a real pale color, that real nice roasted taste, and check if they’re infiltrating it with almonds. When you buy a pint of pistachio, there are about three to four brands out there and in the list of ingredients, bold as brass, are almonds. The color is the real indicator. If it’s a little too bright or a little too dark, it might be artificially colored or it might be overdosed. They might not be too happy with the flavor and put too much pistachio paste in it.
The pistachio is our signature flavor and we really struggle to keep it in the store. We specifically import our pistachio paste from a city called Bronte. This pistachio is sold at a high price level. I tell my daughters that the dark green pistachio paste looks like crushed up dollar bills. But we are committed to the Bronte pistachio because it produces the best result.
-Grace Simrall
Bio:
Trained artist. Italian-trained gelato maker. Community builder.
Title:
Co-owner of Gelato Gilberto
Age:
38
Location:
Norton Commons
Contact:
@gelato_gilberto
jusitn@gelatogilberto.com
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