![]() That’s why I started doing Filipino Friday,” she said. “You put the gold on and people know it’s something else.”īut Diamond-Manlusoc isn’t only inspired by her plated dessert days. “Otherwise, it just looks like a Magnum or Haagen-Dasz bar,” she said. The finishing touch? A dab of 24-karat gold leaf in the center of each Cakesicle. Each frozen pop is dipped in the chef’s own pate a glacer, a blend of 35% and 65% chocolates from Swiss producer Felchlin, with bits of cacao nib for crunch. Next comes a layer of gelato-infused with Crema Earl Grey from Chicago’s Rare Tea Cellars, it’s the most expensive variety she makes-frozen in the same shape, with the stick sandwiched in between. The Cakesicle, her latest creation, is essentially high tea on a stick: Airy almond sponge cake is baked in special molds, then spread with apricot jam. In addition to the café’s regular menu, Diamond-Manlusoc has drawn on her experience with high-end plated desserts to take classic frozen treats to new heights. When Lee moved to Philly in 2015, the trio decided they’d open their ideal café there: great food, lots of outlets and good Wi-Fi, and, of course, /> She enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu, then worked at restaurants like Morimoto’s Japonais and Michelin-starred Blackbird and Spiaggia, where she once served a multicourse Thanksgiving dinner in the form of gelato-but she knew she’d never be able to open the little gelateria of her dreams in Chicago’s cutthroat market. She dreamed of owning a tiny gelato stall, the kind she’d seen in Bologna. ![]() That hobby turned into an escape from her day job: she loved teaching, but she was closeted, unhappy, and burning out at work. Soon, their freezer was overflowing, so she brought some to school for her fellow teachers-then started selling them for $5 each. “I didn’t know you get that donkey kick of flavor in your mouth, and that’s what it’s all about.” Back in Michigan, she and Liz, a percussionist, started dating, then headed to Chicago to teach.Īt home, Diamond-Manlusoc made batches of gelato in a $50 Cuisinart ice cream maker, using the memory of that pure kick of flavor as her guide. “I was like, 'Oh my God, it tastes just like a strawberry!' she said. I don’t want something good I don’t want pretty good.”īetween concerts and workshops, an Italian classmate brought the group to a tiny gelateria outside Bologna, where Diamond-Manlusoc ordered scoops of strawberry and cantaloupe sorbetti. “I think of myself as a gelataia first,” said Diamond-Manlusoc. Peek into the open kitchen and you’ll see Diamond-Manlusoc rolling, baking, and churning it all in her crisp periwinkle chef’s coat, hair swept up and curled into a bright purple, 1940s-style “victory roll” above her forehead. In the glass-topped freezer are velvety gelati and sorbetti in flavors like guava cinnamon, honey cashew, and buko pandan-the classic Filipino combination of coconut steeped with sweet, aromatic pandan leaves. ![]() The colorful café’s pastry case is stocked with jam-filled pound cake muffins, sandy-textured sables, and tender conchas crusted in vanilla sugar. The force behind that gelato is chef and co-owner Melanie Diamond-Manlusoc, who opened the coffee shop, coworking space, and gelateria with her wife, Liz Diamond-Manlusoc, and their friend Maggie Lee last June. But just a block north of the boundary separating Fishtown and eclectic, postindustrial Kensington on Frankford, a small coworking café is serving the city’s best gelato. Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood is one of the best restaurant drags in the city. ![]()
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