Can you find a more italian sounding word than spumoni? No, really! I challenge you. Go ahead and throw on your most over the top, campy, stereotypical Italian accent, and say the word. Spumoni! So, who’s ever heard of it? Well, that’s impressive, because I feel like I’ve eaten a lot of desserts, especially ice cream, and I have never been offered, nor at all heard of spumoni. When I saw it on The List, I figured it was going to be pasta for sure, which would have been a nice break from July’s and August’s incessant bombardment of desserts. It’s not a noodle, though. It is indeed ice cream, but we already established that you knew what it was.
Little Italy, Tallahassee, Fl
Now, after experiencing a version of spumoni at one of Tallahassee’s fabulous Italian restaurants called Little Italy, I’m pretty sure I still have not truly had spumoni. In fact, I feel like I was conned into a $50 dinner. Not that I’m complaining. With a three-month old, the idea of going to a restaurant, regrettably, does not occur to me nearly as often as it used to, so I’m actually thankful for The List providing me this opportunity, even
Grouper Picata. Get it when you see it!
if I’m fairly certain they didn’t serve me authentic spumoni. They did serve me a fantastic Grouper, and provided one of the funkiest bluegrass jam sessions that I think I’ve ever stumbled upon. So, that’s a good night right there, regardless of spumoni authenticity.
What a spumoni is supposed to be, is a mixture of three ice creams that are flavored of chocolate, pistachio, and fruit. The ice cream samples are meant to be supplemented as well, though. The chocolate is meant to have chocolate shavings in or around it. The pistachio flavor is supposed to have… well, duh. And the fruit portion is supposed to contain a candied variety of its flavor. You know, like candied cherries in a cherry ice cream.
Bluegrass Night at Little Italy
What I got instead was kind of a spin-off of Napoleon ice cream. It was a scoop of cherry, scoop of pistachio and a scoop of mint, and there really were no special things inside. You know, there were no chachkees! Sure there were pistachios in the ice cream, but I can find pistachios in Jell-O brand instant pistachio pudding. Still, I got a good meal, and the ice cream was… well, it was ice cream. Plus that bluegrass music was really kind of fun. When we showed up there were about 5-8 people playing their banjos and guitars. When we left, there were upwards of twenty ukulele, banjo, harmonica and zither players. And let me tell you, that music was toe tappin’. Oh, my daughter did dance!
See you Wednesday for National Pecan Torte Day!
