Dolce Gelato - Laguna Beach

If you sit for any length of time at Dolce Gelato, you'll see the little slide show that this gelateria plays on a loop on its flatscreen TV. The place is proud of being an independent, family-owned, single-store shop unique only to Laguna Beach. But what it should really be proud of are the amazing gelatos, which exist in flavors you never thought could or should be mixed with sugar and milk.

One night, I saw basil, chocolate habanero, and "bread and butterflies", which is the flavor of brown butter and country bread. And when you see something so wild that you ask for a sample, it will taste exactly like that flavor because whatever it is, that thing is actually in there.

The Ferrero Rocher gelato I finally committed a whole cup to tasted exactly like it, with the essence of the creamy chocolate, the roasted hazelnut, and the wafer shell all churned into the crests of its soft-frozen waves.

It was uncanny. But then I didn't expect anything less from the place. I consider it one of the best gelaterias in Orange County. Each flavor is made on site by a chef/owner who does nothing else all day but make gelato. If gelato making was your chosen profession, you can only hope you could do it as well as she does.

Dolce Gelato
247 Broadway St.
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
(949) 715-9249

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