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In the kitchen at Cones

By Daisy Carrington | dcarrington@am-ny.com

3:37 PM EDT, August 14, 2007

When Raul and Oscar D'Aloisio left their native Buenos Aires to open up a gelato shop in New York, they knew they were taking a chance. For starters, the Argentine brothers had no culinary training (Raul was an architect, while Oscar worked in construction).

Fast-forward 10 years, and Cones, the brothers' West Village gelataria, has become an ice cream destination all its own. "We have customers that come in from everywhere," Raul marveled while scooping up dulce de leche to a happy 8-year-old. "People in Manhattan are very sophisticated about what they eat."

The brothers reward our advanced palates with some rather complicated (and often limited-edition) flavor combinations. Their kumquat with Johnny Walker Black flavor, for instance, was a hit. "Many people are missing that flavor, but we can't do it anymore," Raul said. "We ran out of kumquats."

Why don't they just buy more kumquats, you may ask?

"You need to soak the kumquats for months," Raul explained.

Which raises another point concerning the D'Aloisios' gelato: It's made entirely with fresh ingredients. "We get fresh cream, fresh milk and work from scratch," Raul said. "Other ice cream makers get a standard gelato mix and add flavor."

But it's not merely the authenticity of the ingredients that make the gelato stand out. It's the brothers' meticulous attention to detail. Each flavor has a different amount of sugar, not just to balance the sweetness, but the texture of the different gelatos and sorbets. The brothers have several tools at their disposal to test the density of their creations.

While visiting the store, we were fortunate to see Raul and his assistant, Alejandro Atampi, make a fresh batch of coffee mocha chip -- the shop's best-selling flavor. Atampi made the chips by hand by slowly mixing in spoonfuls of chocolate, which then froze into small shards. The finished treat was served up immediately, and Raul snuck a bite with a sample spoon. Not a bad job to have.

"This is a happy business," he said proudly. "Everyone that walks through that door, they're already smiling. They're excited they're going to get ice cream."

Q&A with Raul D'Aloisio

What made you decide to leave your home to make ice cream in New York? In Buenos Aires, Haagen-Dazs was building their flagship store. My brother was involved in the construction. He tasted the Haagen-Dazs product, and compared to freshly made gelato made in Buenos Aires and Italy. Well, he didn't like it. So he proposed to me to open an ice cream store.

How did you learn to make gelato? I knew a lot about food, but I didn't know a lot about making ice cream. So we got together with a master gelato maker in Buenos Aires, and we trained with him for several months.

What's your favorite flavor? Dulce de leche, which is caramel from milk. Instead of being made from sucrose, the caramel is made from lactose.

What's the most challenging part of making ice cream? Getting the proportions right. It's very difficult. It's food science.

How do you come up with ideas for new flavors? We search gelato stores, we use traditional flavors from Italy, we read books from Italy. Some flavors are a success, some are not. If a flavor really sells, we leave it. If it doesn't sell, we make something new.