Bella Bella Bella Gelateria

Remember my Italian adventures that included a gelato, if not two gelatos, a day?

I just had an epiphany!  Could my gelato over-indulgence have led to my pants not fitting????

NAH.

Gelato's too good to be that evil.

Anyhoo, Italian gelato has ruined me for life (just like French coffee - I used to think a Timmy's double double was delicious.  Now it tastes like poop in a cup.) - ice cream from DQ just doesn't cut it.

Until I visited Vancouver's newest Gelateria.  Bella Gelateria.  It shares walls with the new Pacific Rim hotel but isn't part of the hotel.  It does have Fairmont pricing though.  $5.50 for one scoop.

I dashed in one day when it first opened because I had been anticipating its arrival for so long.  I tried 'Chocolate Grand Marnier'.

O. M. G.

The gelato is rich, creamy and FRESHLY made everyday!  No wonder it has a $5.50 price tag!  They fly their lemons in from Sorrento each week.  It's worth it though because the lemon gelato tastes like Italy.  Beautiful and amazing.

I suspect he puts crack into his gelato because just the very next day I had this overwhelming craving for chocolate grand marnier.  I 'dragged' the Engineer (promising him it was as good as our gelato in Sienna) but was dismayed to discover they didn't make that flavour that day.  Apparently it's a hard flavour to make.  They also like to change it up everyday.

I had honey nougat.

It was so good I would take a bath in honey nougat.

Oddly enough, I had a craving the day after that too!  This is when I discovered they always have about four types of chocolate in store.  In varying levels of darkness.  Apparently the owner and gelato master specialized in chocolate. Like, as a job.  Damn, I am pretty specialized in chocolate - how can I get paid for this?

I had milk chocolate.

And would you believe it?  I had a craving the following day!

This time chocolate sorbetto which is made sans dairy.  I poo-pooed this idea at first.  Isn't the whole point of gelato/ice cream is for the creamy texture derived from dairy?

Well, this sorbetto was creamier and richer than any ice cream I have ever had!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

The evil craving that I just can't deny came back the next evening.  I was at the Fairmont with a friend and just before nine I panicked.  I thought that Bella closed at nine so I literally jumped up and RAN as fast as I could around the corner and down the block.  A family stepped out of my way and offered me their spot in line because I clearly needed a fix.

Turns out Bella closes at 10.

Is this what it feels like to be a drug addict?  You go into sheer panic if you can't get a dose (is that what they call it?  Or is it a hit?).

The next day I looked not only at my bank account (which seemed to be missing about $50) but I saw an unflattering picture of my arms.

You know the saying, 'A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips'?  For me it's my arms.  And it appears that in only a week my triceps had become waffle cones of gelato themselves.

Time to wean myself off.

I am allowed to go ONCE a week.

Better for my arms AND my wallet.

Plus it was getting embarrassing walking in there and having them automatically get my order ready.  It's been open less than a month and already I am the freak customer.

The point?

Get your ass downtown for some Bella Gelateria!