Photo courtesy.
At Lulu City in downtown Grand Lake, gelato starts with a base made from scratch in house. Pastry pastes straight from Italy are mixed in by hand. The gelato is flash-frozen to keep its shape and then it’s decadently decorated.
Grand County voted the gelato at Lulu City as the best locally made product and it’s not hard to see why.
Deborah Fitch, owner and operator at Lulu City, learned all about gelato when she went to ice cream school as part of preparation for her other restaurant, Squeaky B’s.
Gelato is not the same as ice cream, though the two often get confused. Ice cream is light and fluffy, while gelato has a creamier texture and contains less fat. That difference was part of the pull to Fitch.
“There’s enough ice cream in Grand Lake, but this isn’t ice cream,” Fitch said. “It’s gelato.”
Gelato comes in smaller portion sizes than ice cream because of its richness. Each bowl is topped with a thin, triangle cracker before customers devour it.
The entire gelato procedure at Lulu City is meant to stay true to the original Italian process.
“I like it real, wholly authentic,” Fitch said.
The restaurant has been open since late April. It also received second place for best new business and best dessert, and third place for best bakery. Fitch says she takes pride not just in the gelato at Lulu City, but also in the quality coffee and custom donuts, which are made especially for high altitude.
That pride and joy Fitch has for her products is something she hopes customers feel.
“We have a sign that says ‘Happiness made fresh daily,’” Fitch said. “How can this not be a happy place?”
Lulu City will soon start working on its fall and winter gelato recipes, which will include festive flavors like gingerbread.