Elmwood Park resident Angelo Lollino said he’s had a lot of experience with gelato. He’s the owner of Massa Cafe Italiano in Elmwood Park and he is the co-founder of Mariano’s Vero Coffee & Gelato.
He said having the title “World’s Best Gelato” would be a “huge” deal.
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Lollino, his son Giuseppe “Joey” Lollino and his partner Ali Caine Hung will be competing for the title at the Gelato World Tour grand finale.
The grand finale will take place Sept. 8, 9, and 10 in Rimini, Italy.
Lollino and his team qualified in 2016 with their flavor Chicago Pot Hole, which is made with cocoa, nuts, pecans and marshmallows.
“Chicago Pot Hole works in the U.S., but not in Europe,” he said. “Italians are not into all the chocolate, marshmallows and pecans. They have a cleaner palate.”
Lollino said his team worked diligently and tried many different flavors to find the perfect gelato that would be enjoyed by Italian taste testers. His team came up with Cocco Sogno, or coconut dream. Lollino compared it to an Almond Joy candy bar.
“Cocco Sogno is an indulgence of fresh coconut puree,” he said. “It’s infused with fresh vanilla bean in the coconut puree. It has a dark chocolate coverture. We top it off with an almond nougatine as a treat. It’s dynamite.”
Joey Lollino said the team threw around hundreds of ideas from chocolate to an American candy bar type of flavor, until they found Cocco Sogno.
“We really thought about the Italian palate and how we could bring an American flair to it,” Joey Lollino said.
The competition will be a festival for people to come and taste the gelato. Besides a popular vote, judges will also be testing the gelato. The votes will be tallied digitally.
“We will make 200 pans of gelato to be judged,” Lollino said. “Hundreds of people will come and try our gelato.”
He said the competition will consist of the final 36 competitors from around the world. The winner will receive a monetary gift as well as the title of “World’s Best Gelato.”
“I want to make America proud, Elmwood Park proud, and my family proud,” Lollino said.
“We have the expectations of placing, or even winning,” Joey Lollino added. “I feel very confident that we have the opportunity to do well.”
Lollino explained that he was born and raised in America, but his roots are Italian. He said he’s a second-generation Italian and his culinary experience goes back to his roots with Italian cooking.
“It’s going to be cool as an American to go and compete on Italian soil, representing the U.S.,” he said.
Cocco Sogno and Chicago Pot Hole will be sold at Massa Café Italiano.
For information, visit gelatoworldtour.com.
Maryann Pisano is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.