Does Gelato Heaven Exist? Maybe at Solo Qui

Does Gelato Heaven Exist? Maybe at Solo Qui

“Then I went for a walk and ate some pistachio gelato.  Which Italians consider a perfectly reasonably thing to be eating at 9:30am, and I frankly could not agree more.” - Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love 

Let’s get the most obvious question out of the way.

What does “Solo Qui?" mean?

In Italian, solo qui means "only here.”  And after experiencing this unexpected little gem offering cuisine straight from Italy, I can honestly say the name fits.  Solo Qui has some of the best gelato you can find. 

Gelato is the star, but it's far from the menu's only highlight.  After sampling more dishes, Solo Qui became a favorite spot for me and my mom to eat, gossip, catch up, and soak in the vibes. 

Here’s a quick summary of Solo Qui’s back story.  After having stopped several times and clearly falling in love with their gelato, the staff recognized me as a regular and began chatting.  During one visit, I ordered (and devoured) one of their out-of-this-world, heavenly, and truly authentic cannolis.

It was after inhaling said cannoli (and cleaning the whipped cream off my beard) that I said, “I don’t know who you have cooking and making all this amazing food, but please go tell the cook I said THANK YOU.” It turns out the friendly and accommodating server I was chatting with was the daughter of the cafe's owners. Her parents were the ones preparing all the food.  She explained that they were doing double duty as cooks because they are, in fact, from Italy and want their food to be authentic.

And, on an even cooler note, some of the items on Solo Qui's menu pay homage to the traditional dish you might find back in Italy. Case in point: the “Smurf” gelato.  I would love to reveal the secret as to this mysterious Smurf flavor and how it’s tied to authentic Italian gelato, but that would kill some of the mystery and fun you would have by going there and ordering a scoop for yourself. The Eats Here’s a brief teaser of some dishes I’ve tried at Solo Qui. 

• Caprese Salad:  Arugula with cherry tomatoes, olives, and mozzarella (big fat balls of mozzarella cheese, to be precise).  

• Parma Panini: This best seller has prosciutto, arugula, tomatoes, mozzarella on ciabatta bread.

• Panzerottis (aka “pizza pockets”):  Any of these are knockouts.  But my personal favorite is the Panzerotti Solo Qui.  This comes with sour cream, oregano, ham, salami, artichokes, and mozzarella cheese.  

• Beef or Chicken Tagliata: Grilled sliced chicken breast or beef served with arugula and tomatoes and topped with shaved parmesan cheese. 

Now we’ve come to the best part: DESSERTS! We’ll get to the gelatos in a second. First, let's talk about a few of my other favorites. Whether you need some emotional eating or just want to brighten your day up with a treat, here are the three menu items you need to know about:

• Nutella Cheesecake: As someone who can't be trusted with a jar of Nutella as it won’t last more than 10 minutes, this happy equation of cheesecake plus Nutella equals 5 out of 5 stars.

• Red Velvet Cake: Very few places get traditional red velvet cake just right. Solo Qui's version is a “little slice of heaven.”  

• Cannolis:  I’ve sampled many restaurants’ [failed] attempts at this Solo Qui cannolis, but this place does the old-school Italian pastry right. 

.

Last but absolutely not least, we’ve come to the gelato. While there are too many flavors for me to list, here are a few standouts:

•  Sweet Milk

• Pistachio

• Coffee

• Cookies and Cream

• Creme Brulee

[caption id="attachment_64859" align="alignnone" > Mikey and Mom[/caption]

While this limited list doesn’t do this place justice, trust me: venturing off Las Vegas Blvd and stopping by Solo Qui is worth the trip.