Photo courtesy of Visit Alexandria
Chef Gianluigi Dellaccio of Dolci Gelato
The founder and co-owner of Old Town Dolci Gelato, Chef Gianluigi Dellaccio, was recently named a global Gelato Ambassador by the Associazione Italiana Gelatieri.
First things first: The most popular gelato flavor in Old Town? Salted caramel, Dellaccio says.
His appointment to serve as a gelato ambassador came in late January, during Sigep, the largest international artisan gelato fair in the world, Dellaccio said. One of his roles is to educate and be sure that anyone selling gelato is doling out the real thing.
A native of Naples, Italy ("Napoli" he says. "Naples is Florida."), he said lessons he learned years ago as a star water polo player help him in his business pursuits today.
Dellaccio said his water polo career came thanks to getting hit by a truck when he was 6 years old. He got stitches, broke a leg and had scoliosis because of the accident. The doctor recommended swimming, which led to water polo.
Dellaccio played water polo for Naples as well as for Italy and became an Italian champion, scoring a winning goal in 1993. In the process he learned about thinking ahead, dedication and drive. In 1996, although he loved water polo, Dellaccio made a major career change deciding to pursue his other passion, pastry and the art of making gelato, with his cousin in Bonn, Germany.
He went to work for Lazzarin, a famous gelato chain owned by his cousin. It was there that he was able to cultivate secret recipes and skills. After his time in Germany, Gianluigi moved back to Napoli where he worked at Scaturchio, a famous pastry shop where the world famous sfogliatella (Lobster Tail pastry) was created.
Dellacio figured out a secret recipe for the area's world-famous oven-baked sweet "Baba" after going through the trash to find out what the chef was putting into it. "When he went out for a cigarette,I took the trash and locked myself in the bathroom," he said with a laugh.
Later, in Milan, he studied and taught juvenile prisoners how to make gelato. "I was teaching them, 'First you work, then you eat,'" he said.
He's fearless when it comes to trying new things too. "To me the future of gelato is going to turn to the future of all-vegan," he said.
Dellaccio moved to the United States in 2000, living in Washington, D.C. and working at the Ritz Carlton and as head pastry chef at Laboratorio Del Galileo. Dellaccio has made pastries for Bono, President Clinton, Queen Rania of Jordan and even the Pope. Dellaccio has experience in producing his desserts not only for restaurants, but also for large catered events, cooking classes and various fundraisers.
In 2006, Dellaccio left Laboratorio Del Galileo to open his gelato factory, Dolci Gelati in DC. He remembers packing up his Vespa with samples, hitting a DC pot hole and watching them all hit the street, he said with a laugh.
Today, Dellaccio distributes gelato to various restaurants, specialty supermarkets such as Dean and Deluca and Whole Foods, catering companies, food carts at venues like the National Zoo and Nationals Park and has various locations along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
His gelato flavors have won several awards, including “Best Gelato Flavor” for his Honey Mascarpone Fig flavor at the Inaugural Gelato Festival America held in Tucson, Arizona in November 2017.
He uses milk from grass-fed, hormone-free cows. "When you drink it, it leaves a little white mustache on your lips," he says.
Dellaccio's family includes his wife Anastasia, their two children, Valentina and Gianluca and a Goldendoodle named Belle. Anastasia handles all of the marketing, PR, business development and social media for the company in addition to doing outreach for the United Nations Foundation.
Gelato ambassador role + business
Dellaccio was named a global Gelato Ambassador by the Associazione Italiana Gelatieri during Sigep, an international exhibition dedicated to artisan gelato, confectionery, pastry and bakery production and coffee held in Rimini, Italy. Sigep is the largest international artisan gelato fair in the world. Ambassadors are master gelato makers who are not afraid to experiment, innovate and raise the bar.
Dolci Gelati has three storefronts—in Old Town Alexandria (107 N. Fairfax St.), Takoma Park, Maryland and in Northeast Washington, D.C. Gianluigi started the first two locations in DC and Maryland and partnered with Eric Roper to open the Alexandria location.
In addition to serving gelato, gelato shakes and other desserts, Old Town Dolci Gelati focuses on coffee as well offering a full espresso menu, nitro-infused cold brew, house cold brew and pour-over coffee.
Some of their other popular menu items include the Cold Brew Float, a scoop of gelato in nitro cold brew; Affogato, espresso over gelato; and the Salty and Dirty Chai Latte, a chai latte with espresso and salted caramel gelato. Old Town Dolci Gelati also offers numerous seasonal flavors, such as their floral cherry blossom flavor.
