Leo and the Lamb
Photography by Richard Fusillo
Ice cream; it’s as American as apple pie. It was made as early as 200 B.C. when people in China created a dish of rice mixed with milk, which froze as it was packed in snow. Alexander the Great enjoyed eating snow drizzled with honey while Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar of Rome fiddled with snowballs, flavoring them with juice or fruit, much like snow cones.
Marco Polo brought to Italy a more modern version of ice cream, similar to sherbet. In 17th century France, ice cream was concocted with milk, cream, butter and eggs. In 1843, the hand-cranked churn made a smoother version which is standard for most ice cream today. Variations in texture and ingredients yield sherbets, sorbets and gelatos.
Niccolo Lekai is the master gelatier and owner of Central Coast-based Leo Leo Gelato. While attending the University of San Diego, Niccolo worked at Bottega Italiana under David Arato. David mentored him in the art of gelato mixes, decorations and inclusions and running a proper gelateria. It took roughly five years for Niccolo to work his way up from barista to gelato maker. “I would spend late nights practicing, practicing, practicing the decorative style,” reminisces Niccolo, under mentors such as Massimo Conti and Massimo Vassini, both well known in the world of gelato. They helped guide him toward finding his voice and point of view in this world.
]Soon, Niccolo created his own product prototype. In 2010 the owner of a company in San Francisco was kind enough to allow Niccolo to use the floor model to make samples. Niccolo then transported the samples back to Paso Robles and approached local businesses with them. “I landed just a handful of accounts, but I didn’t have a place to make it [gelato] on my own, nor did I have a brand. At 23, I had skills of making gelato but no one to sell it to.”
Fast forward to present day, and Niccolo’s company Leo Leo Gelato plans to open its first scoop shop in the new Paso Market Walk, as well as roll out new pint packaging to be sold at local grocery and convenience stores. This is after years of providing gelato to restaurants within California and select states throughout the U.S. Locally Leo Leo Gelato can be found at establishments such as Rustic Fire, SLO Sweets and Pier 46 Seafood, to name just a few.
Gelicious!
Gelato traditionally contains less cream than ice cream, and no egg yolks. Gelato is smoother and denser because less air is churned into it, and it contains less butterfat. Leo Leo’s product is based on recipes featuring precise amounts of sugar, water, solids and fat content to taste like “a mouthful of fresh, pure milk that is lightly sweetened,” says Niccolo, enthusiastically.
Some other detailed nuances apply, like Leo Leo’s personal chocolate mix that involves carefully watching the pasteurization and temperature and emulsifying the cocoa, a step often skipped when cocoa is simply added to a basic white mix.
Niccolo creates new flavors from conversations with friends and fellow gelato lovers. When presented with a particular product from a producer, like lavender, Niccolo challenges himself to figure out what other ingredients would work well with it in a gelato flavor that people will enjoy.
Further, as drilled into him from his training, unique gelato decorations are equally as important as the taste. “We pay tribute to the tradition of sculpting the gelato the way you see it displayed in Italy, adding simple garnishes to add to the beauty,” he says. For the mint chip gelato, garnishes might be chocolate flakes and fresh mint leaves, or caramel drizzled over a sea salt sourced from a French couple in San Diego. Strawberry white chocolate is garnished with chocolate pencil sticks and fresh, sliced and fanned out strawberries.
The Family Pride
Niccolo’s entire family has been involved with the company. “My mother, Lauren, helped design the logo, website and any marketing tools we needed.” Niccolo’s love of six years, Keri, has been his right hand helper, scooping “thousands of pounds of gelato with me. My father, Andrea, used to be the sales rep, delivery driver and head of logistics. My brother let me stay with him while he was attending UCSB [University of California, Santa Barbara] as I pushed gelato sales in Santa Barbara.” However the family could help the cause, they did.
That support stretched all the way to Italy, his distant familia encouraging him from afar. With an Italian grandmother imparting an appreciation for delicious food and a grandfather who escaped Russian labor camps by seeking refuge in Italy, he is reminded “to be thankful for what I have. I was taught to laugh, smile and enjoy life.”
Going Where No Ovine has Gone Before
Many ice cream creators have seen a decline in ice cream enthusiasm as health kicks and dietary trends have gained momentum. Such setbacks, however, are often a catalyst to something truly revolutionary, as was the case for Alexis Negranti, founder of Negranti Creamery — now with a scoop shop in Tin City in Paso Robles and follow-up ones on deck for Atascadero and San Luis Obispo.
Negranti Creamery began with Alexis following her intuition, as she first started to research the idea of using sheep’s milk in ice cream production. Alexis discovered that in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom ice cream was made using sheep’s milk, but it wasn’t popular here in the U.S. — yet.
Alexis’ husband Wade, in construction at the time, followed her lead, despite the wooly prospect. The Negrantis picked up three sheep, milked them by hand and made their first ice cream batch in a KitchenAid mixer.
Unlike other ice creams, sheep’s milk ice cream can be tolerated by most people who can’t digest cow’s milk, a big win for a society where food allergies are widely recognized and accommodated. Sheep’s milk is naturally homogenized, so no extra cream is needed and as a result, it is lower in fat by about 8 percent. Despite the lower fat content, Negranti’s version of ice cream still has a decadent, creamy texture and consistency expected from any small batch ice cream.
“I wanted the appeal of good, wholesome products, where the ingredients could be recognized, and with generally five of them or less. We don’t use fillers, gums or food coloring. I wanted to create something moms could confidently provide to their kids,” Alexis, a mom herself, explains.
Her own children have been involved from the beginning. While pregnant with her son, Eli, now five, she was scooping and making waffle cones. June, her two year old, is growing up in the shop as well and seeing Negranti through the expansion to new locations.
Due to growth of their business, Alexis and Wade can no longer hand milk at the pace needed, so they buy milk from the same farmers from which the original mutton trio hailed in the Central Valley.
Spinning the Future
Two of Negranti’s most popular flavors are Strawberry Basil and Salted Brown Sugar, followed closely by Blueberry Lavender and Cinnamon Honey. Negranti also offers ice creams made with cow’s milk sourced from the Cal Poly dairy for those who prefer traditional ice cream.
Surprises and delights are a nice bonus for Negranti customers, as they are greeted with more options at the scoop shop than just spoonfuls of ice cream. Specials like the “Negranti Thing,” a housemade, special recipe brownie sundae, or an almond brittle, concocted by in-house baker, Karen (also known as “The Wizard”), provide unexpected selections.
A familial nature is reflected in Negranti’s flights of fancy — ice cream flights, that is — a nod to the trendy beer and wine tastings available in Tin City, allowing visitors to try several flavors in small portions. And each sample comes with a waffle cone chip for added flair.
Negranti also offers custom cakes and caters events with its eye-catching vintage ice cream trucks. Though the trucks are booked months out, Alexis isn’t interested in adding to the fleet at present, instead focusing on expanding Negranti’s locations and products. The next shop is slated to open in the Public Market in San Luis Obispo this summer.
