At Firenze, Not Even the Marsala Wine Gelato Is Aged

Ice cream may be frozen, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fresh. And at Firenze Gelato, unlike Baskin-Robbins and Haagen-Dazs, between 15 and 30 flavors are made fresh every day, with about 36 flavors on hand at a given time.

Those flavors include zupa inglese-- it means “English soup,” but it’s really candied fruit, gianduia (cocoa hazelnut), crocantino (rum nugget), sambayon (Marsala wine), fudge brownie chunk and peanut-butter cup.

According to Martin Foigelman, who owns the recently opened Newport Beach shop with his brother, Steven, the gelatos he serves are also less fattening than most premium ice creams. “Our gelatos are between 4% and 10% fat as compared to 30%. We don’t use cream; we use whole milk,” he explained. They still taste better, he said, because “there’s no air in it like ice cream. It’s dense. And fresh.”

A dozen sorbets are nonfat. An Argentine banana split-flavored gelato--with chocolate and a caramel-like dulce de leche-- is the store’s top seller.

Cones for all flavors are $1.75 piccolo, $2.45 mezzo and $2.95 grande . A pint is $4.55, a quart $7.65. Granola, bagels and muffins are served mornings.

Open Monday through Thursday, 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

2810 Newport Blvd. (714) 673-6688.

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The Coffee Plantation, whose motto is “where the world meets,” opens its second California location (the first opened in Long Beach in May) on Friday at Fashion Island; the store will be the largest in the chain, which has nine Arizona locations.

In addition to the expected hot and cold espresso-based drinks, light menu fare includes such sandwiches as mozzarella, tomato and olive ($5.25) and turkey with Caribbean chutney ($4.95). There’s also a Caribbean Cobb salad with chicken, papaya, avocado and blue cheese ($5.95) and Plantation Garden salad with assorted sprouts, jicama, cucumber and yellow peppers ($5.25). The stores sell coffee beans and loose teas from around the world.

Desserts include Cheesecake Factory cheesecake and the store’s own chocolate-covered espresso beans. A frozen coffee custard drink called Eskimoka Joe ($2.75) is a favorite at other locations.

Open Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Live acoustic entertainment on weekends.

401 Newport Center Drive, A101, Newport Beach. (714) 640-5804.

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Not a week has gone by this summer that some friend hasn’t mentioned the sunset dining deal at Sfuzzi. It’s a three-course prix fixe menu, served daily from 4 to 6:30 p.m. for $9.95, with a half dozen choices each for the first course and dessert and more than a dozen possibilities for the main.

A field green salad with pine nuts and goat cheese crostini, veal and ricotta ravioli with asparagus and white truffle oil, and tiramisu, for instance, would normally come to $19.20--about twice the price.

1870A Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa. (714) 548-9500.