NEWPORT BEACH : Summer Hot Time for Cool Desserts

Say “homemade ice cream,” and the image that likely comes to mind is a nostalgic one of summer picnics, family gatherings and a cool treat on a hot day.

To Steven and Martin Foigelman, it suggested all of that as well as a business opportunity. At their Newport Beach shop, Firenze, the brothers sell gelato, a frozen dessert, and they make it completely from scratch, even pasteurizing the cream and burning the sugar for caramel.

Gelato--a favorite in Italy and parts of South America--is like ice cream but with less fat and less air, so its texture is more dense and creamy. “Ours is an Italian gelato with an Argentine twist,” Steven Foigelman said.

The brothers did extensive research before they set up shop, bringing well-known ice cream maker Jose Vasquez from Buenos Aires to Newport Beach for two months to help them find the right equipment and ingredients.

The brothers, who live on Newport Beach’s Lido Isle, opened Firenze on June 1 and have been selling as many as 500 scoops a day of gelato and sorbetto, which is similar to sherbet.

The shop is one of a handful in Orange County that make ice cream on the premises, said Dick Reed, the regional administrator of the state Food and Agriculture Department’s Bureau of Milk and Dairy Foods Control. But Firenze is the only one that pasteurizes its own dairy products, Reed said, a process that requires state inspection.

At other shops--Hans’ Ice Cream in Santa Ana, a White Mountain Creamery franchise in Irvine and Tiffie’s in Anaheim--ice cream is made from a base purchased from dairies or central distributors. The mixing and additions of fruits, nuts and syrups are done on the premises.

Hans Biermann, proprietor of Hans’ Ice Cream for 24 years, said he sells about 35 gallons of ice cream a week in addition to salads and sandwiches.

Firenze has a way to go to reach that volume. It is now selling 10 to 20 gallons a week, Steven Foigelman said, but that is in line with projections.

“We haven’t had to put a penny into it,” he said of the new business.

“We’re showing a profit, and we’ve had a lot of restaurants come in and ask about buying from us.”

Among the most popular flavors, he said, are Italian Kiss, a light chocolate with hazelnuts; a candied chestnut concoction, and one with candied fruit.

“We make one from a Marsala wine,” Steven Foigelman said. “We mix that with eggs and sugar. When we pasteurize it, it burns off all the alcohol but leaves an incredible taste.”