DINING OUT:

Down a block and around the corner in the Montrose Shopping Park is a new little café called Melt. Under the bright yellow awning it has the famous gelato of other Melts, but this shop includes panini and crepes for a lovely light lunch on a hot day.

We were greeted by two friendly young ladies shaping and styling the gelato. With 32 flavors to display, this can take hours. The menu on the wall tells you everything you need to know about the international offerings, from Brazilian breakfast bowls ($4.25) to Italian coffee ($1.50 to $3.50).

Paninis, those grilled-with-tasty-brown-stripes sandwiches, come in interesting flavor combinations and aren’t over-stuffed, to make for a light meal — saving room for gelato. Try cheese ($2.99) or vegetarian ($3.99). Barbecue sauce and red onion make the spicy Texas Chicken ($4.79) delicious. It came with chips and salsa.

To accompany your meal are all sorts of Italian coffees (nicely, slightly bitter), teas ($1.75), hot chocolate ($1 to $2.65), Italian sodas ($1.95 or $2.25), blended ice drinks ($3.50 to $4.25) and even fat free smoothies ($3.95 to $4.45). The Berry Bonanza was a combination of berries and banana, every sip we tasted a different fruity flavor.

The crepes are made on big crepe griddles using wooden paddles to smooth them out. A fun show in the hands of a pro! The fillings they’ve chosen are tasty and fit the crepe motif well. The Californian ($5.95) has cheese, mushrooms, artichokes, onions and black beans, the Farmer Brown ($6.50) has bacon, eggs, cheese and mushrooms, and the fancy Norwegian ($7.95) has smoked salmon, dill cream cheese, red onion and capers.

They consider their kid specialty to be a peanut butter and jelly crepe ($2.95), but mine say the cheese crepe (also $2.95) was, “really good!” All came with a small spinach salad.

On the sweet side are nine offerings, like the standard Street Crepe ($3.75) wrapping up Nutella, chocolate, lemon or cinnamon and sugar; the tasty and healthy-sounding Strawberry Royal ($4.95) with fresh strawberries, bananas, nuts and chocolate or Nutella; and the rich Cream Cheese Delight ($4.95) with mixed berries, sweet cream cheese and cream. And, naturally, there’s the Gelato a’la mode crepe ($1.25).

And you know you came down for the gelato! Gelato is an Italian word for “frozen” and is the plural form of gelati. It has less butterfat than American ice cream and is kept at a slightly higher temperature for smoother, less icy texture. Now you can impress your friends when you bring them down to try it out. And you can have a taster spoon of as many as you would like. Good thing because it’s hard to choose!

The Mint and Chip tastes like candy, the Crème Brûlée is very smooth and creamy. The Burgandy Cherry is like a cordial. Stracciatella is chocolate chip and the Taste Of Italy is amaretto and chocolate chip. Mmmm.

A cup or cone is $2.95, while two flavors is $3.95. After you try all the beautiful flavors, you may decide on a Bambino — eight mini scoops — for $7.50. Some can even be taken home ($7.95 or $14.95). Next time, I want to try an Afforgato ($4.25) — shots of espresso poured over my gelato.

The address of the mall it is a part of is on Ocean View, but Melt faces Broadview Drive. I wish it was where there is more foot traffic since it would be a fabulous place to pop into, but it’s only a short stroll off the avenue. They have also been setting up at the Harvest Market on Sunday mornings.

 JOANNA LINKCHORST is a lifelong resident of La Crescenta and ate many crepes when she visited Paris last spring. She can be reached at Joanna@ vveagles.com.