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In Italian, Verace means true and authentic. The owner of Verace Gelato and Café takes this word seriously. Gelato chefs in Italy make the product to her specification, refrigerate it, and then air ship it to her Livermore shop.
A few days later, customers ponder the 14 flavors of gelato from staples like vanilla, and chocolate to pistachio, coffee, caramellino and tiramisu.
“Each flavor arrives fully developed by our team of gelato chefs in Italy, who use fresh, premium ingredients—from Sicilian pistachios and mangoes to Giffoni hazelnuts [from Southern Italy],” said owner Raquel Montella.
Sorbetto, a product like sorbet, is also crafted by Verace’s Italian chefs with flavors such as blueberry and lemon. Open since June 2024, the shop also offers espresso drinks, a prosecco and wine bar, freshly baked, imported Italian pastries, and a small Italian market.
Verace conveys a welcoming ambiance with café tables and bar stools that overlook K Street. Italian artifacts, wall prints, and a streaming video point to the Naples region where Montella and her husband Guiseppi grew up.
“When you sit here, you feel like you are in a gelateria in Naples, it’s so sunny and bright,” my friend Jen said.
But why consider gelato in winter?
For the holidays, Montella released four gelatos creatively garnished with crushed candy cane, gingerbread swirls, pieces of peppermint bark, or crushed amaretti (Italian almond cookies). I could not resist the candy cane gelato though my favorite is the custom Verace (pronounced Ver-ah’-chee) flavor, comprised of chocolate and pistachio gelato with swirls of amarena cherries that are grown in Italy.
On the counter, large, colorful wrappers announce the arrival of panettone, Italy’s iconic holiday sweet bread from a top producer in Southern Italy full of with raisins, candied lemon peel or almonds. Other Italian treats are gift baskets and holiday cookies.
Some people eat gelato or ice cream all year long. But others prefer ice cream-adjacent foods in winter. Before my visit to Verace on a chilly November day, I stopped by The Cheese Parlor and met cheesemonger Julian Edington from Livermore. When I mentioned Verace, his eyes lit up. I had found someone who appreciates ice cream parlors in winter.
“I only visit the shops in winter when they are less crowded and quieter. My favorite is soft serve from Foster Freeze in Livermore or Meadowlark Dairy in Pleasanton, Edington said.
Since his shift ended and he was curious about Verace, he accompanied me to the shop. He liked the deep flavor of the pistachio gelato and silky
I ordered a the branded Verace gelato and an affogato. An Italian specialty, affogato is an espresso that is topped with sorbetto or gelato. Though I do not normally sugar my coffee, the creamy lemon sorbetto added a creamy, mildly sweet element to the drink. With coffee beans selected by an expert roaster from Naples, the afternoon affogato was a welcome taste of Italy.
Sorbetto, a vegan product made from water, fruit, and sugar, resembles French sorbet. The difference lies in the production method. In contrast to sorbetto, sorbet presents a lighter, icier texture and milder fruit flavor.
Gelato is made with more milk and less cream than ice cream. As a result, most gelato contains about half the amount of fat as full-fat ice cream. Production styles also differ. Gelato is churned more slowly which incorporates less air into the product, making it denser and smoother. Ice cream is churned faster which gives a lighter, fluffier texture.
Another key factor is the serving temperature. Gelato is served warmer than ice cream which enhances the flavor intensity. “Ice cold” ice cream sometimes numbs the tongue. The low temperature slows down the movement of nerves on your palate which can hamper the ability to register taste effectively.
How does gelato differ from Edington’s favorite soft serve? Soft serve is a subtype of ice cream. Dispensed directly from a machine at a warmer temperature than ice cream, soft serve has a creamy texture. Compared to gelato, soft serve usually contains more cream and stabilizers.
On her website, Montella’s labels her gelato as 100 percent natural and “artigianale” (artisanal). Her specifications for the gelato and the accompanying syrups such as chocolate and the amarena cherry state no artificial ingredients, no preservatives, and no GMO. There are a few exceptions in the garnishes such as holiday candy canes.
Tri-Valley mothers like my friend Jen appreciate the lack of additives and emulsifies in Verace gelato found in many ice creams and soft serve. While at the shop with my friend Jen and her family, I was impressed with her fifth-grader son’s evaluation of the stracciatella gelato.
”My favorite flavor is the milky vanilla gelato with tasty milk chocolate strands. It is so balanced between the two ingredients,” Joaquin said. The word “stracciatella” refers to the streaks of chocolate in the gelato.
Joaquin added that he likes the gelato with “hazelnut candy.” Montella crumbles pieces of Ferrero Rocher hazelnut-chocolate candy in that gelato. His sister Nadia, who is fond of mango candy, ordered and enjoyed the mango sorbetto.
During a recent Verace weekday Happy Hour, I enjoyed a lemon Spritz with prosecco and a scoop of lemon sorbetto, a more refreshing and less alcoholic drink than an Aperol spritz. For the holiday, Montella serves mulled wine affogato.
After living elsewhere in the U.S., the Montellas and their children moved to Livermore and savored the community’s family atmosphere and downtown area. But they missed a local gelateria like they had along the streets of Naples during their late afternoon stroll, or “passeggiata,” Montella now joins downtown events to set up her Verace Gelato Cart and serves up five of her many flavors.
“Verace is our first family venture. Everyone has made us feel like we truly belong,” Montella said.
