Notable Edible - Caffé Gelato Bertini
Quiet Italian music played in the background as a skeptical early customer asked the new Jamaican-born owners of Caffé Gelato Bertini if they even speak Italian. “Do you really know how to make gelato?” Patricia Thomas and her sister and partner Peta answered by artfully scooping his serving with a traditional gelato spade. The sisters, laughing, reported that any skepticism was gone on his return visits. Sitting at one of the small round tables in this South Yarmouth shop, Patricia said that she and Peta often share sly smiles when a customer telegraphs an incredulous “what are you girls doing here” message.
When asked if either had visited Italy, they answered no, but Peta added that Patricia was a world traveler. She’s been to Egypt, India, and Denmark, but not Italy.
“I do want to go,” added Patricia.
It was Patricia’s trip to Denmark that sowed the seeds for their gelato adventure. “I came home from Denmark and told Peta that Cape Cod needed a coffee shop like the ones in Denmark – local, contemplative, and welcoming – and we should open one.”
They started to look for a location, and their realtor shared the notice of a local gelato business for sale. Patricia, a painter, had a studio space close to the sellers’ Hyannis location. Cindy and Tom Duby, transitioning to retirement, had interned under the founders, sisters Alessandra and Susi Bertini, Italian immigrants who learned the recipes and the business in their father’s gelateria in Florence. The Dubys later reinforced their training in Bologna, Italy.
Patricia remembered that she “loved the gelato and the coffee, and when the shop moved it was a real loss. I was happy to later discover that the new location was only minutes from our family home. We all went there.” The sisters immediately pursued what became their successful purchase, and Patricia joined the South Yarmouth shop as an intern at the start of the 2021 season.
“I was intimidated at first,” she said with a giggle. “Tom was a fun teacher, but he wanted the product to be perfect, to keep the quality the same. He always had a story to tell. He is very creative and made or fixed some of the equipment and even made the counters and stuccoed the walls when they moved to this space. The first time I emptied the machine into the trays I was so nervous, the gelato should be in waves, a kind of sculpture. He just urged me on saying, you’ve got to get your hands on it. He judged that first try as ‘pretty good.’”
Peta, still working as an accountant along with her hours in the shop, laughed. “I said to Patricia, don’t you just put it in the tray? And then I tried it. Never again.”
Tom reports that “Patricia was always so prepared, took notes and was very serious about getting things right. If she watched it once she got it. Her youthful energy is great, and it felt good passing the business on to her. Patricia is an artist, very creative. They just added lemon poppyseed. I never would have thought of that.”
Cindy added, “We even got a note on our Facebook page from one of the Bertini sisters who is still in Italy. She was so happy to see the family recipes passed on to another generation. We’re so happy to see the joy they find in the business.” The sisters share the joy they find in the work. “I feel joy every time I scoop, and we both love the look on a customer’s face when they try gelato – well, our gelato – for the first time. It is so rewarding,” said Patricia, with Peta nodding in agreement. Peta maintains the stunning web page and happily takes smiling customers’ payments, and shares that she has been trying to find a way to have people take gelato joy photos.
The display case is a work of art featuring 16 to 24 flavors made daily. The new owners have added several flavors of their own creation, including Peta’s current favorite, strawberry cheesecake, and always offer several traditional Italian choices, including Stracciatella, Zabaglione, and Sicilian Cassata, among others. There are always four dairy-free choices and they have expanded the sugar-free offerings as well. Open daily except Wednesday from noon, the work day actually starts between six and nine a.m., depending on what has to be made each day. “Rolling pistachios or preparing oranges and other fruits takes a lot more time,” according to Patricia.
I have enjoyed gelato in Florence, and while Caffé Gelato Bertini doesn’t have hundreds of years of art and history to frame it, the flavors and texture took me back to the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River in the ancient city. The Thomas’ gelato offerings hold that culture, and so much more, in each tiny bite.
Caffé Gelato Bertini
1196 Route 28 - Hearth 'n Kettle Plaza, South Yarmouth (updated Aug. 2024)
capecodgelato.com
