Gelati Party

Who invented the water ice/ice cream combo?

by Carolyn Wyman

	print	email	reply

Published: Jul 14, 2010

More often than Tony Cardullo would like, some Center City-ite will show up at John's Water Ice and try to order a "Cookies and Cream gelato."

"It's gelati. And what water ice do you want?" is Cardullo's patient reply.

"I don't want water ice. I want gelato," they'll say.

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION

And so it could go, for some time, until Cardullo explains that John's sells gelati, not gelato. Gelato is dense ice cream sold all over Italy and at pricy boutiques like Philly's Capogiro; gelati, in addition to being a pluralization of gelato, is a Philly-area treat of water ice layered with ice cream or frozen custard.

It was invented in 1975 by the late Nora Italiano, boasts the big wooden sign on her namesake Italiano's water ice stand at 12th and Shunk. Nora replaced the "o" in gelato with her last initial to come up with the sometimes-confusing name, according to her daughter, Nancy (pictured, right). The fruity/creamy treat was quickly adopted by Nora's dad's Pop's Italian Ice and other South Philly water iceries and achieved wide popularity in 1992, when the Rita's Water Ice franchise debuted it with frozen custard.

"For people who aren't familiar with water ice, getting something that also contains ice cream is less of a risk," says Rita's founder John Tumolo of what is today Rita's best seller. Independent local shop owners cite a 40-60 ratio of gelati to plain water ice sales, saying the heavier gelati sells better in the evenings and on cool days, and worse to manual laborers than people who "work in air-conditioned offices and don't have to worry about throwing up on some rooftop," as Cardullo puts it.

Gelati is also popular with the indecisive and the creative — at Italiano's, with its 20 water ice and seven ice cream flavors, up to 140 gelati combinations are possible (many more if you use the allowed-but-unconventional two water ice flavors). Most people, though, stick with classics like cherry or chocolate water ice with vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

But even gelati torchbearer Nancy allows that her mom probably wasn't the first or only local purveyor to put ice cream and water ice together. She knows this because of the people who come to Italiano's asking for "radio balls" or "King Tuts."

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION

Radio ball is a Port Richmond resident's name for a similar water ice/ice cream treat. Neighborhood historian Fred Cimino says it was invented in 1945 by the late Gus "Hecker" Bauman at Hecker's Deli, where they are still made. "Just like frozen meals were called TV dinners because people ate them in front of TVs, radio balls were eaten on front stoops in the summer while listening to radio shows," explains Cimino, whose latest Port Richmond book features a chapter titled "Fresh Pretzels, TV Dinners and Radio Balls."

Unlike gelati — classically a layer of hard ice cream sandwiched between two layers of water ice — radio balls feature one or two scoops of ice cream topped with water ice typically mixed to an almost smoothie-like consistency. At Hecker's, customers get premium Dutch Farm ice cream and a choice of only two water ice flavors (cherry or pineapple) that Hecker's son, Gus Bauman (pictured, right), 62, makes daily by hand with the original equipment.

But what of the King Tut? Told it originated in West Philly, I contacted the 85-year-old Marrone's water ice of Overbrook, where manager Steve Caporaletti pleaded ignorance. Morrone's calls its water ice/ice cream dessert "gelato" — Capogiro fans, be warned.

The Pitmaster
What's Cooking
Feeding Frenzy