food & grocery: Celebrate Frugal Friday's first birthday with a scoop from Iorio's Gelateria

Mary Bilyeu | Contributor

We're celebrating at Iorio's Gelateria today, because it's a special occasion: Happy first birthday to Frugal Floozie Friday!

This is my 52nd post featuring fabulous foods that can be found for $5 or less per person. The project started on May 20, 2011 by showcasing a lovely Detroit crêperie near the Detroit Institute of Arts, Good Girls Go to Paris. My BFF Wendy and I thought we'd have an adventure and see if we could find some treats for those who are on tight budgets, so that they could still have some fun without feeling too much deprivation. Who knew it would turn into such a popular feature?

There was no need for cake at today's party, because there's such luscious ice cream... but oh, so much more than mere "ice cream." Iorio's [ee-OH-ree-ohz] gelato is so rich, so vividly flavored, and so luxurious that I could work my way through a thesaurus and still feel I wasn't describing it adequately. I've tried many, many flavors and have never tasted one I haven't adored.

When Jeremy and I visited recently, he chose the mango and I chose a combination of port wine and bacio [BAH-chyo], which is dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts. These are the small cups (about a generous half measuring cup) for a mere $3.25; you can get a medium for $4 and a grande for $4.50. Cones cost 50 cents extra, and biscotti are available for $1. And you can choose as many flavors as you'd like to combine in your serving.

Jeremy's gelato was as vibrant, as if it were a freshly ripened piece of fruit, and there were chunks of mango mixed into it. The port wine was sweet and very fruity, and its texture was similar to sorbet. It paired perfectly — as port and chocolate do! — with the chocolate-based gelato, which was decadently rich and creamy.

There is always a wide variety of offerings to choose from: fruit- or chocolate-based, mint, coffee-infused, and even unusual ones like a sweet and intriguing maple-bacon flavor I once tasted just to see how it was. (You can have tastes of anything that strikes your fancy.) And the staff is fabulously friendly, greeting customers with a hearty "Ciao!" when they come in.

The great-grandchildren of Italian immigrants, the Iorio family takes immense pride in its heritage and in the delicious treats offered at the shop. If you haven't visited them yet, you should do so immediately. Today's a special occasion, after all!  Why not celebrate with me and enjoy some gelato?

Iorio's Gelateria
522 E. William
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Monday: 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
Tuesday - Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Sunday: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.

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writes about her adventures in the kitchen - making dinner, celebrating holidays, entering cooking contests ... whatever strikes her fancy. She is also on a mission to find great deals for her Frugal Floozie Friday posts, seeking fabulous food at restaurants on the limited budget of only $5 per person. Feel free to email her with questions or comments or suggestions: yentamary@gmail.com.

You should visit Mary's blog — Food Floozie — on which she enthuses and effuses over all things food-related.  And be sure to look for her monthly articles about holiday foods and traditions in the Washtenaw Jewish News.

The phrase "You Should Only Be Happy" (written in Hebrew on the stone pictured in this post) comes from Deuteronomy 16:15 and is a wish for all her readers - when you come to visit here, may you always be happy.