Carpigiani is proud to announce the top three winners of its Los Angeles Gelato Festival World Masters challenge, held in Los Angeles, California on April 12th.

The top three winners, and their winning flavors, are:

First place: Patrizia Pasqualetti of Gelato by Patrizia Pasqualetti in Century City (CA) with the flavor “California Blossom”
Description: Fior di latte vanilla infused gelato with an almond touch, sugar-coated Washington Navel orange peel and sliced California almonds

Second place: Jose Alvarez of Gelato Go in El Segundo (CA) with the flavor “Red Velvet”;
Description: Cheesecake based gelato with layers of sponge red velvet cake and topped with home-made chocolate syrup

Third Place: Simona Vacca of Il Gusto in West Gavina (CA) with the flavor “Saffron Rosegarden”;
Description: Saffron based gelato with dried roses and roasted pistachio crunch

The Los Angeles Challenge is the third out of four North America regional gelato challenges to be held in 2023 as part of the Gelato Festival World Masters. Three winners from each of the regional challenges will advance to the North American semi-finals to be held in Los Angeles in September 2023. The Gelato Festival World Masters, sponsored by Carpigiani and Sigep – Italian Exhibition Group, is holding a four-year series of competitions to find the world’s best gelato. Over the 2022-2025 time period, a series of regional competitions will be held, with the final global competition to be held in 2025 in Italy.

The gelato creations are judged on the choice of ingredients used, technical structure, craftsmanship in creating the recipe and visual impact. At each competition, the gelati will be judged by a panel of esteemed judges. Judges for the North America challenge in Los Angeles were:

Angelo Auriana, Chef & Owner of Factory Kitchen in Los Angeles
Rob Gentile, Chef & Owner of Stella Ristorante
Josette Le Blond, Chef & Owner of Normandie Bakery

The Gelato Festival debuted in Florence, Italy, in 2010, and soon expanded throughout Italy and the rest of Europe. The first North American challenge was held Colorado in 2017. After more than 80 regional festivals and more than 3,500 gelato artisans participating, the winner of the most recent Gelato Festival was Ádám Fazekas of Budapest, Hungary, with his Frutta di Pistacchio (Pistachio Fruit) gelato in 2021.

Other contestants in the North American challenge were:

1.    Jason Corosanite of Café Vine in Philadelphia (PA) with the flavor “Cashew Praline with Black Lava Sea Salt”;
2.    Saran Wai of MOOM MAAM in North Hollywood (CA) with the flavor “Thai Riceberry Horchata”;
3.    Brandon Choi of Stick Station in Commerce (CA) with the flavor “Pistachio Cheesecake”;
4.    Simon Stankevicius of Gelatissimo in Friends Wood (TX) with the flavor “Mango Sorbet”;
5.    Stephanie Bonaventura of Gelato & Angeles in Los Angeles (CA) with the flavor “La Brea Tarpits”;
6.    Aaron Lewis of Bruster's in Los Angeles (CA) with the flavor “Almond Divinity”;
7.    Andy Gavin of Sweet Milk Gelato in Pacific Pallsades (CA) with the flavor “Cannoli & Baklava's Evil American Lovechild”;
8.    Nguyen Vu of KEM by Mmm...Gelato in Garden Grove (CA) with the flavor “Coconut”;