Drown Your Sorrows: Affogato at Cafe Lucca

Flickr user nicolelee

Not Cafe Lucca's affogato; just a general idea.

​Cafe Lucca in Old Town Orange--which is not to be confused with Lucca Cafe, a Cal-Italian restaurant in Irvine's Quail Hill--was our pick for Best Gelato in OC Weekly's Best of 2009. The prices haven't changed, and the gelato is still excellent, but there's a hidden menu item that is worth exploring: affogato.

Italian for "drowned," an affogato is a ball of gelato--traditionally vanilla, but the sky's the limit--that's drowned in a shot of espresso. You can get your Cafe Lucca affogato two ways: by asking for a small portion in a larger cup and a shot of espresso, or asking them to do it for you.

Cafe Lucca's affogato toward the end of its life...

​The advantage to the DIY method is that you can control the temperature of the espresso when the moment arrives for the happy marriage; the espresso will cool faster than the gelato will melt, as long as you order a single espresso.

That said, if you order the affogato to be made, you may get more gelato, and at the end, you get to drink a coffee drink of your own design. Try an affogato, made either way, with the amaretto gelato. Amaretto is a traditional addition to affogato; it's sometimes made as gelato plus a caffè corretto, an espresso "corrected" with liqueur--the flavor is great.