![\"Pappalecco](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_1770.jpg\")
\u201cWe are very selective [when hiring employees],\u201d said owner Francesco Bucci in a warm Italian accent. \u201cWe want everybody to be happy. This is ultimately a people business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bucci explained the flavorful encounter he and his employees strive to provide customers each day \u2014 mostly centered around the Italian ritual of sipping good coffee or espresso along with tasting creamy, rich gelato.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Italy, gelato, coffee and desserts, croissants, eggs \u2014 that\u2019s the life of a coffee shop,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we are doing is to bring, here, the Italian \u2014 especially the Tuscan \u2014 coffee experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Italy, it\u2019s common for people to enjoy a good cup of coffee while savoring a cool spoonful of gelato, Bucci said. But there is more.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can also mix them and the drink is called affogato,\u201d he said. \u201cAffogato means drown. It\u2019s one of the most popular desserts or coffee drinks, you know. It\u2019s really in between. It\u2019s very, very nice. I recommend it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bucci sad he was in the restaurant business in Tuscany for about five years before he moved to San Diego. His family ran a gelato shop in Italy. Their recipes were given to them by a man who was about to retire, Bucci said. His gelato place, one of the most popular in Tuscany, are where the recipes Bucci brought to San Diego came from and he uses them to this day. The staff makes its gelato from scratch using five main ingredients: low fat milk, fruit, sugar, water and nuts.<\/p>\n
Now, Bucci, his brothers and a few of their friends own five Pappalecco establishments in San Diego County. The others are in Cardiff by the Sea, Hillcrest, Del Mar and Kensington.<\/p>\n
Pappalecco also offers salads, panini, croissants and breakfast items. Their food is made fresh each morning at a main kitchen located in Point Loma, then transported to each of the Pappalecco neighborhood locations.<\/p>\n
Bucci speaks about coffee as if it were an art form and he very thoughtfully describes American coffee as opposed to the way Italian coffee is served.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Italian coffee] is special because it is really different from American coffee,\u201d Bucci said. \u201cI don\u2019t know why Americans tend to burn coffee. I think \u2014 and I\u2019ve been thinking about it a lot \u2014 it\u2019s because it is very diluted, there\u2019s a lot of water. It\u2019s not really concentrated. But many people \u2026 like to drink coffee with something else, at least milk. Now, it\u2019s not that we don\u2019t do milk in coffee. We do it, but proportions are always in favor of coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bucci said he tried coffee or espresso from a popular coffee house chain in America, but did not enjoy it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just not drinkable as it is,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to put sugar in it or milk or caramel or vanilla and so on. If I have an espresso here, now \u2014 no sugar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pappalecco customers are very loyal and some have been coming in since it opened, Bucci said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have come here since day one,\u201d he said. \u201cThey still come here and they still come here a lot. We\u2019ve been brave. We\u2019ve stuck to the original model \u2014 the Italian coffee shop. Either you like it or you don\u2019t like it. We\u2019re not for everybody. We are for people who like us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information about Pappalecco, visit pappalecco.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n