Joe Latti

I've been hanging on to this newspaper clipping for a couple year. It's titled "Get your swirl on, Philly style." It's a review of Joe's Italian Ice and Ice Cream in Garden Grove.

All I could imagine was having a Joe Latti like the one's we've had in Oxford, PA. There's nothing like it anywhere except Pennsylvania, . . . and Garden Grove I guess. If you grew up on Italian water ice, like I did, then shaved ice, snow cones, and icee's are not even close to what you crave.

Supposedly the soft serve at Joe's is also Philly style. Which means real cream with all that good butterfat - it's so creamy and dense.

Anyway, we finally took the trek to Joe's. It was so exciting - like a field trip! (My life is rather boring). I got a blood orange Joe Latti. Son #1 did too. Son #2 got a mango Joe Latti. There were so many flavors it was hard to choose. Bada Bing Cherry, Passion Fruit, Bananadana, Grape, Grapefruit, Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Black Raspberry and on and on. It was so worth the trip! I brought home a quart of blood orange Italian Ice so hubby could have some too. We polished it off in less than a week. And by the way, it traveled well too. We live an hour from Joe's so I did pack an insulated bag with an ice pack in it but I think the Italian Ice would have make it home just fine without it.

I realized that Joe's is not all that far from where son #1 plays his club volleyball tournaments. We spend many hours on weekends at ASC watching his games, and I think Joe's is only about 10 minutes from there. I'm really craving a softserve dipped in butterscotch. Guess I'll be gettin' my swirl on more often now.

Joe's Italian Ice and Ice Cream
12302 Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove
www.joesice.com