Margin of air

If you think milk and sugar are ice cream’s main ingredients, you’re kindly invited to indulge your ignorance over a glass of both. The chief element in ice cream is air—the air that gives the ice its appearance and texture. Some countries even impose legal limits on the amount that manufacturers can use; around these parts, you can pretty much figure that your Fudgesicle is 20- to 50-percent air by volume.

That brings us to a confection called gelato—or, more specifically, the popular Mission Hills purveyor of the stuff, Gelato Vero Caffe. Like the popular spumoni, gelato comes from Italy and is made with milk and sugar and air, only it also includes lots of fresh fruit and other stuff like chocolate and butter—sort of a dessert inside a dessert. Gelato Vero has its preparations down to an absolute science; the chocolate hazelnut and honey vanilla dishes ($8) are to die for, and you can also get gelato shakes and floats and any kind of coffee you choose. This place makes its gelato on site, which is probably the—uh—coolest element of all.

You have only to get yourself over to 3753 India St. to experience it all. Management does ask that you limit your stops to business hours (i.e., Mondays through Thursdays between 6 a.m. and midnight, Fridays from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Sundays from 7 a.m. to midnight). The phone number is 619- 295-9269. Beyond, that, I guess it comes down to a critical choice. You can sit at home and take in a bunch of air, or you can go watch some very nice folks put it to its highest and best use.