We all scream for ice-cream: Karma Cream

Upon first lick, it’s soft and creamy. The second, dense and flavorful. The third, rich and cold. Unless you read the sign, you’d never know it’s organic vegan ice-cream.



“What is ice-cream without milk?,” many complain. Turns out, it’s deliciously creamy. Made with soymilk and real cane sugar, the ice-cream is sweeter than dairy ice-cream, yet still utterly smooth.



Karma Cream is either a place you’ll love or hate, depending on if you give it a shot. While vegan ice-cream is what makes it stand out, organic dairy scoops are available too. But the non-dairy vegan cream, whose texture is softer than regular ice-cream, is the best.



Don’t believe me? Karma Cream let’s you try all the flavors you want on miniature metal spoons – more environmentally friendly than plastic ones. The maple walnut, the lemon cookie and the dreamsicle are flavors that appeal to a variety of tastes. Every once in a while, the flavors change. But the triple chocolate is simply decadent, and in a cone, it’s a contender with the best full-fat ice-cream you can find.



The crunch from the homemade waffle cones is harder than most, but it also sweeter. Like a cookie wrapped around the ice-cream, the cone is a topping in and of itself, unlike card-boardy sugar cones at other ice-cream shops.


Agave honey and sugar water are free toppings, while vegan whipped cream, homemade chocolate espresso hot fudge, pineapple sauce and all-natural ricemallow fluff are options to make your treat one-of-a-kind. Making your own ice-cream sundae is exhilarating, but building your own ice-cream sandwich using two freshly baked vegan chocolate chip cookies makes dessert more like a delightful meal. Fair-trade coffee and organic chocolate beer round out this dessert stop’s menu.



Karma Cream, adorned with local art, is a small shop nestled in the same strip shopping center as Gator Dawgs and Mother’s Pub. It’s open 24 hours, and Wi-Fi is free for those craving ice-cream when they should be doing their work. Best of all, Karma Cream boasts good karma all around. The disposables are 100 percent plant-based and fully biodegradable. And all the dairy products come from free range cows.



But don’t let the word “vegan” trick you, the ice-cream isn’t calorie free (in fact, it’s far from it), meaning it still registers on the dessert Richter Scale and is bound to satisfy any sweet tooth. Vegan or not, Karma Cream is a treat.

KP's Crumbs: An iced coffee and a scoop of the triple chocolate is all you need to cheer you up, help you study or fill your tummy.

My end of the date rate the plate: Spoon and spoon and spoon again!

Karma Cream

1025 West University Ave., Gainesville, FL, 352.505.6566

The Fat Tuscan

The Fat Tuscan
Katie Packer

Its tempting name and its rave reviews sent me running to The Fat Tuscan in the northern part of downtown Gainesville on Northeast 1st Street, close to the shabby chic Bed & Breakfast District. One Gainesville Sun writer described the upscale version of mom’s grilled cheese as the best (and only) he’d had in decades. So I gathered a crew of friends to join me at this historic house specializing in lunch.

The deep wood floors and warmly painted walls suggested the home-turned-restaurant was owned by Martha Stewart herself. Girlfriends and older couples lounged in chairs while sipping bold French press.

Our high-top table in what would have been the living room if this vintage house were a home had hard, wood chairs instead of cushioned ones. The two-sided menu is limited, but the salads, sandwiches and specialty soups choices only get better as the list goes on. Tropical salads with grilled Florida shrimp, macadamia nuts and toasted coconut don’t even begin to deter from the prosciutto, pear and brie on ciabatta or the Formage a Trois Panini with gruyere, fontina, brie, roasted tomato, sautéed shallots and balsamic reduction.

With eyes bigger than our stomachs and our mouths salivating, we ordered sandwiches.

Only one in my party got the side of the day: potato salad. The rest of us were given a mini salad as a substitute, and taste of the sandwiches was average at best. For a place that specializes in lunch, the white bread (supposedly Panini bread) may as well have been Wonder bread, the eggplant in the vegetable sandwich was hard and the pear slices were thinner than a fingernail. For $9 a sandwich, I felt cheated. The fancy grilled cheese could have been made in my skillet at home.

Dessert on the counter made my still-hungry stomach grumble, so the waitress brought our table chocolate brownies. As promised, they were rich and crumbly, and quelled my sweet tooth.

Friday nights on the eatery’s veranda with dimly twinkling with Christmas lights seem more promising than Fat Tuscan’s lunch. Jars of sangria and appetizers from 5 to 8:30 p.m. are a charming way to begin a romantic night, but be sure to make reservations elsewhere for a later dinner. No dinner menu is available, as The Fat Tuscan only serves a fix-price dinner occasionally.

While The Fat Tuscan won’t leave fat from the tiny portions at lunchtime, the desserts might get ya.

My end of the date rate the plate: Worth a single fork, maybe two.

The Fat Tuscan

725 NE 1st St

Gainesville, FL (352) 505-5648

Fall in love with Italian all over again: Manuel's Vintage Room

Manuel's seafood linguini

Italian food, in all its rich and creamy glory, cannot help itself from stealing the heart of humanity. Only a faint cry will protest of a plate of pasta, a thinly sliced eggplant parmesan, a platter of beef Carpaccio or tender seafood atop linguini with fresh garlic and butter. Italian food, in fact, has been done over and over again in the United States to the point of monotony. Spaghetti and sauce has been reduced to slimy noodles, missing its al dente peak 10 minutes earlier. And pizza is equated with 24-hour fast food created by some college kid who takes the pie out of the freezer and heats it for a midnight craze. But the Italians would never have it. Neither would Manuel or his family.

Lamb atop risotto

Manuel’s Vintage Room makes charm and out-of-this-world Italian food look effortless, even amidst nightclubs in downtown Gainesville. No more than 10 tables fill the entire restaurant, and the waiters, eager to help make selections, know the perfect pairings for this bistro’s carefully crafted menu. The small, open kitchen whips out food relatively quickly without compromising taste, and provides ample time for dining.

Manuel’s, which dims the lights around 7 p.m. and adorns each table with a tea candle, is favorable to talking but romantic enough to urge you to scoot in a little closer and whisper. My date and I did just that.

In true Italian spirit, we selected a full-bodied bottle of Chianti from Manuel’s extensive wine list to accompany what we thought we knew what we wanted to eat. But within the few minutes it took our bottle to arrive, we had changed our order preferences at least five times. Digging into the hot bread on the table, I could resist replacing my original appetizer order with the hand-pinched pasta our waiter marveled about. The grilled lamb special also somehow finagled its way into our order.

The pasta appetizer was a dream. The noodles were pinched into little purses around a splotch of ricotta cheese with a tiny pear bite in the middle. The tinge of sweetness from the fruit met with the creamy cheese and the fresh pasta for a heavy, yet stunning appetite tease.

The linguini with seafood and sausage in a marinara-garlic sauce was superb as a main course, but nothing could hold a candle to the succulent lamb. Grilled to perfection, the lamb chops slid off their bone with a gentle nudge from a knife and the risotto served with them rounded out the Italian meal. Boxes to go were a must, but later that night and the next day the leftovers were gladly gobbled up.

At Manuel’s Vintage Room, the flickering candles, the wine, the food and the ambience compliment each other seamlessly like a well-rehearsed orchestra and beseech you to stay all night long while reminding you why you feel in love with Italian in the first place.

KP’s Crumbs: Simply, go to Manuel’s. It’s, by far, the best Italian I’ve had in Gainesville. It makes for a wonderful date locale or intimate dinner. Its small space and cooked-to-order food are more like eating at someone’s home than a restaurant and you’d certainly be missing out if you didn’t go. Get the lamb and the pasta pouches, assuming they are on special when you go.

My end of the date rate the plate: Fork and spoon until it hurts and you feel like you can’t eat any more. Then, bring the rest home so you can enjoy forking and spooning at home…what better way to consummate your meal.

Manuel's Vintage Room

6 South Main St., Gainesville, Florida, 352.375.7372