Bacio di Latte | Larchmont Village, LA

The case is the whole argument here: gelato churned daily, fruit sorbets beside it, and nothing else competing for attention.

Milk kiss, made fresh

Bacio di Latte began in São Paulo in 2011, founded by two Italian brothers, and the Larchmont Village shop opened in summer 2023 as part of the brand’s move through Southern California. The name means milk kiss in Italian, which is a fair description of the house style: milk-based gelato made with organic milk and cream, worked dense and creamy rather than airy.

Sourcing is where the shop gets specific. Pistachio and chocolate are imported from Italy, fruit comes from local farmers, and the sorbets shift with what those farms are picking. There is no bread programme, no laminated dough, no cakes and no savoury baking. The kitchen makes frozen dessert and leaves it at that.

A walk-up stop in Larchmont Village

Larchmont Village is a pedestrian stretch of boutiques, cafes and restaurants, and the gelato counter fits into it as a pause rather than a meal. The shop took over a former hat shop space, and the fit-out is deliberately plain: minimal surfaces, with the gelato display doing the work.

The visit is short by design. Look at the case, choose one or two flavours, order at the counter and eat it on the pavement or on the walk back. It suits the end of a meal somewhere else, an afternoon on the street, or the gap between errands. It does not suit a long sit with a laptop.

Order pistachio, then something from the fruit side

Start with pistachio. It is the flavour the shop puts its own sourcing behind, and it is the fastest way to judge whether the milk base is doing its job. Chocolate makes the same argument in a different key, built on Italian chocolate, and is worth ordering once the pistachio question has been settled.

Then cross to the sorbets. They are made with the fruit that arrives from local growers, so the list moves through the year, and a scoop of sorbet next to a scoop of milk gelato is the pairing that shows the difference between the two halves of the case. Two flavours in a cup is the honest order here; anything larger and the gelato softens before the interesting part.