New eatery is at 12 S. Main St.
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
A simple, quite effective business philosophy is involved.
”It’s East meets West,” Charlie Yeh said Aug. 16. It is indeed. For four years, Mr. Yeh and his wife, Sharon, have run the Asian restaurant, Somo Sushi, on South Main Street in Pennington.
Now they have new venture: the Viva Gelato Café.
Viva Gelato is at 12 S. Main St., in the eastern end of the same Pennington Court brick building that houses Somo Sushi in its western end.
Viva Gelato had its grand opening Aug. 16. Officials on hand included Pennington Mayor Tony Persichilli, Pennington Borough Councilman Weed Tucker and West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hseuh, an old friend of the Yeh family.
Made fresh on the premises every day are many different flavors of gelato, a low-fat Italian cream, and sorbetto. “Gelato has a wonderful, high-intensity flavor, but it is low-fat,” Mr. Yeh said. “That’s the whole idea. It’s 4 percent milk fat. Regular American ice cream is about 16 percent.”
Gelato is available in a cup, on a cone, or mixed with fruit and toppings in all kinds of sundaes and blends.
But this is a true café, so there’s a lot more here than desserts. There’s a wide variety of coffee and tea drinks, frappes, salads, quesadillas, panini sandwiches, bagels and breakfast sandwiches.
”All our baked goods come from the Lawrenceville Village Bakery,” Mr. Yeh said. “I think it’s the best around. All our coffees are from Small World Coffee, always fresh ground.”
Also like a true café, Viva Gelato is open long hours from 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 7:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sunday.
”You come in, have something to eat or drink, relax and hang out, talk with your friends, read the paper, whatever you like,” Mr. Yeh said. “You can have some sushi next door, then have a nice gelato. It makes a good dessert that way. East meets West.”