Adding to the influx of fresh new businesses to post-construction Preston Street is a new homemade gelato bar, Gelatini. It’s the dream-come-true for Monica Pilotti, a native Ottawan of half-Italian stock who wanted to follow in the footsteps of her relatives in Italy and open a gelateria. She dragged her partner Christopher Hiscock, a self-proclaimed Italophile (lover of all things Italian) throughout gelato’s home country on a tasting tour. Now the pair makes their own small batches from scratch featuring fresh fruits and nuts from a local roastery.

So which flavours are currently available? The answer changes daily. It might be coconut, chocolate hazelnut, banana cashew — up to 16 different flavours. These guys are open to trying anything and welcome special requests. That’s how they ended up with a recent batch of chocolate raspberry.

When I dropped by Monica was working on a fresh batch of lemon gelato and proudly demonstrated how she squeezes the citrus using an old-fashioned squeezer. She then pointed to the huge frozen drink machine on the counter — half filled with frozen lemonade (the other side with frozen coffee) indicating that she had already squeezed a lot of lemons this way. Why not get yourself an electric squeezer? I ask. She says she worries it might make her lemonade too bitter so for now it’s 100% elbow grease.

We’ll keep an eye on this refreshing little spot in the coming months. Things are going to get interesting for the pair as they prepare to juggle the business with their other full-time jobs — she is a high school teacher, he works for a software company.

Gelatini, 344 Preston St. 613-235-8050

Hours: Mon-Thurs: noon – 10pm; Fri – Sat: noon – 10:30pm; Sun: 2:30pm – 10pm