It’s a question we answer most of the year, “Why don’t you have cherry sorbetto?” We certainly do have cherry sorbetto but we only serve our Cherry Sorbetto for a few months each year because that is the cherry season here in Northern California. While our competitors make their cherry flavors with anything from frozen cherries to cherry concentrate and even canned cherry pie filling (don’t laugh, I’ve seen it) ours is made with Bing cherries grown nearby in Linden, CA.

For four years now Mike from B&B Ranch has given me a call and invited me out to whatever part of their 160 acre orchard they are picking from. Every time he shows me around and talks about how the crop is and the price.

Luckily he doesn’t expect me to pick my own from the tree. I usually just take a few pictures and eat way too many cherries. I do get my pick of the already picked, though. In the photo, the two crates on the back of the trailer are just a few of the cherries I selected from the hundreds of pounds they were quickly harvesting.

We invite you to try our freshly picked, freshly made Bing Cherry Sorbetto. It won’t be here long.

For a limited time you can stop by two Cost Plus World Market stores and enjoy some of our gelato. It turns out the CEO of Cost Plus World Markets, Barry, has been a regular guest at our gelato shop in Walnut Creek for some time. He gave us a call and said, “How about it?”

We didn’t hesitate, of course.

So if you are in Greenbrae, near The Village at Corta Madera, or you are in San Jose at The San Jose Marketcenter on Coleman Ave, please stop by.

Each store features 12 different flavors of our fresh, hand-crafted gelato including our local Pistachio Gelato, our fresh Strawberry Sorbetto and more worldly flavors like Masala Chai. You can even find a Gingersnap Cookie flavor, made just for Cost Plus.

Gelato at an art gallery opening?
We’ve done it.

Gelato for a Yahoo! corporate event, for 2,000?
We’ve done it.

Gelato at an outdoor wedding?
We’ve done it, several times.

Gelato at a Pixar wrap party?
We’ve done it.

Bar Mitzva? Birthday? Luau? Sorority fundraiser?
Done it, done it, done it, done it.

Please give us a call the next time you suddenly get stuck with the party planning duties. Small orders can be picked up in our stores and large events are handled with our portable gelato cart and staff. A couple gallons of gelato or a couple thousand of people, we can help.

This month we have added two new Whole Foods Markets to the list of stores we supply. The Whole Foods Market in Cupertino, on Stevens Creek Blvd, features twelve flavors of our gelato in their bakery department. The new store there replaces the previous store which had been serving Cupertino since 1976. It is big and beautiful.

A few miles away you can order twelve different flavors of our gelato at the Whole Foods Market in Los Altos on El Camino Real. You can grab a cup of our gelato in the prepared foods section right next to the friendly ladies who make those great burritos for everyone at lunchtime.

Coming soon, our gelato will also be available at the Whole Foods Market in Monterey.

Valentine’s Day is all about love. Sometimes it’s who you love and sometimes it’s what you love. We love chocolate and Valentine’s Day at Naia means 22 different flavors of chocolate gelato.

Starting tomorrow, and running through the weekend, we will feature our annual Valentine’s Day assortment of chocolates. Our huge display of everything chocolate is part Willy Wonka, part Cupid.

Come by any of our stores and indulge with a loved one in flavors like Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Orange and Chocolate Marzipan. Or maybe you prefer our more passionate flavors like Cioccolato Mortale (Italian for “death by chocolate”), Bacio (Italian for “kiss”), and Romeo & Juliet.

How many samples of gelato can trade show attendees eat in three days? We gave out just over 4,500 samples of Scharffen Berger Chocolate, Pistacchio, Stracciatella, Peanut Butter Chip, Tangerine, Blood Orange, Kiwi and Masala Chai Gelato. We met many potential customers, talked a lot about our gelato, campaigned for the Real Gelato Standard, heard from so many fans, and of course, gave out so many samples. It was great to be in the same room with several national competitors and have people pick our gelato as their clear favorite.

We also found time to sample some of the other offerings. There was delicious smoked salmon, tasty cookies, spicy popcorn, and tons of amazing cheeses and chocolates just to name a few. Of course there were some not so delicious items. Several pedestrian energy drinks, fortune cookies dressed up as tacos and cannoli, and a company that did bad things with bacon.

When the holidays roll around we get busy making some of our favorite gelato flavors. Our gelato flavors this year include old favorites like Egg Nog, Peppermint Schnapps, Panettone, Gingerbread and one of my favorites, Snowflake. We are also making a deliciously tart Cranberry Sorbetto. New this year is Roasted Chestnut Gelato.

Members of Club Naia already got a preview tasting of all of the flavors. A large crowd of members converged on our Berkeley and North Beach stores to sample and rate our batch of this year’s flavors. The free gelato made some act like they got an early present. To be invited to our next gelato flight, come into one of our stores and sign up to be a Club Naia member.

Until then, stop by for some Christmas cheer and share some hope for the New Year. You would be surprised how a little cup of gelato can warm you up.