Expand<\/a><\/p>\nGondola Caf\u00e9 serves Gondola Getaway\u2019s home-style Italian coffee with steamed milk, called misto. Their signature version is the tiramisu misto made with a bold, slow-steeped brew with velvety steamed milk infused with their craft tiramisu syrup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s creamy, cocoa-dusted comfort in a cup- almost like a liquid ladyfinger,\u201d said O\u2019Toole, noting that Gondola Caf\u00e9 is \u201cthe only 100% al fresco coffee joint in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cafe also serves traditional menu items including salami or prosciutto wrapped provolone, marinated olives, giardiniera, fresh mozzarella and their locally world-famous cannoli.\u00a0 Also available is the warm cannoli cream stuffed croissants and muffins, which may be the only dockside cannoli in the world, outside of Venezia, according to O\u2019Toole.<\/p>\n
They are currently open at 8:30 am on Saturdays and Sundays; and 10 a.m. on Tuesday through Friday through April. O\u2019Toole says, depending on how popular the business is, that he may implement earlier hours starting in May.<\/p>\n
Speaking of Gondola Getaway, things are starting to ramp up as usual as the business prepares to send a team of gondoliers to participate in the 50-year old Vogalonga, a 30-kilo regatta through the lagoons of Venice, Italy.<\/p>\n
Gondola Getaway has been cruising the canals and Alamitos Bay in gondolas for more than four decades, honoring the history of Naples Island \u2014 which was built in the early 1900s as a Venetian-inspired neighborhood, replete with canals, gondolas, bridges and all Italian street names.<\/p>\n
For 40 of those years The Gondola Getaway has been sending a racing team to Venice to participate in the Vogalonga, and for all of those years, they have been the only American Gondolier team in the regatta.<\/p>\n
This year O\u2019Toole will be bringing four of his top gondoliers to compete on a Gondola Falcada along with him. There are only four of these in Venice, a true classic. This year\u2019s team will include Tom Wood, Scott Engedal, Nick Washburn, and Sam Cowan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis trip is a true and unique immersion into the Venetian culture. We spend a lot of time where most Americans don\u2019t ever get to see,\u201d said O\u2019Toole. \u201cThe boat yards, the canottieri (rowing clubs) and the outer lagoon at restaurants never seen by a tourist. We spend time with the gondoliers, the local families that are running the true Venetian Trattoria.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gondoliers row, eat and live like Venetians during their week of training in Venice \u2014 after months of training here in Alamitos Bay.<\/p>\n
The annual trek to Venezia to represent Long Beach and the United States has enabled Gondola Getaway to bring back the soul of Italy to Alamitos Bay, and all the customers come to enjoy the unique waterfront, O\u2019Toole said.<\/p>\n
The team, meanwhile, is seeking support to fund their trip to Venice to participate in the regatta. They are hoping to raise $4,500, according to a GoFundMe page, which will cover airfare, lodging, race registration, boat rentals, team meals, local transportation, and uniforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting a full crew and gear from California to Italy is a massive undertaking,\u201d the fundraiser said. \u201cThese funds will ensure the team can continue their legacy and proudly represent the USA in Venice.\u201d<\/p>\n
To donate, visit shorturl.at\/C8kOc<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of my favorite local businesses is Gondola Getaway. Owner Mike O\u2019Toole blends tradition with new innovations in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,8132,3739,131,133,132,137,3738],"class_list":{"0":"post-248575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-grunion-business-beat","10":"tag-grunion-news","11":"tag-long-beach","12":"tag-long-beach-headlines","13":"tag-long-beach-news","14":"tag-los-angeles-county","15":"tag-the-grunion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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