A STRONG RECOMMENDATION. Just two weeks before my first time at Dolce Vita, I was swapping food photos with a BFF from back east. I was showing her my tribute to a delicious, simple pasta dish her mother made for her growing up, and that she made for me when we lived together as roommates. She was quick to point out that the dish was supposed to be made with Ditalini, not the Elbows I used. I quickly defended that I couldn't seem to find Ditalini anywhere in Phoenix.
Enter Dolce Vita. Not only is the gelato a sensual experience available in flavors to suit any taste, but there is a carefully chosen, fine selection of imported Italian pastas and Italian grocery items. Many of the pastas are in hard to find shapes...including Ditalini (actually, Ditali, but they're only slightly bigger)!
When last there, I had the South African chocolate gelato. It tasted as though the best chocolate mousse somehow found a way to morph into ice cold, refreshing gelato with a mouth-feel exponentially superior to even the best mousse.
Before leaving I picked up a bag of the Abbracci variety (a half-chocolate, half vanilla, o-shaped biscuit/cookie for coffee) of Barilla's Mulino Bianco Biscuits, and they elevated this morning's coffee to levels only an Italian cookie/biscuit could. If you try them, dunk them in your coffee. They have an otherwise sandy texture.
I haven't tried any of the items from Dolce Vita's menu of prepared foods, but given my successes elsewhere in this store, I'm greatly looking forward to it.