Coffee & Treats in Destin

San Gelato Café creates Italian confections the proper way, using ingredients and equipment imported from Italy. The shop offers more than 20 of flavors of gelato—including coconut, apple pie, and tiramisu—as well as more than a dozen types of sorbet, in fruit flavors such as banana, pineapple, and papaya. Additionally, the flavor selection always includes gluten-free and dairy-free options. These sweets can be paired with Italian coffee or fresh paninis, wraps, and pizzas.

Inside Roberto's Italian Pizzeria, 14 flat-screen TVs surround the dining room, so guests are never in danger of missing a play as they dig into pizzas fresh from the oven or pastas recently unearthed at a nearby ravioli mine. In addition to serving up crowd favorites, the kitchen crew fires up Italian specialties such as stromboli, caprese salad, and classic minestrone soup.

Kilwin's crafts 32 flavors of its own ice cream, 13 varieties of fudge, and a cornucopia of other sweet treats made from scratch and in store when possible. Crowns of New Orleans praline pecan and fudgie brownie ice cream regally adorn cake or sugar cones ($3.75 for single) as well as store-made waffle cones ($4.25 for single). Sixteen-pound batches of 200-degree fudge spill onto a marble table where chocolate tamers paddle the molten beasts to a creamy consistency ready for sampling or purchasing ($14.95 for 1 lb.). Decadent caramel apples employ a caramel made from scratch to glaze crisp apples made from apple seeds ($4.50 each) as popcorn overflows Kilwin's copper pots and dons a coat of cinnamon ($6.50 for 1 lb.) or peanuts and caramel ($8.50 for 1.25 lbs.).

Staff members at Bon Appetit French Bakery and Cafe stock the glass-display cases with made-from-scratch French pastries, flaky croissants, and crusty, freshly baked breads. Inside the kitchen, chefs dust powdered sugar over napoleons layered with custard and ground up Waterloo battle plans, and they dip puffy éclairs in melted chocolate. During the workweek, they supplement their Parisian baked goods with lunch fare such as middle-eastern platters and custom sandwiches forged from deli-style meats and freshly baked breads.:m]]