Pinoli, which means pine nut in Italian, is devoted to bringing Italian-style gelato to the White City, but it’s hardly the first place to do that. While it offers many flavors that have received high marks from ice-cream lovers – such as mascarpone, pistachio and Belgian chocolate – people are talking about its pine-nut flavor.And one of those people, fortunately for Pinoli’s owners, Golan Dahan and Yoash Amar, is Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who praised the shop on its Facebook page not long after it opened in early May.He wrote: “I ended the week with a great ice cream from a new ice cream parlor, Pinoli. Believe it or not – it opened just yesterday, the most challenging timing for a new business to open in this city. The two partners, Yoash and Golan, are former paratroopers who fulfilled a dream, invested all their money in renovations, and just before the opening – the coronavirus arrived and disrupted the plans... The pine-nut flavor is warmly recommended.”
The owners, childhood friends from Maccabim-Reut, were surprised and delighted to get this endorsement.But the mayor is far from the only fan.Rita Goldstein of Mako wrote: “The pine nut ice cream comes with roasted pine nuts on top, and it is relatively delicate in taste and quite sweet, so it was surprising.”While the pine-nut flavor may not be for everyone, it seems to be getting people into the store, where they may go for one of the more conventional ice-cream varieties.It looks like opening now when there is so little news on the foodie front may not have been such a nutty idea.