A new café is scooping up 27 flavors of gelato and pouring $2.50 lattes in the pocket mall at 482 Alvarado Street in Downtown Monterey, and its owner is not your typical restaurateur. Gelato Pazzo Cafe opened this week in the spot once occupied by the Twisted Roots head shop, bringing counter-service Italian food and drink at prices well below what many diners might expect on the Monterey Peninsula. According to the City of Monterey's Economic Element, the city's economy has a strong base in tourism, education, military establishments, retail use, health care and clean light industry.
The café is the work of Carl Alasko, who spent more than two decades as a licensed clinical psychotherapist specializing in couples and family therapy before turning to the restaurant business, according to Penguin Random House. Alasko wrote the weekly advice column “On Relationships” for the Monterey County Herald for 13 years and hosted advice radio shows locally before he ever ran a kitchen. As reported by Edible Monterey Bay, Alasko said he wanted to keep himself busy and found the café a new challenge.
Gelato Pazzo Cafe offers gelato parfaits for $7.50, and dishes like focaccia flatbreads, pasta, charcuterie boards, chicken cacciatore and salads ranging from $8.50 to $10.50, per the same account. Coffee, cappuccino, lattes and Italian soda run $2.50 each, and craft beer is $5. The café also pours flights of 27 gelato flavors, including the Ginger Express, made with ginger three ways and fresh basil, the King Edward, built on English toffee, caramel and vanilla, and the Napoleon, flavored with French brandy and madeleine cookies.
A Weekend Deal and a European Approach
Starting this Friday, the café is running a $1 glass of wine, beer or prosecco with any focaccia or pasta purchase, with the promotion running from 4pm to 8pm Friday through Sunday. The café plans an early opening at 1pm that day before settling into its regular hours of 11:30am to 9pm daily, the outlet reports.
Manager Laura Iannattone, a native of Naples, said the restaurant's first priority is affordability for large families, and that Gelato Pazzo Cafe aims to operate in a European style, per Edible Monterey Bay's report. The space includes natural light and atrium seating with counter service and no-frills follow-up, a setup meant to keep overhead — and prices — down.
Above the Café, a Longtime Neighbor
The building itself changed hands on April 30, 2025, for $2,450,000, according to Coldwell Banker listings. Upstairs from the café's atrium courtyard sits Old Capitol Books, a longtime independent used bookstore that is open six days a week, according to Old Monterey. The bookstore makes the pocket mall a mixed hub of food and literary culture in the heart of downtown. According to the City of Monterey's Monterey Citywide Transportation and Parking Study, the city is examining parking supply and demand conditions in the downtown study area.
From Rome to Pacific Grove to Monterey
Alasko's approach to low-cost, authentic Italian food traces back decades. He lived in Rome from 1963 to 1974, where he absorbed traditional Italian dining customs, and later consulted with Roman chefs to train his original kitchen staff, according to the Pacific Grove Public Library. That grounding shaped Il Vecchio, the Pacific Grove trattoria Alasko opened in August 2011.
After 13 years running Il Vecchio, Alasko sold the restaurant in June 2024 to its founding opening chef, Stefen Shatto, and Shatto's mother, Kelly Shatto, who had originally helped Alasko open the trattoria as head chef in 2011. Gelato Pazzo Cafe marks Alasko's return to the restaurant world with a faster, more casual format — trading a sit-down trattoria for counter service and gelato cases.
Alasko's creative output extends beyond restaurants and relationship advice. He is the author of “Emotional Bullshit,” published in 2008. More recently, his play “The Perfect Woman,” an artificial-intelligence love story, received its world premiere staged by Pacific Repertory Theatre in Carmel, directed by Nina Capriola, and had a sold-out six-show run this year.
Ahead of opening, the café was preparing for its launch. More details on the menu and hours are available at gelatopazzocafe.com. The City of Monterey said it launched an Economic Development Survey on September 1, 2026, seeking input from residents, business owners, community-organization leaders and others.
