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I just got back from a much-needed vacation in New England with my husband and baby. My cousin invited us to join her family on Martha's Vineyard for a week, and we were more than happy to do so, even though it meant a 2,000-mile road trip getting there and back.

I was blown away by some of the food we had on our trip -- amazing pizzas and pastas from my brother-in-law's D.C. restaurant; Portuguese chicken and rice outside New Bedford, Mass.; linguiça and cheese croissants while we waited for the ferry; and family feasts cooked by all of us at my cousin's rented house, made even better with local greens, beans, corn, tomatoes, and eggs.

Of course we ate our share of ice cream, too -- sweet, sweet Grape Nut (a New England staple, according to my husband), peppery ginger, and the occasional frothy chocolate frappe. But the ice cream that really knocked our socks off came from a tiny little gelato shop we stumbled upon one warm and lucky day.

One shared bowl of blueberry mint sorbet with lavender-scented peach gelato wasn't nearly enough, and I really should have gone back for more. But since I was never able to go back, I left the island even more excited about trying Café Gelato, the Winston-Salem gelato shop at the top of my list of places to visit.

Café Gelato is located right across busy Reynolda Road from Hanes Park, where stone benches encircling a little garden make a good spot for enjoying a cup of the frozen treat. The café's brightly melon-colored exterior makes it stand out among its neighbors . Inside, the brightness is matched by the cheery demeanor of Ciska , the lovely Dutch woman who owns and single-handedly operates the shop (with the occasional help from a friend).

We walked into the tiny store to find a handful of small tables, a wall full of posters for upcoming art shows, yoga workshops, and music events, and a freezer case displaying the nine flavors available that evening. Behind the case, Ciska smiled and chatted and waited to help us. Behind her lay the tiny kitchen, where she makes all the gelato and sorbet from scratch.

To old-fashioned ice cream lovers, the very word gelato might sound fancy or foreign, too unusual to merit going out of the way for. But gelato simply comes from "gelare," the Italian verb to freeze, nothing fancy about it. One big difference from American ice cream is that gelato, made with milk instead of cream and with fewer (or no) eggs, is typically far lower in fat. Another difference is that the best artisanal gelaterias feature gelato and sorbet made on site that very day, using only the best local ingredients at the peak of flavor, with no chemical stabilizers, emulsifiers, or preservatives.

In keeping with that tradition, Ciska makes her gelato and sorbet in small batches every day. She uses some locally grown fruit, including the figs she was planning to turn into sorbet the day after our visit. A fig lover, I was sorry to have missed trying that flavor.

From choices that included kiwi, coconut, pineapple, lemon, and strawberry, we tried two medium cups -- one with banana and mixed berry sorbets and the other with chocolate and caramel gelati. (Customers can try up to three flavors in a serving.)

At Café Gelato the fruity options are always water-based sorbets, while the non fruit choices such as chocolate, caramel, or coffee, are milk-based. Neither Ciska's sorbets nor gelati contain eggs.

The banana sorbet was so smooth and creamy I found it hard to believe it had no milk. Only the slightest amount of sugar had been added to enhance the bananas' sweet and delicate flavor. My daughter loved this one. The berry blend was smooth, creamy, and enjoyable too, but I wished a single berry had been featured -- some just-picked local blueberries, perhaps. As it was, the blend was somewhat indistinct -- good but maybe just too broad.

The chocolate gelato was dark and rich, and a good pairing with the caramel, though the caramel gelato itself was a tad mild. Caramelizing the sugar just a little longer would have benefited it tremendously. When I asked my husband if he thought it needed a pinch of salt -- as I did -- he looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Uh, no." But I love a good, lightly salted caramel, and to me this gelato needed just a pinch to intensify the flavor.

My only criticism of this sweet little shop would be that more local and seasonal ingredients could be featured, especially at this time of year, when peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, and blueberries are still so abundant. As well, one or two more adventurous flavor combinations would make the selections more exciting.

At the same time, I was inspired and impressed by the small size and efficiency of the operation, which has been open for a little more than two years now. Judging from Ciska's warm smile and inviting presence, the Triad will have the chance to enjoy her gelato for many years to come.

Cheap Eats features local restaurants for diners on a budget. It runs every other week in Go Triad. Contact Angie DeCola at angiedecola@hotmail.com.