A beloved Seattle-area gelato shop is almost ready to start scooping in Tacoma

Kristine Sherred
Updated ·3 min read

Medzo Gelato, a beloved shop that has had stops in Burien, Seattle and British Columbia, is coming to Tacoma.

Jennifer and Fareed Al-Abboud will soon open their newest — and only — location at 612 Tacoma Ave. S., formerly home to Cider & Cedar, later this spring.

Since 2016, the couple — who first learned to make Italy’s famous cold treat from scratch at the Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna — have nurtured their reputation for high-quality gelato in flavors ranging from the classic pistachio and stracciatella to rose, saffron rice and even peanut butter.

Medzo Gelato will open at 612 Tacoma Avenue South The owners have been making gelato since 2016 (and selling it for a decade), known best for their (now closed) shop in Burien.
Medzo Gelato will open at 612 Tacoma Avenue South The owners have been making gelato since 2016 (and selling it for a decade), known best for their (now closed) shop in Burien.

“We don’t cut corners,” said Jennifer, sitting at the shop in April. “We make true, traditional, artisan gelato.”

On their first trip to Italy, for a monstrous trade show called Sigep: The Dolce World Expo (described as the “international trade show of artisan gelato, pastry, bakery and the coffee world”), they were called “fanaticos,” they recalled. The floor was full of big companies trying to sell them machines that could accommodate multiple batches at once, bases to which you could just plug and play flavors (known as the classic method).

“We left discouraged. We wanted to know how to make it from scratch,” said Jennifer. They bought the equipment, attended a workshop in Los Angeles and took a course at Gemelli Gelato, a famous shop in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

At Medzo (short for “Mediterranean Zone”), they use the much more laborious direct method, mixing every ingredient from start to finish batch by batch. The shop’s motto is “one pan at a time.” They also craft their own caramel and chocolate pastes.

Unlike ice cream, gelato should not look “fluffy,” explained Jennifer, who learned to love the stuff while studying abroad as a college student at the University of Puget Sound. “It sits low in the pan.”

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The couple also grew fond of it during a three-year stint in Dubai, where she taught high-school Spanish and Fareed, who was born in Kuwait and raised in Egypt, taught elementary art: There was a gelato shop run by an Italian expat across the street.

While we talked, contractors were hanging a metal sign with the shop’s name on the back wall. With the custom glass lights, a countertop-turned-bench and their own photos from around the world, it’s one of many relics in the new shop that represent Medzo’s winding journey, which, under this name, began in 2016 in downtown Burien. At that point, the Al-Abbouds had been in the gelato business since 2013, starting with a shop in Bainbridge then Alki. Called Gelarto, they sold other brands, but when they felt the quality had dropped, said Jennifer, “We decided we would make our own.”

Fareed Al-Abboud serving mini gelato cones outside the old Burien shop during a street fair. “People lined up around the block for a taste,” said Jennifer.
Fareed Al-Abboud serving mini gelato cones outside the old Burien shop during a street fair. “People lined up around the block for a taste,” said Jennifer.

The couple, who met at a salsa dancing class in Spokane 20 years ago, also had a shop in Pioneer Square for just shy of a year, closing it in March 2020. Then they briefly lived in Victoria, B.C., where they ran Medzo as a pop-up at marketplaces while looking for a permanent location, thinking that is where they would retire. Their prospective space fell through, and they returned to the United States.

Someone told them a funny tidbit: When you search “gelato Tacoma” online, Medzo — in Burien — pops up. That’s because there is no dedicated gelato shop here. (There is a great one in Olympia, Sofie’s Scoops.)

When Medzo opens, hopefully by summer, guests can enjoy a scoop of single-pan gelato made and served by the Al-Abbouds. In addition to favorite flavors like baklava, orange blossom, Amarena cherry and gianduja (chocolate hazelnut), they have created a flavor just for Tacoma: Grit City Gold, a dark chocolate gelato dotted with Almond Roca.

MEDZO GELATO - TACOMA

▪ 612 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, facebook.com/MedzoGelatoBar

▪ Details: from-scratch gelato at new shop from established makers, target opening late spring 2023

Correction: An earlier version of this story listed the incorrect neighborhood for the Seattle store that closed in 2020. It was in Pioneer Square, not Capitol Hill.