Downtown's favorite gelato shop will shutter at the end of February as co-owner and chef Desyree Alberganti steps away.
"I have to let you know that I will not be part of this business anymore," Alberganti wrote on Facebook Tuesday. "My last day will be February 28 ... Unavoidable circumstances have forced me to part ways and dissolve this business. While I feel that I have put [forth] every ounce of passion, excitement and hard work, partnerships require more than that."
Alberganti, a former pastry chef at the long-popular Valentino restaurant at Venetian, opened Art of Flavors in 2013 at 1616 Las Vegas Blvd. South.
Felix Arellano, owner of the adjacent Viva Las Arepas Venezuelan restaurant and co-owner of Art of Flavors, says the shop will close for renovations but will reopen under the same name at an unspecified date .
"Some changes had to be done in order for the business to survive," Arellano says.
Arellano, who also worked at Valentino among other Venetian restaurants, plans to make the gelato.
Alberganti would not comment on her reasons for leaving the business, but says she intends to take a break and return with a project of her own.
"But I am far from done," she wrote. "I will take a break with my family and I will come back bigger and better than ever before."
