Accurso’s Italian Restaurant wins Sugar Rush for second year

For the second year in a row, restaurateur Anthony Accurso  – of Accurso’s Italian Restaurant at 4890 Main – was selected by participants (using gumballs as ballots) as the winner of the “KC Sweetheart Award” at the third annual Pitch Sugar Rush event. Sugar Rush was held February 20 at the Promise Wedding and Event space at 1814 Oak.

Accurso had one of the most elaborate displays of desserts at the event, serving samples of his restaurant’s signature cheesecake on a red velvet cake crust, a melon-basil-and mint frozen granita, and an intoxicating  house-made brown-sugar ice cream made from Maker’s Mark bourbon infused with cherries and blood oranges: “It’s a pretty potent ice cream,” Accurso says. “We had to ask for IDs of anyone who wanted a sample.”

The ice cream was such a success (among tasters of legal age) that Accurso has decided to add the confection to his restaurant’s dessert menu.

“My sister, Gina Accurso-Lee, will be making it for the restaurant,” Accurso says.

The desserts at Accurso’s are already a family affair: Anthony’s grandmother, Mimi, makes the cheesecake for the restaurant, and the tiramisu is from a family recipe.