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THE BEST: Ice Cream in NYC


AppleBrownBetty

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The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and the Laboratorio del Gelato.

I have heard that the gelato at Otto is good, but I have never been able to go there to try it. In fact, the only reason I want to go there is to try the gelato.

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and the Laboratorio del Gelato.

I have heard that the gelato at Otto is good, but I have never been able to go there to try it. In fact, the only reason I want to go there is to try the gelato.

I can confirm that Otto serves some primo stuff.

Content with Haagen-Dazs, I'm not really that much of an ice cream fan and cannot contribute anything further to this thread. :cool:

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Well, I'll nominate some places for consideration:

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

Il Laboratorio di Gelato

Ciao Bella

Cones

Mary's Dairy

Otto

Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

I don't know if I could pick a favorite: I love Chinatown's almond cookie, Il Labortorio's wonderful, Otto's olive oil is eye-opening, Mary's Dairy is a local standby...

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Content with Haagen-Dazs, I'm not really that much of an ice cream fan and cannot contribute anything further to this thread.  :cool:

How is this possible! My girlfriend is the same way. The only ice cream she likes is ice cream with chunks in it, like Ben and Jerry's. And she'd be happy with just the chunks. I can't stand gratuitous bits of anything in my ice cream.

I am a big fan of Il Laboratorio, and also enjoy Otto a great deal. Otto's gelato has the texture I associate with gelato in Italy -- that is, uniformly smooth -- while Il Lab's gelato tends to take on the texture of whatever flavor it is: its chocolate gelato feels like melted chocolate in the mouth.

Cones!  on bleecker st.  The zabaglione flavor is the best thing I've ever tasted.  Also love the strawberry and coconut.

I rarely see the flavor in New York; I'll have to try it at Cones!

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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Max & Mina's in Kew Gardens Hills. The regular flavors are fantastic, the slightly bizarre hit (chocolate covered potato chips, sweet corn, horseradish) or miss (lox and cream cheese, baked beans). And for those without a care for their health, there's the über-Orthodox kind (I forget the Hebrew word) that has like 90% butterfat. (It's not that high, but it really high - I want to say 40%.)

I miss this place dearly ever since I moved back to Brooklyn.

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I wouldn't say that the quality of Mary's is all that incredible but they make a flavor I was dangerously addicted to all last summer: chocolate halvah.  Really evil stuff!

That's funny, that's something I was thinking about trying to make this summer. I'll have to go there and see what they came up with.

I've tried Chinatown Ice Cream Factory a couple of times and was rather underwhelmed. The flavors struck me as being pretty weak and the ice cream itself was only so-so.

There used to be a nice ice cream shop in Brooklyn called Peter's, but sadly they went out of business a few years ago.

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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Content with Haagen-Dazs, I'm not really that much of an ice cream fan and cannot contribute anything further to this thread.  :cool:

How is this possible! My girlfriend is the same way. The only ice cream she likes is ice cream with chunks in it, like Ben and Jerry's. And she'd be happy with just the chunks. I can't stand gratuitous bits of anything in my ice cream.

Don't get me wrong, I like ice cream a lot, I'm just perhaps less snobbish about it, or at least more content with just-okay ice cream than I am with other just-okay food items.

I really enjoy the gelato at Alidoro (formerly Melampo), where I am probably three times a week when I'm in New York. :blush:

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Content with Haagen-Dazs, I'm not really that much of an ice cream fan and cannot contribute anything further to this thread.   :cool:

How is this possible! My girlfriend is the same way. The only ice cream she likes is ice cream with chunks in it, like Ben and Jerry's. And she'd be happy with just the chunks. I can't stand gratuitous bits of anything in my ice cream.

Don't get me wrong, I like ice cream a lot, I'm just perhaps less snobbish about it, or at least more content with just-okay ice cream than I am with other just-okay food items.

I really enjoy the gelato at Alidoro (formerly Melampo), where I am probably three times a week when I'm in New York. :blush:

Haagen-Dazs is more than just average ice cream, so maybe you're snobbier -- in a good way :smile: -- than you think.

I haven't tasted Alidoro's gelato since they started offering it. Have you asked where they get it or whether they make it? I've also heard good things about the gelato at the Italian cafe on First Ave, right near Momofuku. Rumor has it that two Romans make it and deliver it daily.

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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I haven't tasted Alidoro's gelato since they started offering it. Have you asked where they get it or whether they make it?

He's definitely making it there. I've gotten it only once or twice, asking just for a "cup of gelato" and getting basically an ideally-proportioned (unsurprisingly ideally-proportioned, I should say, given that Alidoro is all about perfectly-proportioned sandwiches) mixture of whatever flavors he felt were good that day, topped with a tiny bit of an almost absurdly rich chocolate that worked really well when eaten in tiny doses in combination with the other flavors.

EDIT: Sadwiches is the opposite of what they should be called.

Edited by kurl (log)
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While I love the ice cream at Laboratorio, I would argue that the best ice cream that can be had in New York is not made in New York at all - Capogiro Gelato, out of Philadelphia, available at Garden of Eden, is the best ice cream I've ever eaten, bar none. It's very pricey (about $10 a pint) but has more flavor packed into it than anything I've ever eaten. And their flavors are simply incredible.

Check out the website: http://www.capogirogelato.com

I want pancakes! God, do you people understand every language except English? Yo quiero pancakes! Donnez moi pancakes! Click click bloody click pancakes!

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The place in China Town has an amazing almond (??) flavored ice cream - and I would suggest Otto as well, although I have never been, I have sensed the passion from the gelataia and it seems to be a very true passion!

Yeah it's almond cookie and its great. I am a big fan of that one and the green tea.

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While I love the ice cream at Laboratorio, I would argue that the best ice cream that can be had in New York is not made in New York at all - Capogiro Gelato, out of Philadelphia, available at Garden of Eden, is the best ice cream I've ever eaten, bar none.  It's very pricey (about $10 a pint) but has more flavor packed into it than anything I've ever eaten.  And their flavors are simply incredible.

Check out the website: http://www.capogirogelato.com

I've eaten at Capogiro's shop in Philly and was not blown away. It was good, but I thought many of the flavors missed their marks and were too sweet. But that was a while ago; I should try it again.

How do you all feel about take-out containers of good gelato? I once bought a container of Il Lab's gelato and stored it in my fridge. I don't recommend it. I'm almost positive that my fridge is to blame, but either way, the texture suffered a lot. Haagen Dazs ice cream fares much better, though both are made without preservatives or gums.

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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While I love the ice cream at Laboratorio, I would argue that the best ice cream that can be had in New York is not made in New York at all - Capogiro Gelato, out of Philadelphia, available at Garden of Eden, is the best ice cream I've ever eaten, bar none.  It's very pricey (about $10 a pint) but has more flavor packed into it than anything I've ever eaten.  And their flavors are simply incredible.

Check out the website: http://www.capogirogelato.com

I've eaten at Capogiro's shop in Philly and was not blown away. It was good, but I thought many of the flavors missed their marks and were too sweet. But that was a while ago; I should try it again.

How do you all feel about take-out containers of good gelato? I once bought a container of Il Lab's gelato and stored it in my fridge. I don't recommend it. I'm almost positive that my fridge is to blame, but either way, the texture suffered a lot. Haagen Dazs ice cream fares much better, though both are made without preservatives or gums.

We've found that their flavors are very true to their original ingredients - so much so that in some cases, it may not be the flavor that you're really expecting (their pumpkin is especially true in this case - it is a true pumpkin ice cream, without the pumpkin pie spices you usually come across). But try one bite of something like the coconut and it'll totally blow your mind.

I want pancakes! God, do you people understand every language except English? Yo quiero pancakes! Donnez moi pancakes! Click click bloody click pancakes!

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We've found that their flavors are very true to their original ingredients - so much so that in some cases, it may not be the flavor that you're really expecting (their pumpkin is especially true in this case - it is a true pumpkin ice cream, without the pumpkin pie spices you usually come across).  But try one bite of something like the coconut and it'll totally blow your mind.

Cool. I'm a big fan of that idea; I'll definitely have to give it another shot. Have you ever purchased the to-go version? How does it hold up?

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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I've eaten at Capogiro's shop in Philly and was not blown away. It was good, but I thought many of the flavors missed their marks and were too sweet. But that was a while ago; I should try it again.

I've tried several flavors at Capogiro that I felt just didn't work, but when they do, it's the best gelato I've had. I'm willing to bet that the flavors they're shipping up to NY are pretty solid, rather than the more whimsical or experimental concoctions. But that's the beauty of making new stuff every day, you can give some whacky ideas a whirl.

I'm confident you wouldn't find the Cioccolato Scuro too sweet. That has displaced the Chocolat noir from Berthillon as the apex of frozen indulgence for me... So please do give them another try, either at Garden of Eden, or on your next trip south.

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

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I'm confident you wouldn't  find the Cioccolato Scuro too sweet. That has displaced the Chocolat noir from Berthillon as the apex of frozen indulgence for me...  So please do give them another try, either at Garden of Eden, or on your next trip south.

OK, I'm convinced! But where is Garden of Eden???

Thanx

Jeff

Mr. G.

"Pray for whirled peas"

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We usually get the to-go version, actually, since we live in New York, but we did make a special trip down to Philly to try it from the source. I think philadining pretty much hit it on the head - the great flavors are the best I've ever had, the other flavors are great from a technical standpoint, it's just that some of the combinations aren't to everyone's liking.

I want pancakes! God, do you people understand every language except English? Yo quiero pancakes! Donnez moi pancakes! Click click bloody click pancakes!

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I haven't tasted Alidoro's gelato since they started offering it. Have you asked where they get it or whether they make it? I've also heard good things about the gelato at the Italian cafe on First Ave, right near Momofuku. Rumor has it that two Romans make it and deliver it daily.

Taralucci e Vini, on First Ave and 10th, used to have some pretty good gelato, but it is no longer. I haven't asked them where it went (perhaps it will reappear in summer).

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