In order to gain credibility for the web series, Brian brings his work friend Anthony (an authentic Italian) along on the search for the best pizza in NYC.

Starring
Brian Hoffman
Adam Lerman
Anthony Merlino
Erin O’Brien

Brian is forced to choose between the affections of two girls, during his search for the best corned beef/pastrami in NY.

Starring
Brian Hoffman
Adam Lerman
Lindsey Gentile
Magdalena Rogowski

Brian promises to wait until Adam returns from his summer job to film the next episode. But when he discovers that another food blogger is also making a video about NY’s best ice cream, the competition becomes too much.

Starring
Brian Hoffman
Adam Lerman
Lawrence Weibman
Marianna McClellan
Isaad Gellis

Directed by
Shelley Butler

When Adam doesn’t return his phone calls, Brian searches for a new sidekick to help document the search for NY’s best dumplings. He finds somebody who looks like the perfect replacement. But looks can be deceiving.

Starring
Brian Hoffman
Adam Lerman
Alan Pittman
Jiji Lee

With
Jonathan Monk
Mark Emerson
Amy Heidt

Directed by
Shelley Butler

Anybody who watches Top Chef knows that food is supposed to look as good as it tastes. And some of those dishes the contestants put out look stunning, like works of art. And I’ve been fortunate enough to eat at restaurants where you have to really consider whether you want to use your fork to destroy the chef’s handiwork. But never in my 30-something years, have I ever thought twice before devouring an ice cream cone. Maybe because of the calories, but certainly not because of the aesthetics.

Leave it to the Italians to make me think twice. Amorino recently opened in the West Village to some major excitement. It’s the first U.S. branch of an Italian gelato company. They’ve arrived in hopes of giving Grom a run for their money and based on my first experience there, they just might succeed.

The interior is very classy and European and actually reminds me of the previously mentioned Grom. A few tables and chairs, but I imagine most people come in to take a cone to-go. Now here’s the exciting part: you don’t have to sample anything because you can get as many flavors as you’d like on one cone. Come again? That’s right. This is place is a dream come true for indecisive ice cream lovers like you and me. Can’t decide between hazelnut, banana, burnt salted caramel, coffee, and speculoos (a gingerbread-like Dutch cookie)? Well, you can get them all!

And that’s just what I did. Because of the handsome presentation, you can get up to 20 flavors on even a small order. What they do here is they serve little scoops of each flavor around another so that it blossoms into what looks like a flower-like cornucopia of gelati. It’s quite ingenious and is the cause of many “ooh’s” and “aah’s”.

Now since I don’t have much of an eye for art (and because I prefer the sweet, rich flavors to the lighter fruit sorbets), my cone wasn’t as colorful as it could have been. It was still a neat swirl of layered ice cream, but it was all sort of a wash of white, beige, and brown. No matter. The first bite or two was incredible. The speculoos was everything I imagined it would be, the burnt salted caramel was subtle and sweet, the coffee was strong, and then it sort of became blurry. I’m not sure if it was how I ate it or if I had picked one too many flavors, but it all started to bleed together. It became difficult to taste much aside from sweet, creamy, and cold.

But I fully blame myself here. The ice cream was smooth and soft and from those first few bites, I could tell they were deeply, authentically flavored. I think I just got a little over-excited with the range of possibilities. And so these little bite-size scoops became more of a tease than anything else.

The other reason everybody’s been talking about Amorino is because of the focaccina. It takes the ice cream sandwich to a whole new level. And that’s why they can charge $7 for it! We had to see what all the fuss was about. It reminded me of a cream puff. It’s a dark brioche roll that is magically stuffed with your choice of gelato. The bread is grilled, served warm and when you bite into it, the cold ice cream contrasts with the hot bread. It’s pretty brilliant. And I imagine most people who try it will love it.

For one minor reason, it didn’t blow me away. The brioche was a little too malty and sweet for me – it reminded me of a panettone (you know, those packaged Christmas fruit cakes). I was hoping for something a little more buttery and less raisiny. But the concept was awesome and I like the warm, hot bread with the cold creamy ice cream. Most everybody else will love this and for good reason.

And unlike some other gelaterias in the city, you don’t have to order a large size if you want to try more than one flavor. In addition to really great gelato, Amorino gives you options. And really pretty options at that.

Is Amorino the best ice cream in NY? The only fault I have with it is my own for picking too many flavors that got muddied together, but the fact that they allow that with their really good gelato earns them a 9 out of 10.

Summer is finally approaching again and with it more ice cream and gelato shops try their luck at winning the palettes of New Yorkers. And the war for best gelato in the West Village continues as Love Gelato opens up a nice sized shop on 7th Avenue, close to L’Arte del Gelato and Grom. What separates them is they make all their gelato in New York and they add a little, you know, love.

When I stopped by one Friday night, I was surprised at how big and sterile the room felt. I think I would have guessed this place was new, even if I didn’t know they opened only two weeks earlier. I took a look at the menu and the freezer of flavors. Nothing out of the ordinary here: coffee, nutella, stracciatella, hazelnut, etc. They must have had a busy night because a few of the pints were empty. No complaints here since they were closing up soon. This was a late night after dinner gelato run. It was pushing midnight, so I was grateful they were opened at all.

There was a young girl and guy manning the counter and an older Italian man walking back and forth. He made me a little nervous, but he smiled and I proceeded to ask for my gelato. I always ask for two different flavors in one order to get the maximum experience, but she told me they only allow two flavors in a medium. A small could only be comprised of a single flavor.

It always bothers me that they can’t put two flavors in a small. Mostly it’s to encourage people to order a bigger size. Well, considering the medium was a ludicrous $6.75, they weren’t getting me to upgrade. Before I even had a chance to think about complaining, the employee said she’d make an exception since they were closing. I was grateful, but worried the older man would give her a problem later on.

We sampled the Marscapone, which was nice and tart. But we settled on both the tiramisu and the nocello (hazelnut) in a cup. The tiramisu was very sweet right off the bat. I tasted the marsala flavor of the wine, yet no actual booze. There were slight hints of coffee and cream, but I wish it had been more complex and less cloyingly sweet. The Hazelnut was much better with a rich, nutty flavor. Yet after a little while, the flavor dissipated and it tasted like cold, sweet cream.

The texture on the other hand was very nice. It was soft and creamy, just the way all the good gelato in this neighborhood is. So based on this experience, I’m not sure Love Gelato offers anything that the other places don’t. They claim they’re more local and seasonal, but nothing in the shop felt terribly unique – other than more seating options and late night hours. Which in times of gelato emergency, might make all the difference.

Is Love Gelato the best ice cream in NY? It’s tough to distinguish them from the rest of the gelato competition in the West Village and while they have good texture and it’s made locally, the flavors just didn’t do anything special for me. 7 out of 10.

By now we’ve all heard about the gourmet food truck scene in New York and across the country. I even give a Food Cart Tour every week in Midtown and the Financial District that shows off the wide variety of food options from mobile vendors: everything from schnitzel to falafel to Korean Mexican tacos.

In this city, the craze started with desserts in 2007 when The Treats Truck, Wafels & Dinges, and Dessert Truck all started selling their gourmet sweets on the streets of New York. If you google any of those names, you will see they sell very different products and they’re all hugely successful.

So successful in fact that Jerome Chang (a former pastry chef at Le Cirque) even opened a “brick and mortar” location of Dessert Truck that stays put in the Lower East Side. Treats Truck will also be opening a bakery later this year. And Wafels & Dinges now have three carts in addition to the big truck.

The menu at this very comfortable wide open sweet shop is rather small (with just four dessert options, a handful of cookies and snacks, and two ice cream flavors), but somehow we managed to order almost one of everything. Granted, I did have a Groupon which entitled me to more dessert for my money. But however you look at it, I’m still a glutton.

We ordered an incredibly creamy and tart goat cheese cheese cake that was balanced with a sweetly floral rosemary caramel sauce. We also put away the Warm Molten Chocolate Cake with an intense dark chocolate gooey center that had a rich smooth olive oil center and some roasted pistachios for texture. A special deal was offered on the board that included a dessert, coffee, and macaron. And since I’m a sucker for deals, we also got to sample the Butternut Squash Macaron, which was one of the most uniquely delicious desserts I’ve ever tasted.

The Honey Rosemary Ice Cream was the TONY list item and if it wasn’t essential for my journey, I probably would not have ordered it. I didn’t come by here on my ice cream journey either since DessertTruck Works has a very limited selection of ice cream flavors (just two) and it’s definitely not their speciality.

But just like everything else they produce, the ice cream is intensely flavored and a real unusual treat. I absolutely love rosemary and when it’s incorporated well into strange places (like potato chips or ice cream), I’m won over. The salty earthy rosemary was complemented with a sweet honey finish. The only problem was that the ice cream was rather icy and a bit grainy. So it’s probably not the best ice cream in the city as far as texture, but in terms of flavor balance and uniqueness, it’s some of the best.

Would DessertTruck Works Honey Rosemary Ice Cream make my Top 100 of the year? Is DessertTruck Works the best ice cream in NY? The ice cream, like all their desserts, had a distinct and awe-inspiring flavor, but they only get an 8 out of 10 because the texture wasn’t as creamy as it should be. But it’s still well worth a scoop or three.

I’m a big fan of themes. I enjoy Christmas music (in moderation, of course) on Christmas Eve. I want to watch scary movies on Halloween. And I love making themed playlists (for example, all songs about rain or something like that). It’s not too dissimilar to my obsession with lists. Must have something to do with my ADD or OCD or one of those neurotic abbreviations.

So I love that Shake Shack, Danny Meyer’s blossoming burger joint  names their concretes (custard sundaes) after whichever neighborhood the restaurant is situated in. Shake Shack started as a small stand (with long lines) in Madison Square Park and continues to expand and expand and expand. A Brooklyn location was just announced and a Shake Shack just opened in both Miami and Dubai(!)

They serve the Shark Attack concrete in Miami, the Upper West Slide on Columbus Avenue and the Pineapple Upper East Side Cake on the… well, you can probably guess where. But the only location to offer the Great White Way concrete is at one of the newer locations – in the Theater District, of course.

I know I’m in the majority when I say that I’m not a huge fan of the burgers at Shake Shack. I think they’re rather bland and reminiscent of certain national fast food chains, which they are slowly becoming. I don’t understand how and why it’s the most waited for burger in the city. I think they’re just mediocre.

But the concrete we got from Time Out’s list, the aforementioned Great White Way, was worth waiting in line for (although you can use the faster B-line for ice cream treats). It doesn’t sound like anything too inventive (unlike their daily special custard flavors, which rotate and include everything from pumpkin to concord grape to pancakes and bacon)- this is vanilla custard with marshmallow sauce and rice crispies mixed in. Obviously it’s a re-creation of that childhood favorite: the rice crispy treat.

Now I was never a huge fan of those gooey squares. They had to have enough marshmallow for me otherwise I thought they were rather dry. But here it works on a whole different level.

The marshmallow flavor is subtle enough and the creamy vanilla custard sweetens up whatever the marshmallow sauce misses. And those rice crispies are snapping, crackling, and popping in my mouth. They make for a crunchy texture that manages to hold on throughout the dessert.

I never made it to Shake Shack on my official ice cream search (mainly because they’re technically a restaurant that serves ice cream as opposed to an ice cream specialist). And I’m not sure that they’re custard is the best. The vanilla flavor is a little too sweet for me and the other options tend to hinge on the gimmicky side. But when you mix in some interesting and appropriate ingredients (like these), they seem to elevate the custard to be one of the most intense and enjoyable desserts in the city. And giving it a themed name makes it that much more appealing.

Would Shake Shack’s Great White Way Concrete make my Top 100 of the year? The liquid rice crispy treat is better than the real thing and gets an 8 out of 10 because I could (and would) eat it after every meal.

Custard is made with a good deal of eggs and is frozen in a special machine. It makes the ice cream thicker and richer. And in a lot of ways, it makes it a more enjoyable sensation on the mouth. Mouth Feel.

To my knowledge, there aren’t many options for frozen custard in New York. Speaking of huge, I think most locals know Shake Shack by now. They sort of cornered the market on frozen custard in the city creating crazy flavors like Pancakes and Bacon, Concord Grape, and Apple Cinnamon Raisin.

But much more humbly and further away from the spotlight in the Latin American neighborhood of Corona in Queens, Timmy O’s opened about two years ago and they’re making some of the best custard I’ve had in the city or anywhere for that matter.

And before we even arrived, I fell in love with this place. We were at dinner in Flushing and I decided to call Timmy O’s to make sure they were still open (for the night and for the season). I didn’t realize I was actually calling Timmy O’s cellphone. He told me they would be open until 9 but he was not at the store. Sort of disappointed I wouldn’t get to meet this exuberant voice, we still decided to try it out.

They’re a much smaller operation than Shake Shack. Based on articles on the wall and stories the wonderfully sweet employee Rita told us, Timmy has a huge passion for making the custard (he makes it all on premises) and even attended ice cream school in St. Louis. They always offer three choices: vanilla, chocolate, and one special (it was passion fruit today). And Rita quickly gave us a taste of all three.

Wow! These are gourmet custards and instead of using gimmicky flavors (like a previously mentioned burger hut), Timmy O’s makes his with really special ingredients: the vanilla is a special Madagascar vanilla and the chocolate is made from a fancy Dutch cocoa. And you can tell in the flavor that these are more than just generic chocolate and vanilla. They have rich, deep flavors that come alive on your palate. The passion fruit (which is not my favorite dessert flavor) also worked surprisingly well in a dairy form. It wasn’t too tart, not too sweet, perfectly balanced and intensely flavored.

Not sure what to get (Rita kept giving us so many recommendations!), we settled on what they call the Mexican Sundae concrete. It involved both chocolate and vanilla custard, Mexican peanuts (which are just salted), and chocolate suace.

Now a concrete is custard aggressively blended with a topping and then served with a spoon. It’s usually turned upside down to show how thick it is (much like actual concrete, but more delicious). That’s not exactly what we got here. Rita did use the blender, but it ended up being built more like a sundae with whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry on top. It was pretty and quite delicious (somehow we finished the whole thing), but not what I was hoping for in a concrete.

And that’s really my only complaint with Timmy O’s. Rita called it a concrete but from my experience, I was expecting something else. She said they don’t blend it that much because then it would get soupy. Hm. Not sure about that. And I’ve never seen a concrete gussied up and with all those toppings after blending.

But really, should I be complaining? With product this good and a staff this friendly and energetic, I should just shut up and eat the damn stuff. Which is what I did. Especially considering you don’t get frozen custard this good just anywhere in New York. In fact, I’d recommend Shake Shack employees jumping the 7 train to learn a thing or two about real custard.

Is Timmy O’s Frozen Custard the best ice cream in NY? The flavors taste real and the texture of the custard feels great on the mouth. They still get a 9 out of 10 even though I take issue with some of their menu semantics.

There was a little shop called Lulu & Mooky’s in the Lower East Side that specialized in liquid nitrogen ice cream. Which meant you could pick your base (vanilla or chocolate), your flavor (hundreds of options from syrups to coffee to candy), and it was frozen for you right on the spot with lots of smoke and science. I mention it in the past tense because unfortuantely, Lulu & Mooky’s closed just recently (I imagine from really bad business sense) and I never got to taste the “future of ice cream.”

However, down the street sits the original ice cream innovator: Il Laboratorio del Gelato. The name conjures up images of mad scientists in white ice cream lab coats. And while they make ice cream the old fashioned way, it’s their flavor combinations that pushed them into the future.

I’ve loved Il Laboratorio for many years and in the past have touted them as the best ice cream in the city. Well, now I have some credentials and experience and can certainly say they are up there with the best of them. And most of the city concurs considering they are a major ice cream supplier to many of the higher end restaurants in the city.

And I imagine most of those connections occurred for owner and chef Jon Snyder with his first company Ciao Bella. He sold the business in 1989 and after furthering his education, came back to the industry stronger than ever with Il Laboratorio del Gelato. And since then, he’s expanded his unique flavor options and made a bigger name for himself in the NY metro area. Today you’re much more likely to see Il Laboratorio’s product on NY restaurant menus or Whole Foods shelves than it would be to see the name Ciao Bella.

And while most of Il Laboratorio’s business goes towards wholesale, they do offer retail customers 12 different gelato and sorbet flavors from the outdoor stand that is attached to their ice cream kitchen on Orchard Street. And this is a must stop for me every time I find myself even remotely in this area during their business hours (only until 6pm daily).

The flavors run the gamut from cheddar cheese to honey lavender to bourbon pecan to gala apple. The flavors are all unique and as thought out and carefully prepared as any savory dish at a high end restaurant. You can even see the ice cream chefs in the back of the storefront hard at work developing the latest flavor. And the flavors they offer for retail rotate daily from their repertoire. I do wish they varied a bit more because I feel like every time I come by, at least half of the flavors are repeats. I’m dying to try their Pink Peppercorn Tarragon!

I’ve had their seasonal, fresh fruit sorbets in the past and absolutely love them. But this journey is all about creamy ice cream, so I stuck with the gelato. I sampled the meringue, which was a bit sweet. I tasted it mainly because I wasn’t sure how it would taste. When I think of meringues, I think of texture more than anything else. I guess maybe a sugary flavor, so the sweetness here made sense. And I acknowledged that this is a difficult flavor to fully capture.

I also sampled the basil, which basically destroyed my whole process. See, usually I taste a few flavors and then order something else to sample as much as possible. The problem here was that the basil was so perfect that I needed more of it. It had a strong herbaceousness, but was just sweet enough to make it enjoyable and balanced. It was amazingly creamy with no ice crystals and I loved that I was eating a savory sweet dessert that actually worked.

I was allowed to get a second flavor in my small order and had a tough time choosing from great options like dulce de leche and blackberry. But I thought Earl Grey would complement the Basil perfectly. And I was right! It was light and lemony and for me, rivals chocolate and vanilla any day.

It’s all about the ice cream here. It’s a take-out kiosk only so there’s no ambience besides what you’d expect looking into the window of a factory. The servers also seemed to have no personality, but since they’re chefs first and foremost and are not used to working in the customer service industry, I give them a break. But it does feel like they all just want to make ice cream and having to deal with the public is an annoyance of the job.

But like I said, it’s all about the ice cream, so I can let all that go and just enjoy their perfectly creamy, brilliant recipes. It seems like all the ice cream shops in New York are trying something new with cutting edge flavors, but if you want to see how to do it right and not have to worry about whether a flavor will work, come to Il Laboratorio del Gelato. I’ve seen the future and it’s delicious.

Is Il Laboratorio del Gelato the best ice cream in NY? The textures and flavors are all perfectly thought out and work well regardless of what you choose and even though the service is less than friendly and the ice cream flavors are limited (compared to what they make), they win a 9 out of 10 for the ice cream alone.

That was back in 2004. Ciao Bella was once the main gelato supplier for hipper, quality-focused restaurants in the city. Much has changed since then.

Now I’d say most restaurants either make their own ice cream, get it from another local source (Il Laboratorio del Gelato, Van Leeuwen), or just add bacon on top and call it a day. I can’t remember the last time I saw Ciao Bella on a NY restaurant menu. It sort of fell out of fashion (the owner sold it and opened Il Laboratorio, so probably brought customers with him). Or maybe we’ve just discovered in the last 6 years that gelato can be done a lot better with more innovation.

I’m sure the company doesn’t mind too much because in lieu of supplying local NY restaurants, Ciao Bella has expanded – selling their products in grocery stores and distributing the ice cream all across the country (there’s even a kiosk in the Ferry Building in San Francisco). Ciao Bella is now a nationally recognized brand, but it all started in NY.

So I found one of their few remaining storefronts on Mott Street in Nolita. For those that are not familiar with NYC’s strange neighborhood nicknaming phenomenon, Nolita stands for North of Little Italy. The company originally started in Little Italy, so I was very close to the source (although I’m sure that’s no longer where the gelato is made).

Ciao Bella is barely a shop. There’s nowhere to sit and it’s designed literally so you come in, see the flavors, order, and then walk out the exit door. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the floor also worked as a conveyer belt.

I was a bit surprised at the limited number of flavors. And it seemed as if they were out of many of them as well. It was a Saturday night, but well before 9pm. You’d think they’d be fully stocked for their prime time rush. I started my tasting, focusing on the gelatos and only making note of their interesting sorbet flavors (blood orange, blackberry cabernet).

The African chocolate (I’ve never had African chocolate) was really good. It was a bitter very dark chocolate that would rank up there with some of the artisanal chocolates coming out of Brooklyn. There was hope here, except the experience went downhill after that.

The cookies n cream tasted sort of artificial, which strikes me as strange considering the basic flavor components are vanilla,  fresh cream, and chunks of Oreo-type cookies. The Maple Ginger Snap was overwhelmed with ginger cookies killing any sort of maple goodness. My favorite gelato option is anything involving hazelnut. So I had to try the Italian Alba Hazelnut. It too immediately tasted of an extract and I found it a little too sweet. If this was my first experience with hazelnut gelato, it might have been my last.

I settled on a cone of the Mint Chocolate Chip. It started off promising with strong fresh mint notes, but the intensity faded away as I discovered a bit of iciness and a lack of chocolate chips.

Besides the mint, the gelato all had a nice, soft light texture to them. I found it to be lacking in the dense flavor department and I feel some of their flavors are compromised by sweet extracts, which I can only attribute to either laziness or cheaper mass production.

For the most part, the gelato was pleasant. I just expected more from what was once NY’s pre-eminent gelato supplier. Times have a-changed, my friend. Makes me want to drop back into Café Joul and check out their current gelato supplier. I hope they’ve changed with the times.

Is Ciao Bella the best ice cream in NY? Maybe once many years ago, but with progress (or selling out), they’ve slipped behind as other more innovative and quality focused companies have taken their place, leaving them with a 6 out of 10.

But I’m somewhat of a hypocrite aren’t I? I preach the religion of food. And I’ve become a bit obsessive and tend to force my ideas on all my blog followers. Now just send me checks payable to the church of Eat This NY.

The reason I bring all this up is because the most recent ice cream shop I’ve discovered is connected to, funded by, and in support of The Father’s Heart Ministries. And you’d never know this about Alphabet Scoop unless you paid close attention to the motto: “Changing Lives One Scoop at a Time” or noticed the free bibles available on your way out.

And from what I can gather from their website, The Father’s Heart does some really great things for the community, the homeless, the elderly, and the youth. It may all be through the word of God, but if they can keep kids off the street and help feed the homeless, I’m all for it.

What I’m not all for is bad ice cream. And I find it telling that on their website, all the good things Alphabet Scoop provides for the people are listed first and then it basically says, “Oh yeah, we make quality ice cream on premises.” Not so fast.

God help me for saying this, but the ice cream here is pretty bad across the board. And the vibe inside is very strange. I guess it’s more suited for families early in the day, but it’s a very weird vibe for this area of the East Village. Pink and white ice cream cone drawings adorn the walls. The kids working there were friendly enough but seemed a little too wholesome for this neighborhood.

We asked for some tastes which they were very happy to provide in those little paper cups usually reserved for frozen yogurt sampling. Doesn’t quite make sense with harder premium ice cream. And this ice cream was very hard. I watched the guy trying to scoop out an icy taste and it looked like hard work. If this ministry provides nothing else for these kids, at least it’s keeping them in shape.

I first tried the Chocolate Almond. I was expecting chocolate ice cream with almond pieces, but it was the other way around. Almond ice cream with chocolate pieces. Anybody who knows anything about flavors knows this is probably not the best idea. Especially when they’re loading the ice cream with disgustingly sweet almond extract. It was cloying and almost inedible. The Coco Pine fared better with bland coconut ice cream enlivened by sweet pineapple pieces. The Coffee (my favorite ice cream flavor) brought us back into nauseating land. It was way too sweet and had a heavy thick mouthfeel with a flat coffee flavor. More extract, I’m sure.

For my cone, I got two flavors although the scooper had no sense of proportion as I ended up with a huge portion of Razzle Dazzle and just a smidge of Cookies n Cream. The latter also somehow tasted like a syrup and I’m not even sure there were actual cookie pieces in there. How hard is it to crush up Oreos and add them to the ice cream mix?

The Razzle Dazzle matched the wallpaper of the store. It was White Chocolate ice cream (I mean can it get any sweeter?) with a swirl of artificial raspberry swirl that I don’t think had any fruit in its origin. The only saving grace here was the dark chocolate pieces which just slightly mellowed out the sweetness.

It took me a while to actually taste the product because I was snapping so many pictures. Normally this is a problem as the ice cream warns me its time to eat by dripping down my hand. In this case, all that time worked in its favor because the icy treats needed some time to thaw. The temperature in the freezer is way too cold and I can tell by the hard, unpleasant texture.

A free sprinkle bar (just the rainbow and chocolate options) is a nice touch, but do we really need more sugar on these sweet treats? Also, the ice cream is the cheapest I’ve encountered on my journey (both in quality and price). Two small cones came to $4, which is usually the price of one cone. But who wants to spend any money on less than quality ice cream?

And then of course, there are always those free bibles. I just wish somebody would offer a free ice cream recipe book. God knows these folks need it!

Is Alphabet Scoop the best ice cream in NY? 3 out of 10 puts them at the bottom. And while good things are happening somewhere in the building, I can assure you it has nothing to do with ice cream.

L’Arte del Gelato, Cones, and Grom are all spread out along the block. And I haven’t even mentioned the new popsicle stop popbar and the two frozen yogurt options (Eskimix, Phileo). The good news is these shops all seem to co-exist in peace and harmony. And it amazes me that they’re all crowded almost all the time. But it’s fun to stand on the corner of Bleecker and one of the main Avenues and count all the different frozen treats that walk by (held by a person, of course, treats can’t walk!)

I almost didn’t review Grom on this journey because it’s a chain and I’ve decided to ignore Cold Stone Creamery and Baskin Robbins. But Grom is from Italy – not Arizona or California. Plus Grom is on all the best of lists when it comes to ice cream in New York. You can’t say that about Carvel.

Grom changed the game a few years ago when they opened their first U.S. shop on the Upper West Side. People never lined up for ice cream like this before. It was quite a sight to walk down Broadway and wonder what New Yorkers were lining up for this time.

Since then the Italians have taken over a corner in the West Village and their newest location near Columbus Circle. American domination is imminent as Grom will soon expand to California and who knows where else.

This popularity is attributed to a unique, fresh, and authentic product. At the time it was unlike any gelato New York had seen before. It’s all made the old fashioned way with no emuslifiers, colorings, flavorings, or anything unnatural. Just the good stuff – cream, sugar, eggs, and organic, high quality add-ins.

It does seem like most gelato shops in New York advertise this mission statement (and I’m sure it’s true for most of them), but you just fully believe Grom for some reason. Maybe it’s because they don’t flaunt it like other places do and it doesn’t all seem quite as desperate. Plus all their ice cream is made in Italy using mostly Italian ingredients and then the liquid gelato is shipped to New York and frozen on premises. So you know you’re cup tastes as close as possible to the ones being served in Torino.

And this no doubt explains the very hefty price tag. A small cone or cup’s gonna put you back 5 bucks. The portion sizes are also European so the steep small order is gone before you know it. Both because there’s not much there and because it is really good gelato.

The twenty flavors rotate monthly and are all kept in futuristic silver tins that probably help with temperature control. So it’s impossible to get a peek of the stuff before you taste it. You’ll have to rely on the extensive Italian/English menu and the samples you can request as a precursor to the main course. The menu is almost as dense as the ice cream with so many flavors to choose from and a bit of studying is required to determine whether you want gelato, sorbet, granata, or frappé.

There are quite a few chocolate (or cioccolato, if you must) options and I tasted the darkest version. That might have been a mistake. It has some milk, but no cream so the chocolate flavor is denser and richer. I think the sample itself filled my mouth with thickness and sweet bitterness that I almost didn’t need anything else. But the chocolate was full flavored and practically knocked me over with intensity. I also wanted to try the caffe espresso but it was rather late and with the strength of these flavors, I was afraid the sample alone would keep me up all night.

I settled on a cup of two flavors I’m going to have to translate: the Bacio and the Crema di Grom.

The Bacio is made with a Venezuelan chocolate with hazelnut chips from Italy. I probably could have used more translation because I was expecting the chips to be closer to what we think of as chocolate chips. Like a flavored hazelnut ganache chip. No, these were basically just hazelnut pieces. And while it added a rich, nutty flavor, I thought it made the creamy, soft chocolate gelato just a little chewy.

The Crema di Grom was unique and just as intensely flavored. The base is an egg cream (not the Brooklyn soda drink) and it has a sweet custardy bite balanced by dark chocolate pieces (chips finally!) and crunchy biscotti bits. It wasn’t as over-the-top as some of the darker flavors, but it has a light airiness and a rich creaminess that make gelato so enjoyable.

The textures are perfect and the ingredients are varied and no doubt fresh. The only other possible issue at Grom is that the flavors might be slightly too intense. Which is such a pleasant, refreshing change from most of NY’s flat, bland ice cream. And while the gelato battle on Bleecker Street rages on, there’s a whole other battle happening at Grom. Between the gelato and your tastebuds. And I think I might let the gelato win.

Is Grom the best ice cream in NY? Italy gets a 9 out of 10 for bringing perfectly creamy, textured ice cream and strong, true flavors to our dull, weak tastebuds. Thanks for waking us up!