Ice cream lovers in New York can be forgiven for feeling bewildered of late. What once involved a simple decision between vanilla or chocolate, one scoop or two, has evolved into a daunting array of frozen desert options, from ice cream and gelato to Pinkberry and Tasti D-Lite. On a recent Saturday afternoon, I grabbed my bike and hit the road in an attempt to make sense of it all.
Ice Cream (Principal ingredients: cream, sugar, egg yolks; Calorie count: about 80 per ounce, depending on brand and flavor)
Best to start with the basics, and that means ice cream. From my apartment in Chelsea, I biked to Serendipity3 (225 E. 60th St.) on the Upper East Side. A restaurant that specializes in desserts, Serendipty3 is a way station for Bloomingdales shoppers and teenage girls playing hookie from Chapin and Spence. I opted for a dish of chocolate ($6.50), instead of the Golden Opulence Sundae—a bit pricey at $1,000 a pop (if you want one, call 48 hours in advance). Just around the corner is Dylan’s Candy Bar (1011 3rd Ave.). The décor panders to the junior set (imagine a cross between Willy Wonka’s gift shop and a suburban Dairy Queen), as do the flavors (like lollypop and candy bar blast). But there’s one advantage: Prices are easy on your allowance at $3.99 to $5.99 a cup. Time to burn some calories. I pedaled downtown to the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory (65 Bayard St.), a nondescript storefront in the shadow of Confucius Plaza. Pushing past a local Chinese clientele, I sampled a few of the Asian-influenced flavors like taro and black sesame before settling on a cup of red ginger ($3)—far richer than it’s uptown counterparts. From there, I dashed across the Brooklyn Bridge to Dumbo and the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory (2 Old Fulton St.). Serving classic flavors in an old firehouse with spectacular views of Manhattan, this is the perfect place to enjoy a double-scoop cone ($6) and relax.
Gelato (Principal ingredients: whole milk and sugar, with less air than American ice cream; Calorie count: about 50 per ounce, depending on brand and flavor)
I left Brooklyn and hopped a water taxi to Midtown, then biked to my friend Karla’s on the Upper West Side, where she introduced me to Grom (2165 Broadway), a new gelateria at 76th Street and Broadway. Gelato is denser than American ice cream, with less air and butterfat, yet Grom’s concoctions are exceptionally rich. Incorporating specialty ingredients from around the world, like Sicilian pistachios and Ecuadorian chocolate, Grom’s prices are steep ($5.75-$9 a cup), but worth it. “Highway robbery!” Karla exclaimed, then ordered another. From there it was down to the Lower East Side and Laboratorio Del Gelato (95 Orchard St.), with its ever-changing selection of gelatos and sorbets. As the name suggests, they take their gelato very seriously. Servers in lab coats shuffle between steel vats in the back and a sterile white countertop up front. I tried the vanilla chocolate chip, as rich as at Grom but at a more affordable price ($3.25-$5.75 a cup). Pedaling back to Chelsea, I swung by L’Arte del Gelato (75 9th Ave.), tucked into a corner of Chelsea Market. Servers hawk samples to passing shoppers, but if you follow them inside, you’ll encounter a dozen or so flavors, some, like watermelon, especially suited for summer ($3.95 a cup).
Frozen Yogurt (Principal ingredients: low- or non-fat yogurt, various sweeteners; Calorie count: about 25 calories per ounce, depending on brand and flavor)
Frozen yogurt these days is all about Pinkberry (various locations), an L.A. import with three stores in Manhattan and plans for several more. I headed straight for the Chelsea branch (170 8th Ave.) and joined a line that stretched out the door. Inside, the décor was all pastels, with anime knickknacks lining shelves. Pinkberry comes in two flavors, plain and green tea, with a wide selection of fruit toppings, like kiwi, blackberry and mango. I tried the plain with raspberries ($5.30). The yogurt was sweet but slushy—interesting, though not necessarily great. Biking into the Village, I arrived at Yolato (120 MacDougal St.). With two other Manhattan locations, Yolato offers a yogurt/gelato hybrid in addition to more traditional gelato and sorbet. Marketed as Pinkberry but better (“They lie about their ingredients,” the server said when I asked about the difference), Yolato has a creamier consistency, less sweet and more yogurty; you can actually taste the cultures. Like Pinkberry, Yolato offers several fruit toppings, priced at $3.95 for a regular and 95 cents per topping.
Tasti D Lite (Principal ingredients: water, nonfat milk, sugar, some additional Unpronounceables; Calorie count: 14-19 calories per ounce, depending on flavor)
The reigning Manhattan champ since the days of “Sex and the City,” due primarily to its mythically low calorie count, Tasti D Lite is the mystery meat of frozen deserts and a category unto itself. Available in an inexhaustible number of flavors, from fluffernutter to marble cheesecake to chocolate macaroon, people either love it or hate it: My friend Bonnie bought binoculars so she could see the day’s flavors from her apartment; my brother calls it poison. I biked to the Tasti D mothership (116-118 7th Ave.), one of thirty Manhattan locations (there are four in Brooklyn), and ordered Oreo on a waffle cone with chocolate sprinkles ($4.50). The flavors at Tasti D can sometimes be flat and eerily similar to one another, but after a day of gluttony, the neutered taste was almost refreshing. I took my cone to Sheridan Square to reflect on what I’d learned. Nothing perhaps, except that in this age of overabundance, there’s a frozen desert for every palate and waistline.
