N'ice Cream watermelon and mango sorbet: Located on Abbot Kinney in Venice, LA, this small shop offers an assortment of ice creams and sorbets. For a small, priced at $5, I was given two substantial scoops, both of very high quality. I was most impressed with the texture, which was perfectly smooth. The mango flavor was a bit faint but very clean, and the watermelon was especially distinct: a remarkably creamy take on a seasonal classic. Highly recommended. 4.0/5.0
nicecream la 4.0 recommended sorbet watermelon mango frozen dessert
Pitango Gilato: I stumbled across this highly regarded gelato shop during my travels in DC and tried four different flavors (two of which I purchased). The star anise was barely sweetened and distinctive in flavor; the blood orange, while very refreshing, tasted more of raspberry than citrus (the sign said it contained a bit of raspberry). I ended up ordering the milk and honey (very rich whole milk, the honey was slightly too sweet) and the cardamon (nice level of spice). Both had a great creamy texture. B... (read more) 4.0/5.0
pitangogelato pitango gelato cardamon icecream dessert frozen milk honey bloodorange staranise dc 4.0 recommended gilato
Morgenstern's Tour Pine'Our soft serve: One of my favorite chefs, Paul Liebrandt, recently collaborated with the LES ice cream shop Morgenstern's and introduced a series of special soft serve flavors over the course of a month. I sampled the last one, a swirl of strawberry hibiscus sorbet and sunchoke ice cream. The texture of the soft serve was excellent, and I especially loved the sharpness of the sorbet. The sunchoke ice cream was fine, but more of a neutral base for the sorbet. The entire dessert was topped with toasted hazel... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended frozen sorbet strawberry hibiscus sunchoke icecream morgensterns tour pine'our soft serve 4.0 softserve
Loving Cup The Dude Abides Frozen Yogurt: Loving Cup is a small frozen yogurt shop in Russian Hill serving blended-to-order non-fat vanilla or chocolate yogurt with your standard set of mix-ins, including gummy bears, Oreos, and junior mints. Unlike the tart and lighter fro-yo you might get at Pinkberry or Red Mango, Loving Cup's yogurt is thick and creamy, making it much more akin to regular ice cream. I ordered a mixture of almond butter (Costco organic) with english toffee, substituting vanilla yogurt for chocolate, in what the... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended icecream sanfrancisco froyo lovingcup the dude abides frozen yogurt 4.0
Garden Creamery Black sesame and oolong ice cream: By now, I've become wary of long lines in San Francisco, and there is nowhere else where this sense of trepidation is stronger than in the Mission, the tech-saturated, ultra-entitled west coast version of Williamsburg. Regrettably, I do find myself here once in a while, often to see a show at the neighboring Chapel, which is exactly what brought me to Garden Creamery, an ice cream shop squarely at the halfway point between the 16th and 24th street Mission BART stops. I had some extra time ... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended dessert icecream frozen gardencreamery black sesame oolong ice cream 4.0 sf sanfrancisco
Dominique Ansel Bakery Frozen S’more: Brûléed to order, this sizable toasted marshmallow resembles a baked Alaska, with a vanilla ice cream interior mixed with chocolate crunchies. The texture of the marshmallow is excellent - light but having a satisfying chew - and it has a crisp honey-flavored sugary shell. Before you reach the ice cream filling, it’s overly sweet due to the layer of caramelized sugar, but the chocolate crunchies add a touch of bitterness that ultimately balances it out. An elevated and playful reworking of a... (read more) 4.0/5.0
dessert recommended la marshmallow icecream chocolate dominiqueanselbakery frozen s’more 4.0