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Il Laboratorio del Gelato, New York, NY, tasted on February 21, 2004 — Since we were already in the Lower East Side of Manhattan we needed to make one more stop - this time for gelato. In retrospect our morning reads like some sort of fraternity hazing where the goal is to induce a diabetic coma in the inductees. Yet, for some reason, on the morning in question, capping off our hot chocolate and donuts with gelato seemed perfectly logical. Especially when it was from Il Laboratorio del Gelato. I assume this translates to "The Gelato Lab". We went in to do some experimentation.

Our experience was funny. The appeal of the different flavors really ended up being all about texture. Some of the scoops we got seemed over-frozen and ended up having a crystallized texture that was not enjoyable. But the rest of the flavors we tried were some of the best gelato and sorbet we've ever had (I think the main difference is the milk/cream content). The orange and blueberry combination seemed promising. And while the orange was good, the blueberry was phenomenal. It was stunningly creamy with a deep beautiful ruby/purple color. The banana gelato tasted like a fresh banana - super dense goodness. The pear sorbet was pretty good and the blackberry gelato was yummy too. However, the green grape sorbet fell victim to the texture issues we described below. We didn't miss the vanilla either, which was incredible dense and creamy. Delicious.