Chelsea has been pondering ways to cool down from NYC’s sweaty subways and sweltering summer sun—without turning our offices into AC tundra. The only possible answer is of course gelato. Over the summer, Chelsea NY will explore downtown Manhattan's best gelato and rank them based on texture, packaging, and most importantly – taste!
Eager to start our adventure off right, we popped into two gelaterias this week: Il Laboratorio del gelato on Ludlow St and Grom on Bleeker St. Our only two constant flavors are vanilla and pistachio.
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| Laboratorio gelato in their fantastic packaging. |
Our intern, Evan, delivered bourbon pecan, pistachio, vanilla, espresso, and chocolate hazelnut in baby blue lunch box coolers. Very chic!
Kudos for Laboratorio for creative flavoring. Everyone enjoyed the decadant bourbon pecan gelato. The chocolate hazelnut was not that creamy and very thick, almost like a fudge. Unfortunately, the pistachio and espresso came prepacked instead of freshly scooped. This definitely took away from the gelato. The pistachio was weak and the espresso very grainy – almost like they used the beans and not the coffee.
Overall, we ranked Laboratorio a 6/7 out of 10 for creative flavoring and packaging.
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| Intern Sara Haile (left) and Staffer Pietra Impastato (right) show off Grom's gelato. |
Grom’s gelato is so smooth and creamy. It was hard for us to pick a favorite flavor – they were all very delicious.
Our rank for Grom: solid 8.5 out of 10.