Il Laboratorio del Gelato--business hour & your favorite flavors

[fdb]

I can't seem to find the business hour on the website. Anyone knows?

I'm a total gelato fan but there are so many flavors there. Please help me decide what to try when I visit NY in April. Thanks.

[orthorunner]

The espresso flavor is my favorite of the ones I've had from there; recommended if you're a coffee-flavor fan. (I did get it from Whole Foods on Union Sq, cant say for certain if they have it freq at their main location)

[tpigeon]

I still dream about the rice pudding flavor I once had there.

[bearmi]

I think there is an Il Laboratorio del Gelato kiosk inside of the Whole Foods Market on Houston Street (Address: 95 East Houston St, New York, NY) You can order at the kiosk's counter but you will have to pay at the regular Whole Foods cashier stations which are pretty well organized and efficient.

I don't know if the kiosk inside of Whole Foods Market offers the exact same flavors as their store (I would assume less varieties at the Whole Foods location) but they still offerred quite a few varieties there. In case you miss the original store's regular business hours you might be able to go to Whole Foods, which is open until 11 PM.

Last time I was there I bought some watermelon sorbet, it was pretty good....very refreshing and tasted just like a slice of watermelon!

[kathryn]

The WF on Bowery and Houston actually has more flavors than the Il Lab store in my experience.

[kathryn]

GAH -- stopped by today and the Whole Foods counter is now exclusively CIAO BELLA products. Not Il Laboratorio. Boo!

[bearmi]

Omg. that's sad... I had it just a few weeks ago. I wonder if the other Whole Foods still carry Il Laboratorio stuff... .I read somewhere that the Union Square location has it... That shop is too crowded I try my best to avoid it!

[Ricky]

nope the laboratorio counter at union sq is gone too. so sad. so angry.

[bearmi]

Wow that's bad :( I guess the bad economy is affecting everyone. Thanks for updating us.

[kathryn]

I know they close around 6-7pm. Not sure when they open.

I try not to make any decisions in advance because a) the flavors are seasonal and b) they run out of stuff and c) the selection changes all the time. But my favorite is the thai chili chocolate. Although the seasonal fruit sorbets are often quite good.

You're not limited to a specific number of things to try, but the storefront is tiny and if there is a long line behind you, you might feel lots of eyes on your back.

[Pan]

Right, kathryn. Which is why I self-limit at three or maybe maximum four samples (it's better if I'm with someone and we can share samples).

I remember their Fior di Latte and Dulce de Leche being excellent, but it's worth trying further afield flavors. They had some kind of beer flavor (Guinness?) that was quite interesting.

[Pan]

I went back to Il Laboratorio this afternoon. I sampled the mastic gelato, which had a strange, earthy taste, and the orange/hibiscus sorbetto, which was tart, icy, and delicious. I got a small cup of that sorbetto with mango sorbetto, which had the consistency and wonderful taste of slightly frozen, creamy puree of great mangoes. There were 2 or 3 big pieces of ice in one or the other sorbetti, which counts as a technical flaw, but it really didn't bother me. Considering how much one can easily pay for shit desserts in New York, $3.25 for a small cup of such tasty sorbetto is nearly if not actually a bargain.

[whitneybee]

The only flavor I've ever tried was the honey lavender, but it was amazing.

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Il Laboratorio del Gelato
95 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

[small h]

Hazelnut. Accept no substitutes.

[MMRuth]

I like hazelnut but loved the licorice flavour.

[small h]

I'm not a huge fan of licorice. I'll eat it, but not when there are other things (hazelnuts!) available. One of these days I'm going to walk over to Il Lab & just bug the hell out of them, sampling. Purely for research purposes, of course.

[MMRuth]

I love licorice, and, this flavour reminded me of these English licorice toffees that I enjoyed as a child.

[RCC]

I'm not sure what to recommend because I like everything we've bought so far. Just go crazy with the sample tastes and get whatever you'll like.

[seal]

I fondly remember a pomegranite flavor, the cinamon (sp?) is always yummy, I think there once was a melon gelato (not sorbet, since the only other time I had melon gelato was in Italy), and their lemon is always tart and perfect.

[tpigeon]

I went there once and they were out ouf a bunch of stuff but had rice pudding gelatto. I still dream about it...

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Il Laboratorio del Gelato
95 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

[fdb]

Are we limited to certain number of sample tastings?

[Ruth Lafler]

When I was there in July I had the black plum sorbetto and it was amazing, but that's probably a seasonal flavor. IIRC they allow tastes, so you can decide for yourself.

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Il Laboratorio del Gelato
95 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

[RGR]

That's because the hours are not posted -- one of my website peeves.

You can e-mail them: [e-mail]. Or call them when you are here: 212-343-9922.