Rainbow cookie gelato sandwich filled with house-made vanilla gelato

I usually hate getting scooped.  But in this case it meant big-time publicity for a pastry chef I admire, Andrea Jarosh at Donatella. And, it made for a good pun since the item I was “scooped” on was an ice cream sandwich.

Hazelnut crunch cupcake: Devil's food cake with chocolate hazelnut cream center, hazelnut praline buttercream, toasted hazelnuts

I visited Donatella with a group of bloggers right before I went away for vacation and didn’t have have time to mention Jarosh’s awesome new Rainbow cookie gelato sandwich filled with vanilla gelato (note the specks of real vanilla bean).  Then, the Daily News named it the best ice cream sandwich in New York City.  And while I’m not an authority on ice cream sandwiches I knew this one was special and worthy of an award of some kind–perhaps a giant bronze ice cream sandwich statue?

Jarsosh uses thin slices of rainbow cake, with a barely perceptible layer of chocolate ganache between one of the layers and a dollop of strawberry rhubarb jam. They are beautiful to look at and beautiful to eat.  $7.00 for two.  Other contenders in this category would include Payard’s macaron ice cream sandwich and Melt Bakery’s awesome cookie-based sandwiches.

Cappellaccio: charred & marinated mushrooms, smoked buffalo mozzarella, pecorino & basil

You should try at least two more desserts if you visit Donatella even though they aren’t ice-cream-based: 1) the Hazelnut crunch cupcake made with devil’s food cake with a chocolate hazelnut cream center, hazelnut praline buttercream and toasted hazelnuts and 2) one of Jarosh’s cannoli.

Montesanto pizza: roasted apricots, gorgonzola dolce, arugula & vincotto

Of course Donatella also has superb savory food including many superb pizzas.   Donatella is located at 184 8th Ave (19 St)  Their web site is here.  More coverage of the Dessert Menu at Donatella NYC is here and here.

For a second opinion Serious Eats NY has a list of of the top 10 Ice cream sandwiches in NYC.

Fat-free, dairy-free mango sorbet

Just in time for the hot weather, Jacques Torres recently launched some new ice cream and sorbet flavors as well as some new toppings.  Of course, this is in addition to their other hot weather favorite–the frozen hot chocolate, a perennial DessertBuzz favorite.

The favorite flavor among the bloggers was the Salted caramel (shown here with dark chocolate covered malted milk balls

The toppings are a steal at $0.50 each since they include Torres’ own chocolate chip cookie pieces as well as fresh berry compote and some other great choices.  In terms of flavors, they’re constantly changing them but the recent lineup included: Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Vanilla Rum Caramel, Wicked (spiced w/ ancho & chipotle), Salted Caramel, Mocha, & Pistachio and for sorbet: Chocolate, Coconut, Raspberry, Mango, & Lemon

Only $0.50 for a topping of real Torres chocolate chip of peanut butter cookies? Yes, please.

One scoop costs $3.30, two scoops, $5.05 and three $6.35.  You can get your ice cream in a cup or waffle cone and the waffle cones don’t cost extra.  Ice cream sandwiches (made with JT cookies) are $5.50 and are superb.

Mudslide cookies are one topping choice

Three kinds of Jaques Torres cookies are available as toppings: Chocolate chip, peanut butter and mudslide.

Mixed berry compote--great with vanilla and strawberry ice cream

Jacques Torres locations are here.  Their website is here.  More coverage of Jacques Torres is here.

Follow DessertBuzz on Twitter.  More frozen Drinks to cool off with from DessertBuzz.

Posted by Niko on Monday, July 2nd, 2012 at 4:28 am.