[Photo: Kathy Chan]

"This is criminal," my companion murmured as he licked away my cone of pumpkin gelato and apple sorbet. It was positively freezing outside in the West Village, but I watched in amazement as he polished off my cone and proceeded to order another. "Why did you do half pumpkin and half apple sorbet if you can get ALL pumpkin gelato?" He looked at me like I was crazy.

L'arte's pumpkin gelato is some sort of sublime magic, pure pumpkin with none of the spices that often evoke fall. Just pumpkin, pumpkin and pumpkin churned into a simultaneously creamy and silky wonder. It's full and almost buttery in your mouth, a unexpectedly comforting sweet in the chilliest of weather.

L'arte del Gelato

75 Seventh Avenue South, New York NY 10014 (map)
212-924-0803
lartedelgelato.com