[Photograph: Kathy YL Chan]

At the newly opened Nicoletta, Fior di Latte soft serve is the focus of the dessert menu. You can have it as a Root Beer Float ($6) with Saranac root beer, or as a Fanta Float ($6) with Fanta. But the best way to have it is straight up with two toppings ($6). Pick from ten, including slow-flowing salted caramel or housemade dark chocolate sauces. Others run from the ordinary to exotic, including pistachio brittle, amarena cherries, and strawberry jam. I'm currently hooked on the blueberry limoncello and chili-peanut toffee sauce combination. It sounds odd, but goes together quite well, as crushed spicy peanuts tangle with pops of fresh blueberries. The dense, almost buttery soft serve itself is excellent on its own (pure cream! how can you go wrong?), and you can certainly have it plain and simple.

Nicoletta

160 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003 (map)
212-432-1600

About the author: Originally from Honolulu, Kathy YL Chan blogs at Kathy YL Chan, where she chronicles her eats and travel adventures between Hawai'i, New York and beyond. She firmly believes that there is always room for dessert.