Super Sorbet

I come to you today to speak of that greatly ignored piece of the cheap eating universe: dessert.  Rarely indeed do chroniclers of cheap eating pay attention to this category; my guess is it’s a budget-buster for many.  And that’s fair, I suppose, but there are too many delicious desserts in NYC to ignore, and they need not destroy one’s financial solvency.

So, about this Ciao Bella Sorbet.  My girlfriend and I had noshed on banh mi from Banh Mi So 1 (Broome St. btw. Mott/Elizabeth) while sitting across from the church on Mulberry St.  She had earlier brought home some of said sorbet but had consumed it in concert with a friend before I’d gotten to have a taste, and we’d agreed to do a dessert doubleheader with Rice to Riches coming second.  This was in large part because I didn’t think it was possible to have a fulfilling sorbet experience (I suppose I had forgotten how good the homemade raspberry sorbet Will made a few years back was).

I was most certainly and fantastically wrong, though: Ciao Bella’s chocolate sorbet was absolutely out-of-this-world amazing.  I couldn’t imagine how it didn’t involve cream somehow, but the proprietors (who were, by the way, stoned to the bejeezus belt, as I’m sure I would be with that job) assured me that the concoction was dairy-free.  I’ve been informed that the Ciao Bella website says that the Chocolate and Coconut flavors contain milk.  Oops.  The sorbet had amazing texture (can’t say creamy, I guess), and had a strong but not-too-sweet cocoa flavor.  I’d be interested to know what kind of cocoa they use to make the sorbet…I’d guess a very dark variety.

Now, the tough part.  You’ve got to have company to really make this work, budgetarily.  The “small” serving size is a whopping $4.75, but this was plenty enough for both of us, the dish was dwarfed by the serving, to be sure.  A hand-packed pint costs a buck more and is probably a better deal, but get it home quickly.