Popbar

Look at all those Popsicles!

This restaurant, in the West Village, is so cute. All they sell is artisanal gelato and sorbet Popsicles! For a small additional fee you can get unlimited "dippings" and "poppings." The dippings are dark, milk, and white chocolate. The poppings are chopped nuts, coconut, and sprinkles. The basic procedure is: pick a pop, add dippings and poppings, and eat. Ice cream on a stick--what's not to like?! I love the idea of upgraded childhood favorites. Who didn't love licking a Popsicle or ice cream bar pop when they were little? At a certain point you felt as though you have gotten to old to eat them, right? Well with these you are never too old. Their gelato and sorbet are high quality and all made on site. And poppings like pistachio can't possibly be too childish. The staff is friendly and don't make you feel like a vacillating, indecisive idiot when you can't decide what to have. After all there are so many choices; what flavor pop--and all 15 or so flavors look too delicious not to eat--what dipping(s) and what toppings. Think of all the combinations!

Now for the important part: what I ate. I decided to try one sorbet pop and one gelato pop. For the sorbet I had a strawberry pop--you can't go wrong with strawberry--dipped in white chocolate and coated with shredded unsweetened coconut on one side and chopped pistachios on the other. Everything about it was good! The sorbet was intensely strawberry flavored, the white chocolate wasn't too waxy, and the coconut and pistachios went wonderfully with it. The texture of the pop was on the icy side, but it's sorbet so that was to be expected.

Look at the color of that peanut butter gelato, perfection.

The gelato pop was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. Okay, probably not ever but at least it's the best gelato I've had in a while. I went for peanut butter gelato. The gelato was creamy and pungently peanut buttery. Not peanutty, peanut buttery--yes there is a difference. It was like eating frozen peanut butter on a stick, dipped in dark chocolate and covered with chocolate sprinkles. Yum! I'm not sure I'll be back anytime though, because it is a schlepp from where I live. But I did have my eye on the kiwi sorbet pop, so I might have to schlepp for that.