A mix of sour cherry and blood orange and a scoop of rainbow cookie at Pesso’s.

I’ve been meaning to try the Italian ices from Pesso’s for years. A recent New York Times piece  reminded me of the Bayside institution. So I added it to the itinerary of a Whitestone-Bayside food expedition that my pal Rocky and I took yesterday.

The plan was to try a few sandwiches (come back on Wednesday to read about that) and then finish with donuts from Honey Pig and ices from Pesso’s. Sadly Honey Pig was closed yesterday, so we will have to return for rainbow cookie donuts another time.
After walking off our sandwiches for about an hour we found ourselves in front of Pesso’s Ices & Ice Cream. Once inside we were both amazed by the amount and diversity of flavors, from old school ones like cherry and lemon to decidedly more modern fruit creations like grapefruit and blood orange. Among the more unique frozen confections were root beer, Swedish fish, and rainbow cookie.

Best of all Pesso’s lets you mix flavors, unlike the Lemon Ice King of Corona. Rocky went the mix and match route with a scoop of blood orange and a scoop of sour cherry. It was a refreshing combination. The ice itself had a smoother, denser consistency than the King’s. I took a somewhat more purist approach: one scoop of rainbow cookie.

“I wonder if they put almond paste in it,” Rocky asked. One taste of the rich concoction and I knew the answer. The dense yellowish ice was really more like a rainbow cookie ice cream than an ice and even featured tiny bits of cookie. It more than made up for the fact that Honey Pig was closed. Afterwards I almost went for a scoop of cannoli gelato, but deemed that too excessive. Instead I went with  grapefruit, which was a refreshing way to end a first visit to Pesso’s. I can’t wait to go back!

Pesso’s Ices & Ice Cream 203-20 35th Ave., Bayside, 718-224-9130