End every meal at Daniel Boulud’s flavor-packed ode to Southern France and the Mediterranean with the refreshing grapefruit givré. Creator and pastry chef Ghaya Oliveira spoons sorbet into a hollowed-out grapefruit shell, tosses in fresh segments of the fruit and citrus marmalade, and tops it off with sesame foam and rose loukoum, before sealing the grapefruit with a brûléed orange sugar tuile. Finally, halva candy floss is placed on top of it all. Eater critic Ryan Sutton calls it, “crunchy, crackly, chewy, icy, silky, perfumed, deliciously hairy (from the candy floss), sweet, tart, fluffy, and jiggly.”

This deceiving dessert may look like an average halved avocado, but it's actually a key lime pie parfait set on top of a tart, citrus-y ice and a smear of eucalyptus yogurt. The parfait is made in an avocado-shaped mold and spray painted with color to resemble the ombre of a real avocado. According to Eater critic Ryan Sutton, "The dessert is a five-year-old’s dream of what an avocado might taste like, before actually biting into one and realizing it’s oily, fatty, and overrated. The Stupak avocado is pastry as escapism. And it’s delicious."

The soufflés at La Grenouille are just as iconic as the Midtown French restaurant itself. The pillowy, eggy dessert switches its flavors, but has come in is pistachio, espresso, white dark chocolate, pear, and passion fruit varieties.

The husk meringue is one of the most written-about (and Instagrammed) dishes on the menu at Enrique Olvera’s Flatiron Mexican restaurant. The slightly savory corn mousse is topped with a sugary husk meringue that gives the dessert a perfect balance of flavors and textures — Eater critic Ryan Sutton likens it to a Mexican pavlova.

Olive oil gelato lovers will delight in Don Angie’s fior di latte mochi. The dessert comes to the table at this West Village Italian-American restaurant looking like a ball of mozzarella cheese, when it’s in fact house-made mochi stretched around milky, creamy fior di latte gelato and topped with olive oil and sea salt. This dessert is all about stretchy and chewy texture, coupled with the subtle flavors of olive oil and high-quality cream.

Pastry chef Ron Paprocki started making these at Gotham in the fall of 2012, and the tart makes a triumphant return annually on the first day of fall. Raprocki bakes each tart to order, resulting in densely caramelized apples inside a buttery, flaky crust. Served alongside vanilla ice cream, it’s a fine way to finish a meal at this American stalwart.

The silky gelato and bright sorbet flavors always rotate, but never disappoint at Brooks Headley’s subversive vegetarian burger shop in the East Village. Always get both, whether it’s with lemongrass mango and corn tortilla, guava peach and black sesame, rhubarb and rye toast, or any other intriguing combination.

The warm, house-made butter chips are stellar bookends to a meal at modern Korean restaurant Oiji. Get them as is for a pre-dinner snack, or have them with vanilla ice cream for a salty/sweet, hot/cold dessert.

Light as a cloud, this cheesecake arrives at the table looking like a small loaf of bread that’s been cut on the bias. Chef Sean Grey spent months perfecting his Japanese-style cheesecake, in which egg whites give the final product a cotton-like texture. Naked Pruner, a sheep’s milk cheese from Crown Finish Caves in Brooklyn, gives the cake its savory, salty notes, and a glaze of honey enhances its sweetness.

Disclosure: David Chang is producing shows for Hulu in partnership with Vox Media Studios, part of Eater’s parent company, Vox Media. No Eater staff member is involved in the production of those shows, and this does not impact coverage on Eater.

The pandan custard at Cédric and Ochi Vongerichten’s Indonesian Nolita restaurant looks like just a pile of passionfruit, but a surprise lies underneath. Oozy, vanilla-laced pudding gets an acidic jolt from the tangy fruit juice and its seeds, a marriage that brightens the former and relaxes the latter.

When it comes to the toasted coconut sundae at Thai essential Uncle Boons, Eater critic Ryan Sutton put it best: “Coconut milk gelato, candied nuts, and whipped cream. If you don’t like this, you are a flawed human being.”

Visually, the sundaes at new FiDi restaurant Crown Shy are a far cry from treats of American childhood. Pastry chef Renata Ameni (Manresa) makes painstakingly composed sundaes where toppings like toasted marshmallow come out with a smooth, artful browning. The flavors, though, call upon the best of playful nostalgia. The satsuma orange ice cream in particular recalls summertime orange creamsicles from a truck, but with a far broader range of textures, courtesy of a meringue, creamy ice cream, and chewy, crunchy honeycomb candy.

All of Petee’s pies are excellent, but one of the cafe’s most exceptional options is the toasted almond chess pie. A burnished top tiled with sliced almonds gives way to a gooey interior and — only with the black bottom version — a layer of dark chocolate ganache. Get it (or any pie) with a generous dollop of the shop’s maple whipped cream. There’s another location on the Lower East Side, too.

One of the many, many reasons to visit this Prospect Heights new American charmer: silky house-made fro-yo with hints of lavender. It's a great meal-capper that doesn't feel heavy, though if more than one dessert is needed, sit outside and toast some s’mores.