Pistachio Ice Cream Smackdown

Our Protagonist cannot live by eating out alone; no, sometimes he must brave his own kitchen to scrounge up sustenance.  That is, when he doesn't have time to whip up something gourmet-ish.  Case in point; a recent exploration of the eternal question, "Which pistachio ice cream is really the best?"  In order to come to a conclusion, a series of highly scientific tastings ensued involving four different brands, two of which were gelati, rather than ice cream: Ciao Bella and Talenti gelati, and Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's ice creams.  Here are the tasting notes:

Ciao Bella: decent flavor, but a gritty, not smooth texture.  Disappointing because of the texture.

Haagen-Dazs: very creamy, but the pistachios were chopped up into minuscule chips; the flavor was so subtle to be virtually non-existent!  Not what a pistachio lover would be looking for.

Ben & Jerry's (Pistachio Pistachio): good pistachio flavor and creamy; not as creamy as Haagen-Dazs, but at least it tastes like actual pistachio flavor! 

Talenti (Sicilian Pistachio): Wonderful texture, and overwhelming (but in a good way) toasted pistachio flavor.  THIS is what pistachio ice cream (err, gelato) should be about. 

Hands down, the Talenti was the overall winner; Ben & Jerry's the winner of the ice cream subcategory.  Sadly, this was yet another disappointing strike in the other over-arching question, "Is Ciao Bella gelato worth the price?"  So far, we have yet to find a reason to buy one of their flavors a second time.  Let us know which ice creams you want us to taste-test, and we will put them in our rotation; until then, you can tune in to our next installment; "Which orange ice cream/sherbet/sorbetto is the best?"