This freakishly warm winter of 2006 has made me yearn for a pure, undriven snowfall and a cold, clear night with all the stars on display. Aside from almost a foot of snow last weekend, it's been a winter lacking in the white stuff.

Fortunately, the feeling of a crisp night with a newly fallen snow can be re-created at will in one bowl of vanilla ice cream. But which vanilla ice cream most perfectly delivers the sensation of a beautiful, picturesque winter?

Serrano has the stuff. "It's the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had," says executive chef Brenton T. Wallace, who knows from desserts—he came from the Brasserie Perrier before landing at his current spot. He doesn't make the ice cream; former owner and current pastry chef Jude Erwin has since 1985.

"She's fantastic," says Wallace. "It's very home-style, like a piece of pie or cake you would get at your grandmother's house. Homey. Eating it inside our dining room in front of the fireplace is as close to the archetypal grandmother's house as you can get."

That hinges on whether your grandmother has Erwin's amazing touch, which is unlikely.

Erwin's ice cream is made from all heavy cream, French vanilla beans, sugar and egg yolk. First the mixture is cooked like a custard, then slowly churned with one of three ice cream machines Erwin operates. The more sugar added, says Wallace, the smoother the ice cream will be. Less air means a denser ice cream. The supple thickness of Erwin's French vanilla is evidence of her reluctance to oversugar anything. The ice cream is chewy, rich, creamy and perfectly sweet. It's got the same mouth feel as whipped cream, just colder and more dense.

Erwin says vanilla is her favorite flavor, but she does make others. In her caramel ice cream, you can taste the burnt sugar (or maybe it's the wood smoke from the fireplace that's gotten into my taste buds). She also makes sundaes with her roasted banana ice cream. Then there's the Sweet, Hot and Creamy: vanilla ice cream topped with a sauce of pickled ginger, almonds, raisins, walnuts and a little cayenne.

Erwin likes the simplicity of vanilla. "Vanilla is my favorite flavor, but one of the best reasons vanilla is so great is that you can put so many toppings on it, or fruit," she says. Her sauces—bittersweet chocolate, butterscotch and caramel—are all made in-house, like everything else at Serrano.

Erwin is not alone in her taste; she says her vanilla ice cream was the most popular dessert offering on her New Year's Eve menu. There's no better antidote to this weird winter than a bowl of her cold, creamy concoction.