My spouse and I enjoyed dessert at Azucar Ice Cream on a
Saturday afternoon in early July 2016. (“Azucar” means “sugar” in Spanish.) Azucar
Ice Cream is a Cuban ice cream shop that is located in the Little Havana
neighborhood of Miami, on SW 8th Street (or “Calle Ocho”, which
means “Eighth Street” in Spanish) between SW 15th and 16th
Avenues. The shop
is open from 11:00 am daily to at least 9:00 pm (later on weekends).
What makes Azucar’s ice cream “Cuban” is because they
feature Cuban ingredients and flavors, such as mantecado (Cuban vanilla), guava, corn, avocado, café con leche, dulce de leche, plantain, sugarcane,
sweet potato, flan, and mamey (a Latin fruit related to the persimmon that
looks and tastes like chocolate pudding!). Their products use all-natural
ingredients, some from their neighbors on Calle Ocho like El Nuevo Siglo and Los
Pinarenos Fruteria. They can turn almost anything into ice cream thanks
to their training at Penn State's Ice Cream University and the Frozen Dessert
Institute of St. Louis. Their Abuela
Maria flavor, for instance, is inspired by the Cuban snack that consists of galletas
Maria tea biscuits, cream cheese, and guava paste mixed into vanilla ice cream.
You can sit at
one of two or three tiny high-top tables, or on benches near the front windows
that are topped with guayabera (a pleated linen fabric most often made into
men’s shirts)-covered cushions wrapped in plastic, just like at your “abuela’s”
(“grandmother’s”) house. A blackboard on one wall lists all the many flavors
from which to choose (probably close to 50 varieties, and you can add
additional toppings or have it put into specialty cones or sundaes. A freezer
offers take-out ice cream in larger pint quantities. Staff is friendly and
accommodating, offering miniature samples of flavors to prospective buyers.
Azucar Ice Cream
opened in July 2011 and has been pleasing customers with its yummy ice cream
and sorbets ever since!
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