New York Italian Ice: Lemon Ice King of Corona,Ralph's,L&

Scoops 6: Italian Ice Edition New York City Entry #105

With summer fully in place, I have been scurrying through the boroughs, tracking down the premier Italian ices: specifically Staten Island's Ralph's (with two outlets in Queens), Brooklyn's L&B Spumoni Gardens, and Queens' Lemon Ice King of Corona. Although it would be nice to report a race to the finish, in fact the outcome was never in doubt.

It is said that Frank Sinatra used to have his driver trek to Corona for Lemon Ice. Ol' Blue Eyes sure knew his ices. LIKC makes the Italian Ice of one's dreams. The ice is finely pulverized, leaving no chunks. The only texture comes from tiny bits of fruit, not so large as to become frozen. Whether one is consuming lemon, melon, peach, vanilla chip, cherry, or strawberry, the flavor is intense and pure. On any day, there are likely to be two dozen choices. As LIKC is about ten blocks from the nearest subway line (the 7), one works up a sweat that only a LIKC ice can satisfy. Famously the Lemon Ice King does not permit mixing of flavors, so it has become my habit (and it is becoming a habit) to purchase three small cups.

If getting to LIKC is a hike, Ralph's requires a car, taxi, or a Staten Island bus. Like LIKC, ices are served through the front window. And like LIKC, Ralph's has some two dozen (some water-based - the one's I tried - and some milk-based). I was impressed by the depth of flavor - I ordered Sour Cherry and Cantaloupe. The intensity of the cherry was remarkable. However, small chunks of ice remained in each. Should one prefer an ice that edges toward a snow cone, Ralph's will surely suit.

Most disappointing was the watermelon ice that I had at Brooklyn's L&B Spumoni Gardens (the spumoni ice cream was just fine, although the Sicilian square pizza slice was a bit salty for my taste. L&B is more a restaurant than an icery - but they, too have a front window to make one's purchases). Neither the flavor or texture made my trip to Gravesend worth repeating. When one describes the flavor of an Italian ice as "subtle," one knows trouble is afoot. I give L&B credit for providing something cool on a hot day, but I'll stick with spumoni.

Lemon Ice King of Corona
52-02 108th Street (at Corona Avenue)
Queens (Corona)
718-699-5133

L&B Spumoni Gardens
2725 86th Street (at West 10th Street and Avenue V)
Brooklyn (Gravesend)
718-449-6921

Ralph's Famous Italian Ices
501 Port Richmond Avenue (at Catherine Street)
Staten Island (Port Richmond)
718-273-3675

http://www.vealcheeks.blogspot.com

We battle about pizza, but how do these places compare to Chicago Italian ice, say Mario's?



Rob

As is clear from my comment about LIKC, Mario's - as good as it is - falls in second. Perhaps - if my memory serves - the lemon is more intense and puckery at Mario, but the King is something exquisite.

I rank Mario above the other two.

How do these places compare to Tom and Wendees? Ive never been able to find anything close to T & W as far as a refreshing summer time snack. While the product is not cheap, prices have been going up since I went there as a kid during the 90's, it is made daily from fresh fruit and the result in my opinion is much better than Marios. They keep all the usual suspects of flavors, like lemon, strawberry, raspberry but they also have many exotic fllavors you wont find elsewhere. I tend to usually go with a large half watermelon, half orange-tangerine. If im feeling like something else red raspberry is also very tatsy on a hot summer day. A friend of mine swears by the half banana half choclate, but im not big on choclate as is , let alone in ice form, though it has many of fans. I ask b/c ill be headed east to foxwoods for a bachelor party and ill spend a few days in NYC when we leave the woods.



Tom and Wendees
1136 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago
Tel: (773) 327-2885

D. B.,

We haven't had much discussion of Tom and Wendee's on this board, other than to a reference to a Metromix article from 2005. Hopefully we can get more discussion going on T&W. I haven't been.

Metromix says:

Tom and Wendee Manderscheid were sick of the day-job grind and longed to open their own business. After deciding on Italian ice, the Manderscheids experimented at home, using friends as guinea pigs before opening up shop in '91. We think the ice has a slightly more chunky consistency than most out there, and we love the chocolate toffee crunch, jacked with Heath toffee bits, and the black raspberry, with fruit in every bite ($2.25-$16.50). 1136 W. Armitage Ave. 773-327-2885.

It sounds to me that it might be closer to Ralph's (i.e. chunky) than to the Lemon Ice King, which might be closer to Lemonade Ice with its smooth consistency.