A new yummy fat trap just opened up in my neighborhood this week!! I'm a little concerned because it's across the street from my gym. "Dam" i thought, i just started to workout with a personal trainer, to you know "get a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model body"!! Ugh!!! Anyway, as annoyed as i was, i realized that there had to be a good side to this situation. And as a true foodie i decided to find out what the fuss about Rita's Ice was all about, after all their motto is "Ice, Custard and Happiness= Rita's". I had never heard of the place but apparently there's over 200 franchises in the country that are extremely popular wherever they pop up!! Rita's Ice was the brainchild of Bob Tumolos, who was a firefighter from Philidelphia, that wanted to supplement his income by selling Italian ice or "water ice" from the porch window of his home in the 80's. Since then it has become a famous franchise and has a cult following. Rita's is new to New York City and the first franchise has opened on the Upper West side. This week all day and night they are offering free "water ice"!!Rita's Ice is made of real fresh fruit and ice. They have over 20 flavors that also happen to be fat free,cholesterol free and trans-fat free!!Yeah!! I can actually eat some after a good workout and not feel the least bit guilty!!! The flavors, some of which i've offcourse sampled already,are refreshing and delicious. I tried their most popular seller mango ice, had a bit of the birthday cake flavor and couldnt leave until i had the green apple, which reminded me for some weird reason of the fabulous green apple martinis from The Abbey in Los Angeles. They make other interesting flavors like Georgia Peach,passion fruit, strawberry margarita and can you believe Swedish fish sweet tea flavor!!!Rita's also has the creamiest frozen custard i've had. Their custards come in vanilla,chocolate, strawberry, orange cream and coffee flavor!!!Yum!! I had the chocolate custard and inhaled a serving in a matter of minutes!!There go all the crunches and lunges i did today!!Crap!! The custards don't fall under the fat free,cholesterol free list so be careful!!But they are amazing!!They have other variations of their custards and ices that they call different names based on how they mix them up. For example a Misto is custard and ice mixed together, a Blendini is a Misto with additional yummy cookies and candies mixed into it like Oreo's, Nilla wafers and M & M minis and a Ritaccino is any custard and ice mixed with coffee. Hurry to get your free ice this week but if you want the custard and not to mention the calories,cholestrol and fat you have to pay up!!No free custard just ice. I know... the nerve!!
Rita's Ice
2486 Broadway
New York,NY 10025
Mon- Thurs 11am to 11pm
I want to sing the "Be Cool Eat A Rita's" jingle.
ReplyDeleteI love this place. PA represent.