Melissa Bailey Photo
Libia Beboya: “An ice at every corner.”
Two scoops of rainbow. And how about a job?
Those requests came over the counter at one of three family-run tropical ice carts on Grand Avenue, as one Honduran family entered its 13th summer of keeping the city’s fastest-growing Latino neighborhood cool.
Jorge Torres obliged the first request and turned down the second, as he worked to continue a family legacy Monday on the main corridor of the city’s Latino community.
Torres is the son of Jose Torres, who opened up his first cart in 2000 under the name Delicioso Coco Helado. One cart has grown into a tropical ice mini-empire, employing two children and feeding droves of passersby on hot summer days.
The three carts offer six flavors: cherry, mango, coconut, parcha (passionfruit), tamarindo, and rainbow (a mix of strawberry, grape, lemon and pineapple). They feature an umbrella inviting customers to “Catch The Flava.”
Veronica Parada (pictured) took up that invitation Monday when she spotted Jorge Torres’ roving cart outside the Fair Haven Community Health Center at Grand and Lloyd. She popped across the street to pick up two rainbow ices for her and her son.
Isaiah Chin, who’s 13, hung out nearby with his 11-year-old cousin, Avontay Yarbrough. They eyed the cart as they waited for family members to visit the health center.
“Can I work with you?” Isaiah (at left in photo) asked Jorge.
Jorge replied that he’s not hiring. Like his dad, he works alone.
“We’re a small shop,” he later explained.
Two long blocks down Grand Avenue, Jorge’s sister, Lizbeth, was stationed with another cart outside Angelo Reyes’ People’s Laundromat at Poplar. While Jorge’s cart roams between the health clinic, Lombard Street and the Criscuolo Park, hers stays put.
Lizeth and her friend, Lucy Torres, took a break in the shade, out of the way of kids and adults scooting by with bicycles and shopping carts. Meanwhile, Reyes (pictured on the ladder) hung a sign offering summer laundry deals.
Another block away, Lizeth and Jorge’s dad, 56-year-old Jose Torres (pictured), served a steady stream of customers outside the C‑Town supermarket at the crossroads of Grand and Ferry.
Back home in Holancho, Honduras, Jose Torres worked on a farm. He relocated to New Haven 14 years ago in search of a better life. Torres learned the ropes of the tropical ice business from a friend. Then he opened his umbrella at the corner of Grand and Ferry.
He said he operates the cart from noon to 7 p.m. every day of the week, from April to September, except in bad weather. He charges a dollar for a small paper cup, two for a large cup.
The sun obliged Monday, sending customers of all ages by foot, car and truck.
“Coco!” called out David Santana as he slowed down in a city public works vehicle and pulled up next to the cart.
Torres started scooping. Santana said he grew up eating summer ices in Puerto Rico. He plans to move back there next year and taste the real helado, which he said you can’t find anywhere around here. Until then, he’ll settle for the best option in town, at the corner of Grand and Ferry.
Torres said Fair Haven has embraced him ever since he opened up shop. He has earned the loyalty of customers like Libia Beboya (pictured at the top of this story), a 66-year-old Fair Havener who hails from Colombia.
“An ice at every corner,” announced Beboya Monday as she stopped to rest on a chair near Jose’s cart. She explained that on her walk to C‑Town, she stopped at two Deliciosa carts. By the time she finished her first serving at Lizeth’s cart, she was ready for another scoop at Jose’s.
“Buenissima,” she declared as she took a taste of her second serving.