The weather is finally heating up, which means that the doors to the Hoboken location of Rita's Water Ice have reopened for the season.
The small storefront that sits on lower Washington Street opened in 2006 and was the 400th Rita's Water Ice franchise to open for business. Owned and operated by Shereef Hammad and his sister Laila, Rita's is a community staple. Photographs of customers—young and old—who are enjoying Rita's Water Ice, adorn the walls.
"Our mother had a Rita's franchise for 10 years in Central Jersey and we knew it would be a good business to bring to Hoboken," Hammad said.
While I was there, some kids came in to try the new "Peeps" flavor, a bright yellow water ice that (you guessed it) tastes exactly like the Easter candy Marshmellow Peeps. A pair of businessmen came in catching a "break from the office" and got their usual Gelati. For my part, I tried the Peeps, a cotton candy flavored ice, and also new "Swedish Fish" flavor—which tastes just like the sweet gummy candy it's named after.
When Rita's started in 1984, you could only pick from three flavors: lemon, cherry and mango, said Hammad. "Now," he added, "there are over 50 flavors and three or four that will be different every day."
"Next came the custard, which is like a rich, soft-serve ice cream," he continued. "And then the Gelati"
The Gelati was the next menu item I was encouraged to sample. The Gelati starts with a bed of custard, followed by a water ice of your choosing, topped off with more custard. My friend Michael and I sampled two versions of Gelatis: mango water ice with vanilla custard and mint chocolate chip creme ice with a twist of vanilla and chocolate custard. Both were totally delicious but I think the mango-vanilla was most favorable with its slightly nostalgic nod to the creamsicle.
"We are different from other Italian ice places in that we get all our ingredients fresh from the market on a daily basis. We get lemons for the lemon ice, strawberries for the strawberry ice," Hammad said. "If we make the ice on Thursday and its not all gone by Friday night, we don't sell it."
With the need to move product as swiftly as possible, this is also the reason that they close during the winter months.
"We don't get the foot traffic in the colder months," said Hammad, "and those people that are out walking don't want to eat ice." But that's part of the ice business. "It's not for everybody," Hammad continued, "but we like the seasonal aspect."
Rita's is open daily from noon to 10 p.m. You can order for delivery and get a complimentary regular size italian ice with every delivery order.
