Torico's is muy rico!

I am a sucker for unusual and interesting flavors - especially when it comes to ice cream. My friend had recently told me about Torico's in Jersey City. She thought I would particularly be interested in it because of their exotic ethnic flavors. So, faster than you can say bacon ice cream, I made my way to the residential area of Jersey City and we found Torico's.

The layout and menu were a bit scattered. The parlor itself wasn't as pristine as I expect most ice cream parlors to be, but it was homey and comfortable enough. As I looked at the menus, I was baffled by all the choices. They have ice cream, soft serve, sherbets, italian ices, slushies, and so on. So I skipped the menu and just looked into the freezers to see what looked good.

The flavors were sort of grouped together by category. When I had been daydreaming about my ice cream shop, this is what I had thought to do but on a grander scale. Of course, I immediately flocked to the exotic flavors. Some were less bizarre than others. There were the usual Asian flavors: lychee, ginger, green tea, etc. and there were others that you don't see as often, for instance, ube (purple yam), mamey (a tropical fruit with a similar taste to pumpkin), jackfruit (which I had heard of but never seen), and avocado.

I was impressed by how eager the employees were to give out tastes (I ask for a lot) and talk about the flavors. We tasted the jackfruit immediately which was refreshing and reminiscent of lots of tropical flavors: mango, lemon, pineapple. The ube was rich and flavorful. The same was true for the avocado ice cream. This had a lot of depth and creaminess. I had avocado water ice many years ago from my favorite place in Florida. And I remember it not being a big seller (I'm not sure he actually sold any of it). The lady here said it's one of their biggest flavors. I guess people in the tri-state area who like their avocado ice cream know this is where to get it. I also asked for a taste of the butterscotch, which was sweet and intense and distinct from a caramel flavor.

We decided on mamey, banana, and coffee cookie. There were three separate coffee flavors and they were all variations on the same thing (regular coffee, coffee with oreos, and coffee with fudge). The coffee was actually the most disappointing which was terribly disappointing because coffee is the most perfect ice cream flavor in my opinion. The coffee was not very strong and even had a bit of an artificial taste. I didn't find that true of the other two. The banana had a perfect dark beige color and tasted almost like roasted bananas. The mamey had a deep if slightly bland flavor.

As we were leaving, we checked out the pre-packaged section and I loved their little tasting options. They were divided into more sections (exotic, kid friendly, old favorites, etc.) and featured samples of about six flavors each. It was a great idea - especially for somebody as indecisive as me. It was in one of these packages that I noticed soursop sorbet.

How did I miss soursop in their freezer? I had made soursop ice cream years ago for a chef of mine from the Carribean. Soursop is a fruit also known as guanabana in certain areas. It was almost impossible for me to find, but I found it canned in a bodega in Chinatown.

I had to have one more taste. The employee was genuinely happy to give us another sample. I felt bad since we already had our ice cream. The soursop was refreshing and a bit tart.

It had more of a lemon flavor than I remembered. It's supposed to have a slightly sweet, tart flavor somewhere between a pineapple and a banana. So I'll have to come back and taste it more fully because that little taste didn't do it justice.

Between the exotic flavors, the fresh flavorful ice cream, and the friendly employees, Torico's has won me over. I will definitely make the trip back out to Jersey City (only a quick PATH train ride from midtown) to get my exotic ice cream fix.