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All the United States New York State New York City Brooklyn Taste the Tropics USA
AO Edited Gastro Obscura

Taste the Tropics USA

In Little Caribbean, an ice-cream shop serves up regional flavors, including soursop, Irish moss, and "greatnut."

Brooklyn, New York

Added By
Kris
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  atom.foodz/used with permission
  atom.foodz/used with permission
  Anna Minster / Atlas Obscura User
The store also serves up patties and bibles   lampbane / Atlas Obscura User
Flavors available   lampbane / Atlas Obscura User
The sign is missing an “s.”   lampbane / Atlas Obscura User
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About

It started life as a Dairy Queen, but when Jerry and Richard Zirino took over the ice cream shop on the corner of Avenue D and Nostrand Avenue in 1975, they had something slightly different in mind. The partners started asking their customers what flavors they wanted to see. Since that part of East Flatbush had—and continues to have—a large West Indian population (the neighborhood has been called "Little Caribbean"), the customers resoundingly voted for tropical flavors they missed from back home.

The shop was renamed in 1979 and today, Taste the Tropics USA serves up scoops and pints in a number of distinctly Caribbean flavors, such as guava, rum nut, and Guinness—the latter based on the Irish stout. The beloved "greatnut" is actually vanilla ice cream studded with Grape-Nuts cereal. You can even buy a cake roll with greatnut ice cream in the middle. Appropriate to the neighborhood, the shop also sells Jamaican-style buns and meat patties.

Related Tags

Delicious Diaspora Ice Cream Shops Ice Cream

Know Before You Go

The closest subway station is Newkirk Avenue on the 2 and 5 lines.

Community Contributors

Added By

lampbane

Edited By

Anna Minster

  • Anna Minster

Published

January 7, 2022

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  • https://www.tastethetropicsusa.com/about/
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/nyregion/west-indian-ice-cream-shop-in-brooklyn-taste-the-tropics-usa.html?searchResultPosition=13
Taste the Tropics USA
1839 Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn, New York, 11226
United States
40.640813, -73.948335
Visit Website
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