KING OF CORONA IS LEMON ICE

There are a few iconic summer refreshing places in Queens that I have actually never visited and sampled, one of which is Lemon Ice King of Corona.  “OMG,” you say. “Did you just move to Queens? Are you an adult?”  I grew up either having “Italian ices” that were mass produced, in a cup, and eating it with a wooden disposable spoon.  Most important aspect of it was to hold out to get to the sugary formation at the bottom.  I don’t think we even cared that these were artificially flavored ices. If you wanted to “cheat” you could find your way of turning it over in the cup and attacking it. 

 

Now, I recently discovered what true Italian ices should be including real fruit and a bit of a “creamier” consistency due to it being churned.  I decided to undertake a test on whether I believed Lemon Ice King to be the best and standard for Italian Ices.

Lemon Ice King sits on the corner of 108^th Street and Corona Avenue. There is no indoor access as it appears more like a store front turned into a “stand.” I had a phone chat with present owners Vincent Barbaccia and Michael Zampano who purchased the enterprise from Peter Benfaremo, the son of Nicola Benfaremo. Nicola began the venture in 1944 from his garage as a street vendor with a pushcart of two flavors; pineapple and lemon, both incorporating real fruit.  Michael’s first job was working here behind the counter and later moving up to production.  With Peter’s return from serving in WWII the family expanded the success to it being the storefront offering more flavors.  Both Vincent and Michael grew up in this area and with the company’s great reputation thought it best to continue creating and serving this Sicilian delight. Now, there are 50 flavors. 

Okay, I didn’t try all of the flavors….I managed about a dozen and over a period of time. What makes these ices “King” is their using real piece of fruit. 

Let’s begin with the most famous lemon.  I actually had to spit out a flattened pit.  Freshly squeezed lemon juice mixed with just the right amount of sugar produced the best palate quencher going.  I’ll continue with the fruit:  orange, watermelon, tangerine, strawberry, cherry, mango and raspberry.  I wound up using these as an excuse for having my daily fruit.  

Next were the more interesting flavors of: licorice that tasted like anise along with tiny black licorice pieces in it; mint chocolate chip, of which was so good that I didn’t miss this in the form of ice cream; chocolate – passed the test of my being a chocoholic; and peanut butter, one of the most popular, has both peanuts and peanut butter chips in it. 

Expect long lines here. If you don’t want to slurp it from one of those paper cups that you squeeze and suck out every last morsel and taste, Lemon Ice King sells the flavors in pint containers…no mixing! Want to sit and slurp? The William F. Moore Park aka Spaghetti Park is just across the way for you to grab a bench. Make sure you bring napkins.   Got any questions? 718.699.5133.

I'm following up with more flavors that I tried. Pineapple - having bits of pineapple pieces, blueberry- has those small wild blueberries in it, banana - I'm guessing it's a banana puree, peach - bits of peach in it, grape - tastes like the flavor of concord grape juice, lime - great in itself but have used a tablespoon in cooking, apple - it won't keep the doctor away but definite apples in it.  Favorite of these was the pineapple....figures since they first stared out with lemon and pineapple ices. 

  Since first posting I have tried many other flavors: spumoni - pistachio, vanilla and chocolate...what a great combination; root beer - pretty good; pina colada -can taste the coconut with real flakes in it and the pineapple; strawberry banana - another great combo; O/V swirl is a combo of orange and vanilla, like having a creamsicle;