Puerto Rican eateries are finally getting their due in the national food scene. This year, the James Beard for Best Bar in the nation went to a spot in San Juan. And last year, a small ice cream chain on the island was a semifinalist for Best Bakery, just ahead of the opening of its only stateside location: Connecticut.
If you asked Reinaldo Sánchez a decade ago where he’d be now, his answer was not co-owning ice cream shops with his longtime friend, Lorivie Alicea.
But sometimes, an unexpected opportunity falls from the sky.
Vía Láctea means “Milky Way” in Spanish, and the galaxy-themed business all started when Alicea’s contact popped up on Sánchez’s screen.
“She called me one day, like, ‘Hey, I'm doing ice cream at home for a birthday,’” Sánchez said. “She's like, ‘Do you want to come in and help me and hang out?’ And I'm like, ‘Sure. Why not?’”
That was spring 2018. Alicea had been making ice creams for pop-ups and festivals for a couple years at that point, and Sánchez had always loved the kitchen, “working with ingredients and sort of exploring.” By that first August, they moved into a shared commercial kitchen, which they outgrew by the following winter. Vía Láctea opened its first brick-and-mortar shop just before the COVID-19 pandemic, and survived it by pivoting to pint sales on delivery apps.
“We have two locations in Puerto Rico: One in Cupey, which is a suburb of San Juan,” Sánchez explained. “And then one in Santurce, which is more the touristy area and very walkable — like, that's where everybody is.”
These scoop shops are where many go to mentally transport themselves from the sticky humidity of a San Juan summer to their abuela’s air-conditioned kitchen table, eating guava cakes with cafecitos.
The third location, in New Haven, came to be when Sánchez moved to Connecticut for his spouse’s Ph.D. program at Yale University. The ice cream case here is filled with a baker's dozen of colorful, nostalgic flavors.
“I have milk and cookies, dark chocolate, coffee chip with Arabica from Puerto Rico … pistachio and almonds, praline,” he said. “And our Puerto Rican favorite, guava panetela … It is almond cake, guava ripple, and then the ice cream itself is vanilla almond.”
There’s seasonal favorites — like taro sesame crunch and the bright yellow golden milk, loaded with turmeric, ginger, clove, cardamom and black pepper — plus staples like home planet, tinged blue by butterfly pea flowers and flecked with green continents of matcha cake.
While looking at the layers of cinnamon atop the coquito tub, it can be hard to remember you’re on a quiet corner of The Shops at Yale, instead of the bustling streets of San Juan. Vía Láctea has that effect, not just with its flavors but its bright decor and lush plants in every corner. It’s giving tropical Millennial.
Oh, and the whole menu is vegan — and mostly gluten-free.
“We get a lot of skepticism from the vegan or plant-based community because everything is plant-based,” Sánchez said. “So what I like to tell them is: ‘I'm going to give you a minute to feel overwhelmed by all the options and choices,’ because we only have, like, the one sorbet at other places, ‘and after that minute, we'll go ahead and take your order.’”
Sánchez is really just lactose intolerant but, through that, has become an ally to the plant-based community. And vice versa. The vegan ghost kitchen across the street, Bella Casa Vegana, points to them as a safe dessert option on the block. So does nearby Mofongo, one of many locations of the Connecticut chain serving Puerto Rican classics.
And the love extends beyond the vegan and Puerto Rican communities Vía Láctea represents – clearly.
The San Juan shop gained national recognition last year, when it was nominated for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bakery.
Sánchez remembers feeling surprised by the news.
“We were not aware at all,” Sánchez recalled with a laugh. “I woke up to a text telling me that it was very well-deserved, that the hard work paid off. And I remember texting my friend back like, ‘Hey, thank you so much. Why are you writing this? Like, Appreciation Day? I don't know.’ And so she's like, ‘Wait, you don't know?’”
The nomination came as the ink was drying on the lease for the Connecticut location.
Though they didn’t win, Sánchez makes sure to note James Beard Award-winning restaurants on the island do feature Vía Láctea on their dessert menus. And he hopes Connecticut restaurants will do the same soon.
