The full title of this article is “Out-of-this-world, James Beard-nominated ice cream shop arrives in New Haven from San Juan.” Rachel Iacovone (Connecticut Public Radio) praises Vía Láctea [meaning Milky Way], a very cool, vegan ice cream shop, co-founded by Reinaldo Sánchez and Lorivie Alicea in Puerto Rico, and now available in Connecticut.
Reinaldo Sanchez is the co-owner of Vía Láctea, a San Juan-based vegan ice cream shop that opened its first off-island location in New Haven.
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. [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-07-02/out-of-this-world-james-beard-nominated-ice-cream-shop-arrives-in-new-haven-from-san-juan
[Photo above by Tyler Russell/Connecticut Public.]